"Gerald" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:I am a former duathlete, returning to training and occasional racing after a four year hiatus.
When I checked out four years ago, high carb, low fat diet was the rule.
Now I see many other ideas out there, particluarly The Zone, which I am dabbling with now. The
Zone is high protien from lean sources (lean red meat, turkey, skinless chicken, fish, tofu),
carbs from some fruit and lots of veggies, cutting back drastically on carbs from starches (breads
and grains). Does this make sense for endurance training? What is the prevailing wisdom in tri
circles today? What
I think you'll find that despite what is currently fashionable, the prevailing exercise physiology
wisdom is that high carbs, low (but not no) fat, lowish but sufficient protein is the way to go.
Within this they would say carbs should be mostly complex and lowish GI; fats should be
predominantly non-saturated; protein of 1.0-1.2g / kg body weight per day for athletes (i.e.
slightly more / kg that for a sedentary lifestyle - the jury's still out on this last point though).
Then, it doesn't really matter where you get your proteins from as long as you get all the essential
amino acids; to your body an amino acid is the same whether it comes from plants or animals. For
training / racing: avoid fat, protein and high GI carbs in the couple of hours prior to exercise,
but high GI carbs are preferred during exercise and recovery.
I'm aware that some people swear by markedly different diets; Friel endorsing Paleo (high protein)
being particularly notable (I'm not sure if he still does). This last point might mean that some
people are just able to do better on different diets. It may also mean that the people for whom
Paleo works were perhaps gluten intolerant and they might just be experiencing a boost from the lack
of their previous trouble processing gluten (Paleo frowns heavily on pasta and the like).
