Reel by Lindsey M De Caro
Lindsey M De Caro@lin.health Pastries and pizza contain plenty of carbohydrate, but they’re usually poor carb-loading foods because carb loading isn’t simply “eat high-carb foods.” The goal is to maximize muscle glycogen while keeping fat, fiber, and GI burden relatively low. The main issue is carb density relative to everything else: * Pastries: croissants, danishes, donuts, etc. often get a large percentage of their calories from butter/oil, not carbohydrate. A croissant may feel like a “bread,” but it can contain nearly as much fat as carbohydrate by weight. To reach a high carb target using pastries, you end up eating a lot of fat and calories * Pizza: the crust provides carbs, but cheese, oil, and meat toppings can add substantial fat and protein Again, you have to eat a lot of total food/calories to accumulate the same amount of carbohydrate you’d get from lower-fat choices * Fat slows gastric emptying, which can leave athletes feeling full/heavy and make it harder to comfortably consume the large amount of carbohydrate needed for a true carb load * Large, fatty meals can also be rougher on the GI tract, particularly before a race when you want digestion to be predictable. Depending on the toppings/crust, pizza can also bring more fiber, spice, and fermentable ingredients than you’d ideally want immediately before an endurance event. For example, if you’re aiming around 8–10 g carbohydrate/kg/day, a 55-kg athlete would need roughly 440–550 g of carbohydrate. Trying to get there primarily through pizza and pastries would mean an enormous amount of fat and total food. Better carb-loading foods give you a lot of carbohydrate for relatively little fat/fiber: white rice, pasta with a lighter sauce, bread/bagels, pancakes, pretzels, cereal, juice, sports drinks, potatoes without tons of added fat, low-fiber fruit, jam/honey, rice cakes, etc So I wouldn’t say “pizza and pastries are bad before a race.” You can absolutely include some. They’re just inefficient carb-loading vehicles. A useful way to phrase it is: “Has carbs “≠ good for carb loading. You want foods that are carb-dense , low fat, and low fiber #tritraining #carbloading #marathontraining #endurancefuel
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@furqanruns 🙌
@jeph.runs.wincity But I like fat loadinggggggg
· 1 likes
@madval.dpt 🫣
· 1 likes
@8bit_geek Need the fat for the zone 2 fat burning zone
· 2 likes
@caseylynne328 Finally someone said it!!! I don’t get how this isn’t talked about more.
· 5 likes
@eybru12 Honestly. This is why I don’t enjoy a carb load. The foods I really want are heavy in fat. Straight carbs don’t excite me. Wahhhhh.
· 3 likes
@easton.a pancakes with honey simple easy effective tasty
· 3 likes
@trackclubbabe Tell em babe 👏
· 3 likes
@anyoneaanything im more of a sour candy crackhead
· 2 likes
@lilquart Can you post the good carbs :)
· 3 likes
@abstract_botanist Only good quality sourdough pizza
· 2 likes
@juliaandok @zebra_exercise you can’t eat bread instead of pizza..?
· 2 likes
@yourekillingmesmalls_1 Some pizza always feels so good after a run. Not a concrete mindset, but it feels so rewarding.
· 3 likes
@opusrun This is Super Great Advice! 👏👏❤️
· 2 likes
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@lexiabz How about just and sugary soft drinks?