If you’re even a modest athlete, competing in the occasional triathlon or 10K race, those trendy low-carb diets are not for you.
So says Chris Carmichael, who has coached six-time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong for 14 years, in his new book, “Chris Carmichael’s Food for Fitness.”
Unless you’re a couch potato, he says, those diets could be depriving you of energy you need for training.
“It’s actually pretty simple,” Carmichael said. “These low-carb fad diets are not for active people.”
But what does he mean by “active”? If you blasted through a 90-minute track workout this morning, plan to make swim team practice tomorrow and have already scheduled a 50-mile bike ride for this weekend, chances are you’re active in Carmichael’s eyes. Exercise intensely for an hour or more most days of the week, and you’ll simply bonk if you try to stick to the Atkins diet.
On the other hand, if your exercise program consists of walking for half an hour three times a week, you’re probably not considered active, and a low-carb diet should provide enough fuel for your lifestyle.
So, fellow active folks, repeat after me: Carbohydrates are not evil. Carbohydrates are your friends. Go ahead, indulge in a (naked) baked potato now and then.
Sedentary people
“Carbs have gotten a bad rap because low-carb fad diets are written for sedentary people,” Carmichael said. “The thought process is you can sit at a table and eat as much as you want, and as long as you are eating protein or fat you will lose weight because it takes longer to break down those nutrients than carbohydrates. They’re saying it’s OK not to work out. That’s completely misplaced.”
Not that low-carb diets don’t have a place. They can help overweight and obese people (those who can stick with the carb-restricting plan, anyway) drop weight. And Carmichael isn’t suggesting free rein to gobble doughnuts and hush puppies, even if you are an exercise freak.
A former Olympic cyclist and coach, Carmichael provides personal coaching to some of the country’s top athletes as head of Carmichael Training Systems Inc. He decided to write the book after noticing that some of his clients were coming in with low energy levels and decreased performance. It turns out they were on low-carb diets.
“I wrote the book really to be able to offer guidance on how to eat for this crowd, the active people out there,” he said. “I felt like people were very confused on how they should eat and how to integrate exercise into their lives. This isn’t a diet book, it’s a nutrition program.”
Trendy diets come and go. Diets have a beginning and end. That’s not good. What’s important is looking at food as nutrition and fuel for exercise and activity. You need something you can live with long-term.
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“Diets really aren’t about health,” Carmichael said. “What I wanted to do is a nutrition program that’s evergreen, meaning you can stick with it. It incorporates nutrition and exercise, and that means you’re going to have a much more healthy lifestyle.”
It doesn’t hurt that one of Carmichael’s most prominent clients, Armstrong, has been so successful under his training guidance. But this book isn’t about Armstrong or what he eats. (If you’re looking for that, check out the book Carmichael, 43, co-authored called “The Lance Armstrong Training Plan.”)
Rather, Carmichael writes about food choices and the importance of matching them to your exercise program. He includes meal plans and recipes, plus sections targeting adolescents, active women and active people older than 50.
And carb-loving amateur athletes, rejoice. Carmichael says your high school coach was right when he ordered a little pasta loading the night before the big race.
“Eating a good-quality meal that contains primarily carbohydrates before a big event is exactly what you want to do,” he said. “Carbohydrate is the fuel of choice when you’re working out or competing or training. It breaks down very quickly and delivers energy into your system very fast, much faster than protein or fat.”
The burn rate
When you’re working out or competing in an athletic event, your heart rate rises and you burn a greater percentage of carbs than when you’re at rest. “When you switch from aerobic to anaerobic exercise, you can only burn carbohydrates — glycogen. That burns very quickly and you start to deplete it, so you need to keep replenishing it with energy bars and sports drinks heavy with carbohydrates,” he said.
He divides foods into three types of “carriers.” The first are “quality” carriers, whole foods packed with nutrients and vitamins that can be broken into energy quickly. Examples include spinach, whole-grain cereal and bread, kiwi fruit, chicken breasts and brown rice.
The second are “empty” carriers, which may supply energy but don’t have much nutritional value. Examples include cola, low-fat candy such as Pixy Stix, white rice and pretzels.
The third are “pollutant” carriers, highly processed foods that are heavy in saturated fats and trans fats.
“Those are the ones you really want to avoid. They can actually harm the body,” Carmichael said. Examples include doughnuts, french fries, fried chicken and high-fat candy such as a chocolate bar.
Sweating it out
Carmichael also has some advice specifically for active folks where temperatures and humidity are so high that an hour of jogging leaves you sweating like a water sprinkler.
“People in Austin are going to exercise very differently in January than they are in July,” Carmichael said. “Consequently, they shouldn’t be on a static nutrition program that’s the same year round. If you look at food as fuel for life and exercise, it should change and be dynamic and be matched up to your exercise routine.”
He explains his concept of “periodization,” which breaks down the year into smaller blocks of training. The proportion of carbohydrates in your diet should increase as your exercise intensity increases.
A good sports beverage–one with a 7 percent to 8 percent carbohydrate solution that tastes good–also is crucial. If you don’t like the way it tastes, you won’t drink enough of it. And you should be drinking a lot of it–up to a liter and a half every hour, depending on how hard you are working.
It’s also important to eat the right thing before a workout. Don’t eat a huge meal in the three hours before an exercise session. Instead, snack on something like an energy bar just before you swim, run or bike.
If you’re working out first thing in the morning, don’t skip breakfast. “You just spent the last eight hours not eating. That’s when liver glycogen has been depleted and the brain runs on that,” he said. “A good bowl of cereal is perfect. As you’re getting there, have an energy bar or sip on a sports beverage.”
Don’t forget post-workout recovery. The body’s ability to absorb and replenish glycogen is best in the 30 minutes immediately after exercising.
“That’s when you want to drink a recovery sports drink that also contains a little bit of protein,” Carmichael said. “The protein acts as transport for the carbohydrate to replenish glycogen.”
And remember: Don’t be afraid of the carbs.
The best carbohydrates:
Fruits and vegetables, especially sweet potatoes, spinach, red peppers, butternut squash, romaine lettuce, asparagus, baked potato with skin, green peppers, peas, corn.
Grains, pastas and cereals: Look for whole-wheat products, bulgur wheat, quinoa, oatmeal and whole-grain corn. Buy breakfast cereals with whole grains that are cracked, split or puffed.
The best proteins:
Red meat: low-fat cuts like those with “loin” or “round” in the name.
Chicken and turkey.
Eggs.
Dairy products, especially Parmesan, swiss, cheddar, colby, gouda, Monterey Jack and skim mozzarella. Non-fat yogurt, low-fat yogurt and skim milk also are good.
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Fish and seafood, especially cod, shrimp, tuna, crab, clams, halibut and salmon.
Legumes, especially soybeans, peanuts, lentils, split peas, white beans, kidney beans and black beans.
The best fats:
Fish and fowl: White meat chicken and turkey are low in saturated fat, and 8 ounces to 12 ounces of cold-water fish (such as salmon and tuna) are great sources of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids.
Oils, especially olive, peanut, soybean, canola and flaxseed oil, which are low in saturated fats and high in unsaturated fats.
Fruits, seeds and nuts, especially avocados. Try sprinkling almonds, cashews, walnuts or pine nuts over salads to get good fat without overdoing it. Peanut butter is OK as long as you don’t eat too much.
Dairy products, yogurt, low-fat cheeses and milks.