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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;">I've finally entered my first enduro, and want to get training and nutrition right. I'm on a sugar free diet because of a fungal infection. This is good because I want to lose weight, not least to make climbing easier! </span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;">Of course though it potentially impacts on my nutrition regime while racing and while training, and also possibly what my training regime should be. </span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;">Anyone know of effective ways to avoid sugars (including fruit, both fresh and dried) altogether, even on race day? Would the Enduro format lend itself to racing on the limited amount of sugar you can store (consumed beforehand in carboloading)? Should I go "train low, race high" and take some dates or something on race day?</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;">Also, what can I do to increase my capacity for relying on burning fat?</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;">All help gratefully received!</span>
To quote the dietetic partner.
Load of bollocks, very 80s.
Eat normally.
When you say no sugar, can you be more specific? I assume you aren't restricted on carbohydrates generally?
That being the case, as per MadBill, then why not just eat normally?
There's a reason so many people have issues with gels and energy drinks and that's because they're not always a good choice.
There's a load of stuff on it in the book Feed Zone Portables, which might be worth a look for recipe ideas too.
You can fuel yourself on race day just fine without having to eat the nearest thing you can find to pure sugar.
This should be quite achievable.
Enduro is very well suited to this type of diet restriction. You're going full gas for short stages, but the rest of the time you can take it quite easy (assuming your fitness is up to climbing at low intensity).
In terms of carbs on the bike you could do something very simple like plain bread, or be a bit more ambitious and have a go at the rice cakes that are popular with pro road cyclists.
In terms of becoming better adapted to burning fat at a given intensity level - that's rather less good news. That's a case of grinding out the early morning 2hr fasted rides and the longer 3-6hr easy rides.
Thanks everyone!
Mad Bill - for now, for medical reasons, I have to go sugar-free in my diet. I've done so before, and it felt very good - my energy levels throughout the day were much more constant.
I'm off all forms of sugar, including fructose (so no fruit, whether dried or fresh) and lactose (so no dairy). Also anything vaguely fungal, including yeast, so I couldn't have any bread anyway.
General advice is that I get my carbs from grains, especially rice, and veg. Oats are good too. But I'm interested to see how this would apply to training for the next 8 weeks and on race day itself.
mtbtomo, thanks for the tip on the book, I'll check it out.
Fifeandy, that's very encouraging. Rice cakes would be great, didn't know they'd be good on the bike. I could even put butter on - despite all the other restrictions, butter bizarrely doesn't contain lactose, so I can have it. The new fig roll?
Not the type of rice cakes you are thinking off (although they might work too).
You'll probably find the ones i meant in mtbtomo's book recommendation, and in the following youtube link
I've been processed sugar free for a while but maybe not as strict as you as I can still have certain things.
I still have milk and home made bread for instance.
It is quite hard but have lots of eggs on toast, and porridge. Take nuts with me etc. But I I do have dates etc .
Sugar kills my stomach so similar medical reasons but I feel a lot better for it actually. I've never been able tolerate gels and the like.
My energy is still on the whole very good. I can do a 4 hour ride without food and knock up a decent average but struggle towards the end for pace. You do get better the more you practice this type of diet.
Absolute sugar free is going to be tricky. Evenings not a problem but pre race fueling is tricky.
Thanks guys - useful link, certainly not the rice cakes I was thinking of! I like the idea of cooking / preparing one's own trail food.
One, thanks of your longer term perspective on what it's like having done it for a while. Hopefully as fifeandy says the format of the race should be in sync with the restrictions of what I can achieve with the diet. Definitely getting that Feed Zone Portables book!
curious to know why you have to stay off all sugar given the body's requirement for it.
curious to know why you have to stay off all sugar given the body’s requirement for it.
Because it's the only macronutrient the body can survive without. It can make glucose and it's called gluconeogenesis
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Principles_of_Biochemistry/Gluconeogenesis_and_Glycogenesis
https://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/gluconeogenesis.html
Your body converts simple carbs (e.g. white rice) to glucose too.
Poah - I'm staying off it because I have a fungal infection (same sort of thing as Candida). It's a simple way to deal with it, because fungi thrive on sugars - so you simply deprive the fungus of sugar, and it dies. Also of all fungus-y foods, like mushrooms, yeast, Marmite etc. I know people who've chosen to go sugar free for its own benefits - you feel great, your energy levels are stable all day.
I could just train without sugars, carefully managing intensity and duration in such a way that it wasn't a problem, and then get sugary on race day. That's 8 weeks away, which should be plenty of time to deal with the infection, so I'd be able to eat sugars again if I want. But I thought it'd be interesting to see what the alternatives might be, if any. And already some interesting stuff is turning up. Plus, quitting sugar is very effective for losing weight. Which I need to do.
This might be worth a listen/read they bit about Dr Timothy Noakes is interesting.
http://fatburningman.com/mark-sisson-the-carb-loading-myth-how-to-fuel-athletics-with-fat-advanced-heart-rate-training/
<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Dr. Noakes was the go-to guy in the science of carb management, glycogen management, and the endurance field for years. He was cited more often than anyone else. He wrote a book called The Lore of Running—a 900 page tome that explored all aspects of what it took to become a good endurance athlete, and it mostly centered around glycogen management.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">How do we use carbs to feed muscles? How do we use the stored form of carbohydrates, which is glycogen? He helped create one of the first glucose-replacement products on the market. He was the guy. I used to cite him all the time.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 28px; padding: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">He was also an athlete. He ran marathons and was training a lot, incorporating the techniques he helped derive. Then he realized he was becoming a <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">type 2 diabetic</span>. He’s like, “What’s going on here? I’m doing everything I think is right to prevent myself from going down that path.”</p>
Because it’s the only macronutrient the body can survive without. It can make glucose and it’s called gluconeogenesis
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Principles_of_Biochemistry/Gluconeogenesis_and_Glycogenesis
/a>https://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/gluconeogenesis.html/a >
I know but that that puts a huge metabolic load on cells using ATP to make glucose which isn't ideal if you want to train or do intensive sport