The Two Types of Carbs: Carbs for Fuel (Performance) and, Carbs for Everything Else

Well, there is resistant starch, and then there is resistant starch.

While I was training for triathlons, I relied upon carbohydrates to fuel my running and cycling. I cannot ever remember spending time thinking about planning a meal before doing laps in the pool or spending time resistance training.

Leading up to this triathlon--and even for a while afterward--I experimented a lot with using various foods to try to get as much energy out of my food as possible.

There were many mornings when I would wake up at 2:00 AM just to eat a quick breakfast. I would then go back to sleep to wake up again at 5:00 AM for my morning ride with the local cycling club. I have tried several different kinds of carbohydrates at my 2:00 AM late dinner-early breakfast. Ultimately, I gravitated towards one specific type of carbohydrate.

I have experimented with many types of starches: ramen noodles, white rice, brown rice, rice noodles, oatmeal, cereal (frosted flakes), and spaghetti. If I ever ate bread before cycling or running, it was probably with breakfast cereal or oatmeal.

There was one particular Saturday morning where I remember waking up for a planned long, slow run of 12 miles. It was a six-mile out-and-back route.

I time myself on most of my running courses, and it seemed like this time in my running training, I was hitting a plateau. So, to improve the time it took me to run 12 miles, I figured I should eat something special for more energy. For the first experiment, I decided to eat frosted flakes.

It was an exciting experiment. I ate a quick bowl of frosted corn flakes and did well until about mile 11. I remember bonking badly—almost to the point of completely stopping just one half mile mile from completing the run. Let's just say while I still ate corn flakes after that; I haven't had frosted flakes in 17 years.

Another meal I considered before workouts included oatmeal and buttered toast. It was a little better than frosted flakes, but not by much. I can remember times riding and feeling like my fitness-level was to the point where I could get up to and sustain 22-23 mph on my bike for at least 10-miles. The interesting thing, though, when I was fueld by an oatmeal breakfast, I felt that there was something in my muscles preventing me from getting that extra two-to-three miles per hour. (A typical 20-mile average for me was about between 20-21 miles per hour.)

Then there is white rice. The cyclist's mother of all carbohydrates sources is white rice. There were many mornings where I would set my alarm for a couple of hours before sunrise just so that I could eat an excellent breakfast of eggs and white rice.

Oh. My. God.

The first time I experienced eating white rice then riding 20 miles, it felt incredible. I was in disbelieft. It made cycling at higher speeds so much more effortless than anything else I have tried.

In retrospect, I feel the idea that brown rice is "healthier" than white rice is a little misinformed.

Hmm. What is "healthy"? If you love eating white rice and have a lifestyle that is sedentary, then maybe brown rice might just be right for you. On the other hand, if you would like to maximize your effort and prevent the likelihood of getting dropped on a sunrise cycling club ride, white rice is your food. I have this vivid memory of thinking to myself, "man, white rice is like rocket fuel for cyclists!"

Who would have ever thought that for performance, brown rice would not be what you should choose to eat before this type of exercise?  

Just imagine, if most people have similar metabolic reactions to carbs, there may be some people that avoid cardio because they are not settling on the right foods to get them through the exercise efficiently. If that is the case, some people can be leaving a massive amount of exercise gains on the table.

The only time I have ever felt a "Runner's High" while riding a bike, was fueled by white rice. Imagine the impact of feeling an "exercise high" might have on someone that has not discovered that there may be a connection between their diet choices and how much they like exercise. 

I was so enamored with testing various foods' effects on performance, that I tried other foods thinking they might work just as well. 

Possibly, the most disappointing foods that I have consumed before exercise is rice noodles. It may have been the brand of rice noodles I tried, but I will have to say from my experience, rice noodles had not even measured up to oatmeal. The same thing goes for spaghetti. While spaghetti might have been an excellent meal to have after exercising, for me, before any type of cardio, it kept me from my best self.

Red grapes are excellent, too! 

So, here is a list of foods and my impressions of them with an explanation of how well my body was able to use them for performance and speed:

• Ramen noodles
• not good at all,
• White rice
• superior fuel
• like rocket fuel for cyclists
• red grapes
• I ate red grapes during the last half of a century ride (100-mile ride) once, and I ended up averaging 25 miles per hour, into a headwind, from mile 98 until mile 100
• Brown rice
• good but with a noticeable limit
• Rice noodles
• almost OK but with a limit just a little better than ramen noodles
• Oatmeal
• OK, maybe a bit better than brown rice
• no performance limit, energy output tapers at higher levels of intensity
• Cereal (frosted flakes)
• Bonk material
• Spaghetti
• Noticeably average, definitely not as good as rice

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