Paleo diet: Are you eating enough carbs?

guest — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:00:57 GMT

I’m on the Paleo diet and am not eating grains. My muscles feel tired a lot. How many carbs do I need?

According to the International Olympic Committee’s Nutrition Recommendations, adequate carbs means:

Header 1	Header 2	Header 3
Amount of exercise	Grams carb/lb	Grams carb / kg
Moderate exercise (~1 hour/day)	2.5 to 3	5-7
Endurance exercise (1-3 h/day)	2.5 to 4.5	6-10
Extreme exercise (>4-5 h/day)	3.5 to 5.5	8-12

Example, a 150-lb triathlete doing extreme exercise should target ~500 to 800 g carb/day (2,000-3,200 carb-calories). That’s about 500 to 800 g carbs every 4 hours during the daytime.

For optimal performance, your recovery meals and snacks should include a foundation of carbohydrate-rich foods (such as breads, cereals, grains, fruits, and vegetables) plus a smaller amount of protein (about 10-20 grams per recovery snack or meal). This can be hard to do on a Paleo Diet, unless you eat a lot of “heavy” fruits and vegetables (such as bananas, mango, dried fruits, beets, winter squash, and sweet potato).

For your recovery meal, do not consume just protein, as in a protein shake or protein bar. Protein fills your stomach and helps build and repair muscles, but it does not refuel your muscles. Your muscles want three or four times more calories from carbs than from protein. If you like the convenience of protein shakes, at least add carbs to them. That is, blend insome banana and frozen berries.

For more information on how to balance carbs and protein, refer to: Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook.

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Paleo diet: Are you eating enough carbs?