LOW-CARB DIET BEST? Yes, according to a study at Tulane University, but best for what? The well-publicized story of a study that matched low-carb dieters with low-fat dieters seemed to suggest that low-carb ruled the day. Initially, I didn’t post any comments to Facebook for fear that runners (who are not obese like those in the study) would shift out of their high-carb diets and switch to diets that might leave them gasping at the 20-mile mark of their marathons. Diet threads often enflame people with strong opinions. Don’t need that. But Amby Burfoot offered opinions on RunnersWorld, so you might want to read what he said. That might not be as easy as you would think since RW seems to have removed the link that led to Amby’s yesterday column on the study. I’m not sure why, but hopefully the link below will take you there. Several aspects of the study puzzled me. The low-carb dieters did lose a few more pounds than the low-fat dieters, but the numbers did not seem significant. The first thing that happens when you switch to a low-carb diet is that your body loses fluids, thus weight. That’s one of the secrets of the Atkins Diet and other similar diets. You lose weight the first few weeks, so that may hook you into cutting calories, or exercising, which is the real way to lose weight. In fact, almost the only way short of surgery. But I may be missing the main message of the study, which is that those participating improved their cardiovascular risk factors. Down goes the cholesterol. I haven’t seen the full study, but the shorty version online offers this conclusion: “The low-carbohydrate diet was more effective for weight loss and cardiovascular risk factor reduction than the low-fat diet. Restricting carbohydrate may be an option for persons seeking to lose weight and reduce cardiovascular risk factors.” “May be an option.” Hedging our bets, aren’t we? Amby offered this summary: “For runners who may want to try a lower-carb diet but still get sufficient high-octane fuel (the body ‘prefers’ carbohydrates for high-intensity exercise like running), the best bet is probably to cut back carbs at all meals except the one before your running workout. Before a marathon, several days of carb-loading will likely pay off, but you don’t necessarily need high carbs all the time during your regular training.” Hmmm. Sorry, Amby, but I’m not entirely ready to buy into that. Yes, we need glycogen-building carbs for our weekend long runs, but we also need those same carbs for our mid-week runs. If you deplete your glycogen levels all week long (or all training program long), I’m not sure a single Friday-night plate of pasta is going to do you that much good. So I post this information hesitantly. As said in the first paragraph: don’t misapply this research to make a major diet switch. And I’ll be interested to see if other researchers duplicate the results of the Tulane Study.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 22:15:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015