Exercise and the Atkins Diet - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[mbrave]

Hi Dinah,
It's been a while since the original post, but as a low-carb eater myself, maybe I can give some tips.

Some background: I've been following the Primal Blueprint eating style (Mark's Daily Apple) for a year now. My blood pressure and cholesterol have improved, lost 40 pounds, knee problems and digestion problems nearly gone, etc. A lot of this way of eating is uncontroversial here: no processed foods, no dessert or sugar, fresh vegetables and nuts. Some parts may be controversial: no grains or rice, all carbs should come from fruit and vegetables (which makes it low-carb no matter how big your stomach), and finally, it's relatively high-fat.

So there's my answer on energy: it comes from fat and protein. If your client is trying to eat low-carb and low-fat, there won't be anything in the tank. She needs to eat more... butter, olive oil, eggs, something, for slow-releasing energy. And while you're right the body needs glucose, it need not be dietary - it is naturally synthesized from dietary protein. This provides more than enough energy for brief (30-45 minutes) and intense weightlifting and sprinting sessions for me, 3x a week. Once you've been on low-carb a few weeks, the body naturally burns dietary fat and body fat as fuel instead of glucose.

However, if you're going for much longer workouts, or more endurance based, tell your client that even Atkins wouldn't begrudge a banana or two (low-carbers will be less phobic of fruits than grains ), and rather than promote a fat-storing insulin response, it will just help shuttle nutrients to the muscles.

I don't mean to start a debate, I know this is considered an unorthodox eating plan, and I'm certain all of you know a lot more about nutrition and physiology than me. But I will say that there are a lot of misconceptions about the healthfulness and sustainability of this way of eating (see the MDA forums for a lot of intelligent, informed discussion, way over my head, on nutrition research), and it has worked much better for me than anything else I've tried. Besides, if your client wants to stick to Atkins, this will help her workouts.

Good luck, hope it works out! Mike