What’s Carbo-Loading And Why Is It Not For Everyone? – Medical Daily
What’s Carbo-Loading And Why Is It Not For Everyone? Medical Daily
Carb-loading is a type of strategic diet for anyone preparing for a long event that requires lots of endurance, but is it safe for everyone?
If you or anyone of your friends are leading a generally active lifestyle, then there’s a big pretty chance that you’ve tried carbo-loading at some point to prepare for a big event, either the night before or before the actual event itself.
And we can see why. or carbo-loading is an effective strategy used by athletes who really need long endurance. This is very common among long-distance runners. This technique was named as such because this requires one to eat loads of carbs in the form of rice, pasta, potatoes, or bread. The strategy is meant to maximize the stored glycogen in both our muscles and liver for production of energy.
The idea behind carbo-loading is that it can easily up the amount of glycogen you can store in your cells if done properly. For anyone who needs long endurance, namely triathletes or marathon runners, this is fantastic news because more utilization of stored glycogen is equivalent to having more access to body fuel. This means they can run longer, or perform more without easily getting tired.
But is carbo-loading for everyone?
Carbo-loading is definitely not for everyone, even if it’s effective for others. According to Jaime Schehr, N.D., R.D., it’s a strategy that only endurance athletes have any real use for and is therefore not advisable to everyone, especially if you are new to the game and are still trying things out. You may end up surprising your body, and there’s no need for it.
“My general rule of thumb is that if your race will last more than two hours, you could benefit from carbo-loading,” Schehr said. “However, I only recommend this for people who have raced distance before and would like to try an alternate method of fueling their race – not new racers.”
Furthermore, Schehr recommended that if we’re not an endurance athlete, we should abstain from carbo-loading due to the fact that besides not needing it, it can easily tamper with our health goals.
“Carbo-loading is a very specific tool used for performance. It is not effective for weight loss, weight gain, or as a sustainable diet plan,” she said.
