Friday, January 22, 2010

CARBS - HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

Yippee I love Fridays and today I worked in overdrive to clear as much as possible from my desk so that I can enjoy a 4 day weekend. Lucky me, I have Monday off to give me a looooong weekend and I'm rapt.

Today's training was a 50 minute jog which in the scheme of things is an easy session. Funny to see that in print as 12 months ago the thought of jogging for 50 minutes would have had me feeling ill and I'd have had every excuse under the sun to avoid such a dreaded workout. My how the winds change and life can turn around completely.

Last night I received some dietary advice from Kerith Duncanson who works in association with Pat Carroll. Needless to say I devoured it with gusto and it opened my eyes to some common misconceptions that even I had fallen victim to. Without divulging all I will sum it up in one definitive statement made by Ms Duncanson who herself is a runner as well as being a qualified dietician.

Question put to Kerith:


How can I balance the need to have carbohydrate for training, with weight management/loss?



Kerith's response:
Let me first tell you that as a runner and a dietitian myself, I find this balance a very tricky one.


My advice to you in the longer term is that if you can manage on a lower calorie diet that is still high in essential vitamins and minerals, but with just enough protein fats and carbs to get by, your running performance will improve. We women often don’t need as much carbs as it says in the text books to get by!!
So there it is in black and white and backed up by other things she has written both publicly and to me individually. I'm happily going back to my comfortable way of eating and I'm no longer stressing about carb intake - is it enough? Is it too much? There are 2 occasions (pre intense training sessions and post training) where I need to watch it but other than that there is no need to carb up with lots of pasta or bread.

So on that note I'll take my blog's focus off the food and share some other interesting tidbits with you over the weekend. One of them is a real beauty.

:-) Magda






5 comments:

Kerry W said...

Interesting stuff Magda. That must help put you at ease. I look forward to hearing more stuff. Have a great weekend! :)

Pip said...

Magda, I totally agree. I certainly don't see the need to have an excessive number of calories or carbs as someone who is aiming to get leaner, stronger plus become a better triathlete and runner. When I've eaten what some books suggest I feel too bloated sluggish to want to train and get the 'side stitch' quick fast when I do! I eat overall from all food groups but for intense or endurance aerobic training, train better with a carb only snack such as a banana over a protein/carb or protein only snack. After training I often have more protein/less carbs.

Magda said...

It sure is Kerry and its made me rethink some of my recent beliefs about having to "carb up". I'll be going back to what I know works for me with only some minor modifications as I've blogged about.

Ah Pip it sounds like you've already got it all worked out. I'm sure it wont take me long.

:-) Magda

Stephanie Davis said...

v interesting. Ive definately learned the benefits of scaling back the starchy carbs to around training and ramping up the fibrous carbs during the rest of the day. good luck with your awesome half marathon goal!! the thought of jogging 50mins definately makes me nervous right now!

Magda said...

Hi Steph, and thanks for your comment. 50 minutes is my short and EASY training session LOL!!!

:-) Magda