High Fat Phase Of Carbohydrate example essay topic

Describe the role of carbohydrates in an athlete's diet: Carbohydrates are the main fuel an athlete uses during exercise. Carbohydrates can be found in the body in two different forms, complex sugars and simple sugars. Simple sugars are either one, two, or at most three units of sugar linked together in single molecules. They are identified easily by their sweet taste.

However, complex sugars are high in fibre and cellulose. They are found in vegetable foods and help to lower the chances for hypertension, cancer, arthritis and diabetes. According to Dr. Robert J. Reber at web carbohydrate is a crucial fuel for exercise. The body makes its own carbohydrate store, known as glycogen, which is stored away in the liver and muscles. Glycogen is the body's fuel of choice for any exercise more intense than a gentle jog.

This is because it can be broken down to provide energy more quickly than fat (the body's other major energy store). However, the snag with glycogen is that only limited amounts of it can be stored. This means that regular training, as well as competition where activity is at least an hour long, carries the risk of glycogen depletion. Low glycogen stores will mean a more sluggish performance and an increased risk of injury.

Explain the concept of carbohydrate loading and how it is done: When you run for 90 minutes or longer your muscle glycogen stores become progressively lower. When they drop to critically low levels (the point of "glycogen depletion") you are exhausted and must drastically reduce your pace. Marathon runners frequently refer to muscle glycogen depletion as "hitting the wall". The wall usually occurs at around the 20-mile mark and running becomes virtually impossible. An obvious way to improve your endurance is to increase your muscle glycogen stores. The higher your pre-exercise muscle glycogen level, the greater your endurance potential.

This is the rationale behind carbohydrate loading. When done properly, carbohydrate loading can increase your muscle glycogen stores by 50 to 100%. Practically speaking, carbohydrate loading can delay or eliminate the wall. There are many forms of carbohydrate loading.

Erik J. Deroche from. crown athletic. com suggests that the regimen combines tapered training with a high carbohydrate diet. During the first three days, you eat a normal diet providing about 5 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram per day. On the sixth day before the event, you run at 70% of aerobic capacity for 90 minutes. On the fifth and fourth days before the event, decrease your run to 40 minutes at the same intensity. On the third and second day before the event, you reduce your run to 20 minutes. On the day before the event, you rest.

During the last three days, you eat a high carbohydrate diet providing 10 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram per day. When you eat the average diet, you consume about 250-350 grams of carbohydrate per day, and get about half of your calories from carbohydrate. To get a high-carbohydrate diet of 10 grams per kilogram daily, most runners need to consume at least 500 to 600 grams of carbohydrate. To obtain a high-carbohydrate diet, you will need to eat more carbohydrate-rich foods than you eat during training.

Breads, bagels, pasta, cereal, beans, rice, potatoes, corn, pancakes, and other starchy foods and fruit are the primary sources of carbohydrate. Other good sources include low-fat milk or yogurt, and vegetables. Ice milk and milkshakes, and foods that are high in sugar such as cakes, cookies, pies, soft drinks and candy are also high in carbohydrate. Don't ignore your nutritional needs during carbohydrate loading. As followed by some runners, the diet can be deficient in the vitamins and minerals necessary for peak performance and good health. When you eat only a few carbohydrate sources or consume large amounts of refined carbohydrates, your diet can easily be deficient.

You should emphasize complex carbohydrates over sweets for carbohydrate loading (as well as good health in general), because they provide nutrients with their calories. There are several things to keep in mind when you carbohydrate load. 1. The exercise to deplete your glycogen stores must be the same as your own competitive event, because glycogen stores are specific to the muscle groups used. For example, a cyclist needs to deplete his stores by cycling rather than by running. 2.

It is essential that you decrease your training the three days prior to the triathlon. Too much running during this period will reduce your glycogen stores and defeat the purpose of the entire process. This final three days, when you taper and eat a high-carbohydrate diet, is the real loading phase of the regimen. 3. There are several side effects of carbohydrate loading that may make it inappropriate for some people. For each gram of glycogen stored, additional water is stored.

Some people note a feeling of stiffness and heaviness associated with the increased glycogen storage. Once you start exercising, however, these sensations will work out. 4. If you have heart disease, diabetes and / or high blood triglycerides, you may have problems if you carbohydrate load.

When in doubt, check with your doctor before attempting this regimen. 5. Remember that carbohydrate loading will only help for continuous exercise lasting more than 90 minutes. Greater than usual muscle glycogen stores won't enable you to exercise harder during shorter duration exercise.

In fact, the stiffness and heaviness due to increased glycogen stores can hurt your performance during shorter competitions such as a 10 K. runs. Keep in mind that carbohydrate loading enables you to maintain high intensity exercise longer, but will not affect your pace for the first hour of exercise. You won't be able to go out faster, but will be able to maintain your pace longer. Sources of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates Phase 1: 4-7 days before event Phase 2: 1-3 days before event Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese 12-18 ounces kcal: 900-1,350 6-8 ounces kcal: 450-600 Breads and cereals 4 servings kcal: 280 8-16 servings kcal: 560-1,120 Vegetables 2 servings kcal: 50 4 servings kcal: 100 Sources of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates Phase 1: 4-7 days before event Phase 2: 1-3 days before event Fruits and juices 2 servings kcal: 80 4 servings kcal: 160 Fats and oils 4-12 tablespoons kcal: 540-1,620 2-4 tablespoons kcal: 270-540 Milk 2 servings kcal: 300 (whole milk) 2 servings kcal: 300 Desserts 1 or 2 servings, unsweetened kcal: 400 2 servings, sweetened kcal: 800 Beverages unsweetened, unlimited kcal: 0 Sweetened kcal: 0-360 Sources of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates Phase 1: 4-7 days before event Phase 2: 1-3 days before event Water 8 or more servings kcal: 0 8 or more servings kcal: 0 Total kcal 2,550-4,080 2,640-3,980 Which sports could benefit from using this technique and why: Normally, muscles store only enough carbohydrate to keep the body moving for about two hours. Therefore, athletes involved in events lasting more than 1 - 1 1/2 hours benefit from carbohydrate loading.

Sports that profit most from carbohydrate loading are cross-country skiing, distance running, distance swimming, long-duration cycling, football, and tournament tennis. Carbohydrate loading offers little advantage to athletes in short events like sprints or non-continuous stop-and-start events such as volleyball or basketball. How does it benefit an athlete at the physiological level and are there any potential problems with it: Muscle glycogen levels are normally in the range of 100-120 mmol / kg ww (wet weight). Carbohydrate loading enables muscle glycogen levels to be increased to around 150-200 mmol / kg ww. This extra supply of carbohydrate has been demonstrated to improve endurance exercise by allowing athletes to exercise at their optimal pace for a longer time. It is estimated that carbohydrate loading can improve performance over a set distance by 2-3%.

Some problems associated with the classic carbohydrate-loading diet include increased blood cholesterol and urea nitrogen levels, which may cause problems for people susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, or kidney disease. The glycogen depletion stage may cause vitamin and mineral depletion, ketosis, the loss of lean tissue, and a reduction in training capability leading to a negative effect on performance. Another problem from excess consumption of carbohydrates is dental caries. The breakdown of sugars by bacteria on surface of teeth produces acids which erode teeth surface; fluoride makes surface of teeth more resistant to attack by acids. It also causes the pancreas to produce large amounts of insulin.

If this happens for many years in a genetically predisposed person, the insulin receptors throughout the body become resistant to insulin. Insulin's action is to drive glucose into the cells, this results in chronic hyperglycemia. A large portion of this sugar is stored as fat resulting in obesity. Excess insulin also causes hypertension and helps initiate the sequence of events in the arterial wall which leads to atherosclerosis and heart disease. Would you consider using the technique, and at what sporting level do you consider this to be relevant: When considering whether I would use the technique or not I researched some of the effects of what may happen to a teenager and got some information from the dieticians at web However carbohydrate loading routines have not been thoroughly tested for the rapidly growing high-school athlete and there was little information on the topic. I think the disadvantages may outweigh the advantages.

Events for most high-school athletes are not long enough to exhaust the normal levels of muscle glycogen. Ultra-high tissue levels of glycogen are not necessary for most sport activities done by teenagers unless at an elite level. During the high-protein, high-fat phase of carbohydrate loading, even the mature athlete may not perform as well and may feel exhausted. I think that I may find it difficult to practice during this phase. Also during the final phase, the body retains water and gains weight.

So I would probably give the full-blown carbohydrate loading a miss as it is probably not in my best interest being a growing teenager. However, I can ensure adequate glycogen stores by eating more starchy foods and reducing exercise the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours before the event. On further research this much modified form of carbohydrate loading has proved to be beneficial to some young athletes. I feel that Carbohydrate loading is aimed at the elite level sports person. It takes discipline as well as knowledge to load up on carbohydrates successfully and is a full time program. This is why some amateur sportspeople may struggle to complete the carbohydrate loading program properly.

Also many amateur events are not long enough to warrant carbohydrate loading compared to the elite level competitions.

Bibliography

web Last updated: 2003 Author: Michelle Mine han web Last updated: 2002 Author: Erik J.
DeRoche M.S. web Last updated: 2002 Author: Team of U.
S. registered dieticians and food experts web Last Updated: 2001 Author: Craig Hahn web Last Updated: 2002 Author: Dr.