With so many diet trends out there, it’s hard to know which ones help or hinder your performance. One trend that’s recently become popular among endurance athletes is the low-carbohydrate high-fat (LCHF) diet. The idea behind it is that training with low glycogen (carbohydrate) stores trains your body to burn fat more efficiently and increases…
Periodised carbohydrate training has become the latest buzzword among endurance athletes. Essentially it means matching your diet to your workload and new research suggests it may improve endurance performance and make you a more efficient fat burner. The idea behind training with low glycogen stores (‘training low’) is that it forces the muscles to burn more…
8th June 2016 I’m not in the business of commercial endorsement but when an opportunity comes along to help bring a bit of balance back into the healthy eating debate, then I’m all for it! This week I was delighted to get behind the new ‘Powered by Bread’ campaign that aims to encourage young active…
1st October 2014 Tempted to give low carb diets a go? If you’re serious about your sport, you should know that low carb high fat (LCHF) diets – fashionable as they are – might actually hinder your performance. Here’s why. First, the theory behind LCHF diets: By restricting carbs you force your muscles to burn…
31 December 2013 Poor ol’ carbohydrate. There’s been a plethora of articles, blogs and opinion condemning carbs in general, sugar in particular, gluten by association, and extolling instead the virtues of low carb living. Carbs have been blamed for obesity, metabolic syndrome and just about every ailment. According to a recent survey, almost half of…
1 November 2013 A few well-known sports scientists have recently challenged the conventional high carb diet dogma and begun promoting instead the idea that athletes can perform better on a low carb diet. What’s the evidence and should we all be cutting out carbs? Here’s my take on the low carb vs. high carb debate….
28 May 2013 The Paleo Diet has gained an almost cult-like following since the book by Professor Loren Cordain was first published in 2002. No longer is it seen as an offshoot of ‘complementary and alternative medicine’, now many regular exercisers are jumping on the low-carb Paleo bandwagon. So, should we all be switching? First,…
17 Feb 2013 Should you eat before you exercise or is it better to work out on an empty stomach? This is the question posed by researchers in several recent studies. And the answer to this age-old quandary, it seems, depends on your workout goals. If fat loss is your main goal, exercising on an…
