Posted on June 25, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

In a world gone mad with so many different opinions on the optimal diet and approach to nutrition it can be easy to get lost and confused about what you should and shouldn’t eat. Most people that know me would consider me to be in the ‘high protein, low carb’ camp, however this is far from the case in fact I’m quite a big believer in the use of carbohydrates in training…but in the right way! There are certain conditions where carbohydrates should be utilized and definitely certain goals where carbohydrates should be avoided, like most things in the fitness world there is a time and a place for everything!

Here are the circumstances where the use of grains (carbs) in the diet is warranted:

• Improve endurance performance: The body stores around 600-800 grams of carbs in the body as glycogen, as glycogen is the predominant fuel source during endurance exercise keeping these glycogen levels topped up would seem beneficial. Research has shown that for endurance exercise lasting OVER 2 hours 0.9g/kg per hour combined with 0.2g/kg per hour of protein per hour will improve endurance performance.

• For multiple daily training sessions: I often ask clients to go through periods of twice daily training for short periods of time as a manipulation of their training volume, during these periods I ask clients to consume 1.2g/kg of carbohydrates post workout in a ratio of 3:1 (carbs: protein) this helps with recovery and ensures training intensity remains high.

• Building Muscle: If the sole goal of your training is to build muscle carbohydrates do help, they are not essential but they can help. Research seems to indicate that consuming around 1.6g/kg of protein and 45 calories/ kg of bodyweight during the day. For example for a 100kg individuals trying to gain muscle they would consume 160g of protein and 4500 calories from a combination of fats and carbohydrates roughly at a ratio of 50:50. If your trying to lose fat and build muscle this will not work, its easiest to build muscle when your body fat is lower. So remove carbohydrates  and follow a low carb diet to drop your target body fat then return to the carb protocol above to build muscle.

• If you’re an ectomorph: certain body types thrive on carbohydrates. You’ll know these people straight away when you see them…tall, thin and generally great at endurance sport these type of people utilize carbs very well (and don’t we hate these people!). However this doesn’t mean that just because they don’t cause weight gain carbs are healthy, they can still cause inflammation in the body so opt for good complex sources.

So if you’re on a fat loss mission going low carb massively helps, not only that but it helps improve several markers of health, ….you’ve got got to earn your carbohydrates!