Warning. The following presentation contains information that might contradict what you
have previously heard, or believed to be true, about how the human body works,
and contains material that is not suitable for closed mind and individual. Enjoy.
Well thanks for joining us. Today we're going to go ahead and continue our discussion about diet,
nutrition, and metabolism. Once again, looking at does it really matter what's being eaten?
And in this case here we're going to talk a little about carbohydrates today.
Hopefully look at some of the myths and misconceptions that we have about carbohydrates,
and then we'll talk specifically about one form of carbohydrate dieting as relates to a concept
known as carbohydrate loading. So let's talk a little about carbohydrates and how much carbohydrate
we're going to need within our diet. For most individuals we're going to need between 2.5 and
5 grams per kilogram of body mass per day of carbohydrates. Within that we're going to need
a minimum of 120 grams per day for normal neuron functions to take place. For our
athletes and people who are highly active we can go ahead and get upwards of 5 to 10 grams
per kilogram of body mass per day. Within that amount post-training or post-competition
we're going to need to consume between 0.8 and 1 gram per kilogram of body mass for every hour
that we were active. Additionally we're going to need to have about 30 grams per day of a specific
type of carbohydrate known as fiber. Now there are some dietary restrictions where we can consume
carbohydrates outside of that range and we'll take a look at those as we go through our discussion.
But those are the normal values that we give for individuals. Now sometimes when we talk about
carbohydrates and particularly when we're talking about dietary carbohydrates we hear a lot of
references of good carbs and bad carbs. And what does that mean to be a good carb or a bad carb?
Well metabolically there's no such thing as good carb, bad carb. Carbohydrates are carbohydrates
and will be used a whole host of metabolic functions for the body. When we're talking
about good carb and bad carb what we're really referencing is how does the carbohydrate that
we're looking at fit within what's referenced as the glycemic index. And what the glycemic index
is doing is it's giving us an indication of what is going to be the insulin response that occurs
following the consumption of those carbohydrates and what is the rate of digestion and absorption
of those carbohydrates. That is how soon after a meal will I see those carbohydrates in circulation.
And this is where within the glycemic index we will have references of foods that are high
glycemic foods, medium glycemic foods, and low glycemic foods. This is the indication of what
other carbohydrates besides what are usually referred to as simple carbohydrates will be
found within the foods that are being consumed. Where foods that are high have a high rate of
digestion and absorption and will cause an insulin spike to occur due to the effects
that the rapid absorption of the carbohydrates have on insulin functions and insulin signals in
the body. Which takes us to a question as it relates to the dietary carbohydrates. Are all the
dietary carbohydrates made equally? And once again this goes into our good carb, bad carb,
misconception. Where we look at carbohydrates or sugars as being simple or complex.
The simple carbohydrates or the simple sugars will sometimes also be referenced as monosaccharides
that is a single sugar unit. And the principal single sugar units that we talk about dietarily
are glucose, fructose, and galactose. There are other simple sugars but those are the three
principal simple sugars that we look at in terms of the monosaccharides. Now those monosaccharides
can interact with each other to make larger simple sugars which are sometimes referred to as
disaccharides. The disaccharides include sucrose which is also referred to as table sugar.
And that is a glucose and a fructose that's combined. Or we can get a simple sugar known
as maltose. And maltose are two glucose sugars put together. And then within a lot of the
dairy products that we will consume we will get a sugar known as lactose. And lactose is a
glucose and a galactose stuck together. Now all of those disaccharides will get broken down digestively
within the intestines into their glucose, their fructose, and their galactose units. With the
exception of lactose for those people who don't happen to have the enzyme lactase available to
them. And those are the individuals who will be lactose intolerant. Beyond the simple sugars we
now get to what's referred to as the complex carbohydrates or the complex sugars. The complex
carbohydrates are going to be more delayed in their absorption because it's going to take a
little bit longer to digest them down. And these are going to be things like cellulose, sometimes
referred to as fiber, glycogen, and amylose. Amylose will sometimes be referred to as starch.
And then slightly smaller complex carbohydrates like dextrin or actin. Now all of these complex
carbohydrates will get broken down into smaller sugar units and then eventually into their
monosaccharide units in order to be absorbed because the one in which we absorb the sugars is
we absorb the sugars, we absorb the carbohydrates as they're single sugar units and sometimes as
a disaccharide. But more often than not we will absorb it as a single sugar unit. Those complex
carbohydrates when they get their digestion taking place will break down into the disaccharide and
then into the monosaccharide. And when they break down into the disaccharide and the monosaccharide
we will then be able to absorb them within the intestines with the exception of fiber,
with the exception of cellulose. Because we do not have the enzymes to break down that sugar.
Now the microbes in our intestines do have the ability to break down that sugar. And as a
byproduct of their breakdown we will get some other key nutrients that we would not be able to get
without consuming the fiber within the diet. Fiber within the diet is essential for normal
gastrointestinal functions. Consuming larger amounts of complex carbohydrates will lower
my overall glycemic index of sugars being consumed. Continuing on with the idea about
the dietary carbohydrates there's a few other myths and misconceptions out there about carbohydrates
and carbohydrates in the diet. One of those is what about the issue of the person or myself becoming
fat because I'm eating dietary carbohydrates. Well this is what we have to remember is that
carbohydrates in the diet will be used for a whole host of other things within the body
beyond just the energetic materials that we talk about the use of the carbohydrates for
regenerating ATP or the storing of those carbohydrates for later use as lipids. We will
use those carbohydrates in other pathways such as making some of the sugars necessary for making DNA
or making RNA or becoming some of the metabolites involved with producing amino acids that will
allow for the production of proteins or for making ketone bodies. One of the other myths and
misconceptions out there is that consuming carbohydrates will automatically lead to an
insulin spike which is where we get the idea of having a sugar rush followed by a sugar crash
that a lot of people will talk about. This is where we once again we have to go back to the
science and to the physiology. Insulin is only going to be involved with moving glucose from the
bloodstream into the cells by metabolizing or activating one glucose transport one membrane
protein to allow for glucose to move from the bloodstream into the cells and only in a couple
of types of cells. Skeletal muscle, adipose cells, and liver cells. And it's only going to do this
when there is a consumption of glucose that is greater than 1 to 1.2 grams per kilogram per hour
within the meal that I'm consuming. Now there are times where I can have high levels of
glucose in the bloodstream which can lead to insulin being released from the pancreas. But when
we're looking specifically at the dietary components going on it's about the concentration
of the glucose that is being consumed. There are other carbohydrates that will be consuming
that will be able to move into the cells without needing the insulin. Now insulin does promote
making of lipids, lipid synthesis. It's one of the many pathways within the cells that insulin will
activate will trigger. But it will also trigger protein growth, protein synthesis.
It will also trigger glycogen synthesis making a glycogen within the tissues that are able to
make glycogen in particular skeletal muscle and liver cells. The one carbohydrate that we do know
that actually does instigate lipid synthesis within cells that comes from the diet is increased
amounts of fructose. Fructose will trigger lipid production, lipid synthesis, independent of any
hormone signals within the adipocytes within the adipose cells of the body leading to fat accumulation
when fructose is in excess and not being cleared to be used within other metabolic pathways.
Other myths and misconceptions that relates to carbohydrates and carbohydrates in the diet
is the misconception of a low carbohydrate diet being a no carbohydrate diet. The low carbohydrate
diets are not a no carbohydrate diet. What the low carbohydrate diets are doing is they're attempting
to get the person who's going to follow that diet scheme to shift from the high glycemic indexed
carbohydrates to the low glycemic indexed carbohydrates and then reduce the total
amount of carbohydrates that are being consumed within the overall diet. This is where the persons
who are following this diet schematic may reduce their total carbohydrate intake to be the minimums
necessary in order to maintain normal metabolic functions and normal neuron activities,
meaning they are getting the 120 grams per day. There are some of the low carbohydrate diets
that will have the persons consume less than that minimum and in order to make the minimums,
the body will undergo different chemical reactions predominantly within the liver
where we'll take glucose metabolites that are coming from other molecules, namely amino acids
and lipid byproducts and we'll convert those glucose metabolites back into glucose so that the body
is able to meet the minimum necessary for normal metabolic and neuronal functions.
Within that low carbohydrate there is a couple of things that we need to be aware of. First,
there's no standard definition for what a low carbohydrate diet means.
I just gave you an analogy of eating less than the minimum 120. That seems to be the
threshold for the low carbohydrates. However, some low carbohydrate diets can take the person as low
as 10 to 50 grams of carbohydrates total in a day while others would be considered low carbohydrates
if they're consuming below the 2.5 grams per kilogram of body mass per day.
However, there are some indications for standardizations as it relates to what is labeled as a net
carbohydrate if you happen to be looking at any of the packaging for the low carbohydrate
materials within the grocery stores. The net carbohydrates is the indication of how many
carbohydrates are digestible, absorbable, and metabolically active for the body
and is determined by taking the total amount of carbohydrates that are available within the foods
of that package and subtracting the amount of fiber and the amount of sugar alcohols that are
available. And that's because when we look at the total carbohydrates within a package of food for
serving, we're looking at all forms of carbohydrate, whether it's the sugars that we think about in
terms of sugar, sucrose, table sugar, or lactose if that's the female product,
as well as the fiber, as well as any of the other sugar alcohols that we cannot metabolize.
And in order to find the net carbohydrates, that's how many total carbohydrates are available within
that food, we take the ones that we can metabolize and we pull them out from the total amount
of carbohydrates that are there. And we do that by taking the total carbohydrates and subtracting
the fiber and the sugar alcohols that are there. Now, people who are active, whether it is physically
active or mentally active, you happen to be a student, you need more carbohydrates than someone
who is less active, whether they are physically sedentarily at not doing anything, or not mentally
engaged with a lot of learning. Those who are active need more carbohydrates than those who are
less active. If I am trying to learn if I'm trying to be active, reducing the amount of
carbohydrates I have within my diet will limit my overall performance with regards to what my
performance happens to be. And that's because I'm going to need carbohydrates for my neurons to
function and for other cells within the body, which are referenced as being glucose obligated cells,
to work at their optimal performance. And so by restricting carbohydrates, I restrict the fuel
sources that are available to those cells, which means those cells will not function at the rate
that we're asking them to function and can lead to a detrimental performance if I'm not fueling them
correctly. So speaking of that, what are carbohydrates going to be used for? Well,
they are going to be used for the fuel sources. They are a primary principle fuel source that
our cells use for all of their energetic metabolism, making of ATP or regenerating ATP for the cell,
for the cell to continue to do what it needs to do. It's not the only fuel source, but it is a
principle primary fuel source. Other fuel sources that could be used include amino acids and lipids.
Within the energetic pathways, the ability to use those other fuel sources leads to a concept
known as metabolic flexibility. Metabolic flexibility is the indication of the ability to use
multiple fuel sources in order to meet the demands for ATP by the cells and tissues
during the events that I need ATP if I am not feeling well, if I have inflammation,
the ability for me to be metabolic and flexible, drop. However, I'm going to be sending signals
to attempt to cause glucose to be spared so that the cells of the blood, in particular the immune
cells, have the glucose available to them so that they're able to do the metabolism that they need
to do in order to make me feel better. Outside of fuel, carbohydrates will be used to make amino
acids, to make nucleic acids, to make neurotransmitters. It will be involved with the production of lipids.
They are integral to cell membrane integrity, and they are used in order to allow cells to
adhere to each other in a cell to cell adhesion or cell junction that are used within the tissues
of the body. There is a specific carbohydrate citrate that is necessary for normal bone health.
Without that sugar within the bone matrix, our bones will become excessively brittle,
and so we need carbohydrates for bone health, we need carbohydrates for cell membrane integrity,
we need carbohydrates for fuel sources, we need carbohydrates in order to make things.
Just because I'm having carbohydrates in my diet does not necessarily going to mean that I'm going
to become fat, even though that is how a lot of people will present carbohydrates within the diet.
But before we move on and discuss carbohydrate loading, let's take a step back and look at some
of the take home messages that we have about carbohydrates. We need carbohydrates to have
normal metabolic actions and normal metabolic functions. If I'm missing carbohydrates from my
diet, my body is going to develop those carbohydrates from the molecules that I'm getting in my diet
that are not carbohydrates or from the tissues of my body.
Carbohydrate intake does not automatically cause one to become fat, even though that is how a lot
of people oppose the positions that they have about carbohydrates in the diet. Remember,
carbohydrates come in multiple forms and the idea of good and bad carbohydrates is coming
from the glycemic index and not coming from how we're going to metabolize those carbohydrates
for use in the body. Speaking of use, let's take a look at one specific type of carbohydrate
dieting known as carbohydrate loading. Carbohydrate loading is a little bit more complex than just
increasing how much pasta I'm going to eat before I go for a run or how many potatoes I'm going to
eat in a meal. It's a way in which we can diet so as to allow for our body to store a little bit more
carbohydrates in the form of glycogen. And so what is carbohydrate loading?
Carbohydrate loading is a dietary plan that was first proposed and first devised in the late 1960s
specifically for endurance athletes. Where it was noted that those who followed a lower carbohydrate
diet for several days saw a depletion in muscle glycogen stores and a reduction in endurance
capacities and abilities. Where following a higher carbohydrate intake for several days after a low
carbohydrate intake led to a supercompensation of muscle glycogen stores that led to prolonged
endurance capacity. What this dietary modification is aiming to do is it's aiming to maximize
glycogen stores in the body where normally we will have between 600 grams and 1000 grams of our total
body weight in the form of glycogen. Of this about 600 grams will be found throughout all of the skeletal
muscles of the body and between two and 400 grams will be found specifically within the liver. While
it was first proposed for endurance athletes we have expanded this idea to other applications
for power athletes and for weight lifters.
For athletes who are in bodybuilding or in fitness aesthetics competitions.
And into the realm of health care. What's the physiology of carbohydrate loading and
that would allow it to work? What the carbohydrate loading is doing is it's going to trigger
signals within the body that's going to indicate the need to spare glucose. Sparing glucose is a
hormonal response that is going to shift to change the fuel sources used by the tissues of the body
away from glucose to other fuel sources lipids amino acids to meet the energy demands
for the activities that are being conducted. The carbohydrate loading and the glucose sparing
events that take place limit both hyper and hypoglycemic events that can occur within inflammatory
responses by allowing for normal metabolic flexibility to occur within the tissues of the
body. It also allows for immune cells to function at greater efficiencies with the glucose that is
available to them. The supercompensation that we see with glycogen storage can allow up to twice
as much normal glycogen capacity spread between skeletal muscle and the liver. What is interesting
is that there is some evidence to support this supercompensation taking place without the need
to fully deplete or strip away glycogen. So how does this take place? What is this process by which
we're able to get this supercompensation? What is up happening is that during a depletion stress
glycogen stores will be depleted they will be reduced. That reduction will trigger hormonal
and metabolic signals within the tissues of the body to shift metabolic functions away from using
glucose. When glucose is then reintroduced into the diet instead of spontaneously reversing back to
using glucose for the primary fuel source the other fuel sources are still being used at a
very high rate. And what this does is this allows for a reversal of glycogen storing
where the depleted glycogen will begin to build on itself taking back to a normal glycogen level.
As glucose consumption continues to remain high the hormonal and metabolic signals that were there
from the depletion event continue to trigger compensation in the tissues to store additional
glycogen. So that should a secondary depletion event occur additional glycogen is available
for the body to minimize the need to do other metabolic pathways such as gluconeogenesis to
convert glucose metabolites into glucose because of having an additional glycogen storage available
for the body to use. What glycogen is is this a polymer chain it's a long chain of several
glucose monomer several glucose sugar units stuck together and stored within skeletal muscle
and the liver. When use of glucose starts to strip away availability of glucose that super
compensated glycogen molecule or the normal glycogen molecule will then be broken up so as to provide
glucose to the cells so that the cells are able to meet their fuel demand or needing to regenerate
the ATP for the events that they are doing. So what is this going to do for the person doing
the carbohydrate loading for the endurance athletes these super compensated glycogen storage
postpones fatigue and extends duration of exercise. It improves performance in time trials
that is how long does it take for the person to cover a set distance and it increases the workload
that they can perform at following the supercompensation. For bodybuilders or fitness athletes
or the aesthetic athlete it's going to increase silhouette appearance it's going to increase
muscle growth without subcutaneous fluid retention the appearance of being bloated.
What this does is this allows for the muscles to look larger and the body to look larger without
appearing to be bloated so as to show physique maximally for weight lifters and for power athletes.
It's going to increase the maximal strength within a one repetition max.
It's going to delay fatigue when doing repeated repetitions.
It's going to improve recovery and reduce the onset of delayed muscle soreness
following a workout by limiting total amount of inflammation and breakdown of issues to
meet energetic demands. For the endurance athletes we notice that this happens to be
best compensated when the carbohydrate loading is done one to two days prior to competition.
For bodybuilders or weight athletes or aesthetic athletes this benefit is done when we see
carbohydrate loading done in between a weigh-in and competition or during the tapering phase
leading into competition.
For the weightlifter for the power athlete for the gym person the person going to the gym looking
to have a carbohydrate loading benefit this appears to be best if completed within an hour prior to
for the endurance athlete for the weightlifter and for the power athlete. There seems to be
additional benefit if the supercompensated glycogen stores is also met with within competition
consumption of carbohydrate as the consumption of carbohydrate appears to limit onset of fatigue
and reduction in perceived exertion. Now what we have found out recently is that it's not just for
the athletes and the exercisers. Carbohydrate loading for people who have metabolic diseases
tends to reduce onset of hyper and hypo glycemia as well as reduction in overall metabolic stress
for individuals who are attempting to get body compositional changes in fat mass and in fat
remaps. Carbohydrate loading can be done in such a way as to increase fat oxidation
and reduce total overall fat mass when combined with exercise in a weight loss protocol.
Within the hospital pre-operative carbohydrate treatments have been associated with a reduction
in hospital stay, an increase in well-being, a reduction in overall insulin resistance responses,
improved body temperature within surgical procedures and for lactating individuals
and improvement in breastfeeding. What has been noted for those who do a carbohydrate
loading around surgeries is that there seems to be no difference in any post-operative and
operative complications and that has to deal with what happens to physiology with the exposure to the
anesthesia in particular with gastric reflex issues without having empathy and we'll take a look at
each one of these methods here in a second. So how do we go about doing carbohydrate loading?
What is the methods that we can go about in order to be able to carbohydrate load and carbohydrate
load effectively? We're going to talk about a couple of methods here. These are not all the methods,
these are just some of the more prominent methods. The first is what's referred to as the classical
model or the classical method. This is the method that comes about from the research conducted by
Alberg in the mid to late 1960s. 1967 is the reference that is most often used. This method is
going to follow a seven-day model of carbohydrate loading in which we have a three to four day phase
of depletion and in depletion what we're going to do is we're going to reduce carbohydrate intake
and move carbohydrate intake from the high glycemic index sources to the low glycemic index sources.
What this depletion does is it's going to shift metabolic functions at the tissues
towards using non-carbohydrate fuel sources to meet energy demands to make ATP or to regenerate ATP
in order to allow for activity to be conducted. As we go through the depletion phase, the athletes
will begin to taper their level of activity. Tapering is going to reduce training intensities
partially as a recovery effort leading into competition but also due to the reduction in
total amount of carbohydrates available to be used for higher intensity activities. We have to
compensate for the reduction in the ability to do anaerobic metabolism, metabolism without needing
oxygen in the cells that will be utilizing the glucose that's available to them. As we work
through tapering and as we get to two to three days before an event, we then start the loading phase
and in the loading phase we're going to increase carbohydrate intake both in terms of the total
amount of carbohydrates that are being consumed moving towards that one to 1.2 grams per kilogram
of body mass per hour moving upwards into the 12 gram plus per kilogram of body mass per day
in order to initiate hormonal responses particularly from insulin that will cause liver cells and
skeletal muscle cells to start to store the extra glucose in the form of glycogen and this is where
we will get that supercompensation taking place making the glycogen molecules bigger and more
complex within the tissues at the end of the carbohydrate loading then we had at the beginning
of the carbohydrate loading. That is one of the methods that's available. In the late 1990s
researchers started looking at do we have to be that onerous? Do we have to be that restrictive?
Do we have to make sure that this carbohydrate loading takes place over multiple days with a
depletion followed by tapering followed by the supercompensation the loading phase and
through a series of research through a series of experiments what the researcher found is that
we can actually do this carbohydrate loading through a one-day depletion one-day loading event.
In the one-day depletion the person will work at what's referred to as a super physiological
level that is they're going to go above their maximal level by between 10 and 20 percent
for an endurance session that will be then followed by repeated sprints at maximal intensity.
That level of intensity in itself is enough to deplete the glycogen stores that are available
to the athlete. If we follow that event with breast recovery and loading we're able to get a
supercompensation that is a 90% increase in glycogen depositing just within the skeletal muscle.
There is a secondary method of training which is sometimes referred to as train high eat low
that is very similar to the depletion phase of the classical method and the one-day depletion
method in which the individual will train for multiple days at high intensity but not super
physiological in a low carbohydrate state. That will lead to glycogen depletion once performance
starts to be reduced because of the reduction in availability of carbohydrate. The individual then
have a rest day or days that is going to be accompanying a loading phase which will once again
see glycogen stores supercompensate between a 1.9 and a 2.0 times normal storage. There is another
method of carbohydrate loading that is done within people who are the aesthetic athletes,
the fitness athletes, the bodybuilders or for individuals who are attempting to lose weight
which is a cyclic carbohydrate loading sometimes referred to as a back loading in which the individual
will be cycling between a low and then a normal carbohydrate intake. What's different from the
back loading or from the cyclic carbohydrate loading is that they do not go into an excessive
carbohydrate intake. During the low carbohydrate state they will follow the normal depletion phase.
They will do this for a number of weeks. At the end of the depletion or low carbohydrate cycle
they will then cycle with normal carbohydrate intake. What is indicated within the very small
bit of research on this cyclic nature of carbohydrate loading is that there is a glycogen
depletion and then a replenishment of glycogen that is not in excess of what we see with the
normal classical model or with the depletion models either the train high eat low or the
one day depletion but we do see a replenishment in mild supercompensation and the reason why we
don't get a large supercompensation is because we do not go into excess with carbohydrate intake
following this method. What we do see is we do see a reduction in overall fat mass,
an increase in fat oxidation, the use of fats for fuel sources and in normalization of metabolic
flexibility for individuals who happen to have any type of metabolic syndrome such as type 2
diabetes and are attempting to use this type of method to lose weight. What is nice about this
type of cyclic nature within the carbohydrate loading is that if I'm following a low carbohydrate
diet because of how restricted the diet happens to be it's very hard to follow a low carbohydrate
diet for an extended period of time by utilizing the cyclic low normal fashion what it allows the
person to do is utilize a diet restriction in carbohydrates in periods that will maximize
fat oxidation during the periods of restriction but keep fat oxidation relatively high when
carbohydrates are still available. What about the hospital? We talked about the use within the hospital
in terms of preoperative conditions. In the preoperative condition what we usually have is
usually have a fasting period leading into the surgical performance. The person having surgery
usually will fast starting the evening before the surgery so that they reduce any materials within
the intestines and within the stomach so as to reduce any type of complications that might come
about from anesthetic exposure. What carbohydrate loading research has shown is that individuals
who will following the fasting window consume a high carbohydrate drink a few hours prior to surgery
do not have any type of adverse event coming about from consumption of the carbohydrate drink
end up having faster recovery times following the surgical procedures and for those individuals who
will have a secondary high carbohydrate drink in a postoperative state and have any type of
metabolic issues do not see any type of insulin issue or hyperglycemic issue high blood sugar issue
following the surgeries when consuming the high carbohydrate solutions which is an indication
that we have a way to help with recovery through utilization of carbohydrates in a
preoperative and postoperative state which leads to a question that we need to ask particularly about
the methods for carbohydrate loading outside of the hospital setting which is is there one
method that's better than the other and this is where we could get the normal physiological answer
of yes maybe but probably no or yes but no and the reason why it's going to be yes but maybe no
is that it all depends upon what the individual goal happens to be for the person following
the carbohydrate loading diet what is the goal that you're setting out to do with the diet and
exercise program where are you at within your training periodization within your training
periodization do you have the ability to have tapering taking place do you have the ability to
follow the restrictions necessary to do the classical model or are you in a time crunch if I am simply
using it for workout purposes then I usually don't have to worry about the tapering issue
however if I'm an endurance athlete then I have to worry about those tapering issues
if I am an aesthetic athlete a bodybuilder or a fitness athlete where am I at in my training cycle
in terms of do I want to follow the classical model within my cut phase or am I going to be
utilizing it very close to competition where I'm going to be utilizing that to maximize muscle
girth in which I will follow a classical model or am I going to utilize it within other parts of
the training cycle where I'm going to utilize maybe a train high eat low or utilizing a one day
depletion method now here's a interesting caveat on the carbohydrate loading and it goes back to
what we talked about in terms of neuron function if I'm a student carbohydrate loading could be
something of benefit as relates to test performance and that's because neurons are going to be
functioning off of glucose and glucose availability which means that if I have glucose available and
have more glucose available following a loading phase very similar to what a weightlifter or what
someone in the gym or a power athlete might do where I'm going to carbohydrate load 45 minutes
an hour prior to an event such as a test I will have additional fuel source available to my neurons
which should allow them to function at higher capacity well thanks for stopping by and thanks
for listening hopefully you got some interesting tidbits hopefully we dispelled a few myths and
misconceptions out there about carbohydrates and hormone responses to carbohydrate and how we can
go about following distinct carbohydrate dieting patterns to maximize our performance and our
overall health please stay tuned for more discussions on topics related to metabolism health
physiology and overall human performance