So I need to have carbs to replenish my muscles after a run. What grain works for you? I tried shredded wheat cereal, whole wheat only, and that only made me more hungry. What about the steel cut oatmeal? or is there anything else that you use?

Maltodextrin?

Have you tried coconut oil? I use it before cycling and sometimes have a Body Fortress shake w/half&half after weights, that seems to help.

I choose to not replenish my glycogen after a run. No need to, really. Once your body adapts to using only fat, there is no need for any carbs.

There is not a single grain that doesn't make me want to chew through a pile of sugar afterward.

well i don't reallly have any fat left on my body, so i guess you're referring to the fat that you eat. but then why does it matter whether i eat the carbs or the fat, since the body is going to burn whatever i put in my mouth?

I have heard, and I don't know if this is true, that barley isn't too bad. How you would eat it if it isn't part of a recipe I don't know. Good luck .

Bacause carbs are bad for us. It's as simple as that.

Carbs cause an insulin spike. Excess insulin is tied to fun stuff like artery inflammation, heart damage, retina damage, type 2 diabetes, senility and more.

Some of us have the additional symptom of obesity. Even if you do not get fat from carbs, the other stuff is still going on. Stick to good veggies, meat, fats and low carb berries. Your body will thank you for it later.

I am no expert on running, but it's my understanding that all runners need to carb up after an extended run. Running burns off the glycogen in the muscles and liver stores, so the extra carbs you eat after a run fill them back up. That doesn't cause the problems from insulin spikes that happen when your muscle/liver glycogen stores are already full. The muscles and liver soak it right up.

I disagree that carbs are bad for us. Excess carbs are bad for us. It's a matter of quantifying how much is too much. The whole point of having carbs converted to glycogen and being stored in the muscle is so that the muscle has quick access to fuel. Carbs and fats in the bloodstream are slow, so the muscle needs the stored carbs (glycogen) to have that immediate access.

I was just reading some info on glycogen storage this morning. Here's an interesting link that I found referencing it: http://www.trinewbies.com/Article2.asp?ArticleID=54.

I've noticed that if I have carbs post WO (resistance training) in the morning that I will be hungry all day. But, I can easily have carbs post WO in the afternoons/evenings and I don't get hungry. I'm not sure why that happens, but I've heard it happens for other folks too. So, if you run in the morning, you may want to take it easy on the post WO carbs.

I agree, diemde. I think there's a difference between people who are in the weight-loss mode and those who are in the maintenace mode, too. Those who have pounds of fat have the fat to burn off, but if you just have muscle, you don't want to burn that off.

WRONG!

" Athletes are told to eat a diet high in carbohydrates and low in fats. This, they are told, will increase their performance. However, this was not confirmed in a dietary study published in 1994. (5)

Using three diets: normal, high-fat and high-carbohydrate, the study showed that the high-carbohydrate diet increased performance by an average ten percent over a normal mixed diet. Not bad, you might think, but the high-fat diet increased performance by a massive thirty-three percent. That's much better. The authors conclude that restriction of dietary fat may be detrimental to endurance performance. "
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/athletic_diet3.html

The authors conclude that restriction of dietary fat may be detrimental to endurance performance. "
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/athletic_diet3.html[/QUOTE]

but this didn't say anything about lowering their carbohydrate intake, it just said upping their fat intake. All these "studies" are so random anyway - I mean, I could provide "studies" that go against the low-carb theories, but I know they're messed up or tweaked or whatever. I just want real proof, and all runners I know who are successful have a higher carbohydrate diet. True, adding fat may help, but lowering carb intake and upping fat intake is unheard of among all high-caliber runners I know and they are successful. Same with the Kenyans and other elite runners. They don't sit around eating meat all day and under 30 carbs a day.

I also looked up that elite runner who supposedly only ate protein and very little carbs. Another low-carb advocate posted him as an example in a different forum , and here is the response from someone ELSE about this runner: remember, these are his words, not mine - cause they are kind of harsh!

Another example: you've said -- parroting Groves -- that Mamo Wolde won the 1968 Olympic Marathon on a diet that contained practically no carbohydrates. You offer this "fact" as "proof" of something or the other.

Ask yourself: is something a fact just because Groves says it is? The only support that Groves offers for his claim about Wolde's diet is that fact that Wolde grew up in an Ethiopian village and chased wild game. If you bother to research, you will find that simply being Ethiopian and chasing game doesn't establish what Wolde's diet was as a child, let alone his diet during his long career as an internationally competitive athlete. If his diet were anywhere close to that of a typical Ethiopian, you would notice he was likely to eat a very high carbohydrate diet, consisting of large amounts of a bread (injera) made from teff, a grain that is a staple of the diet in that region. And other beans and grains. And you'll find that, though a lot of villagers in Ethiopia don't eat meat (except fish) for religious reasons, it defies reason to think there are significant numbers of Ethiopian villagers that subsist on an all-meat diet. Why? A hint: think about the climate in northeastern Africa. Think about what conditions would be necessary to keep meat available as the sole source of sustainance, with no grain or plant sources. Look into it.

If you can find one research resource that supports Groves' claims that (1) Wolde ever ate a low-carb diet AND (2) that he did so during the later phases of his career when he switched from shorter distances to the marathon, I'd love to see it.

It's funny, too: Groves said that, because of his diet, Wolde "had no concept of hitting the wall." Odd. Wolde and the great Ethiopian carb-eater Adebe Bikila were ten minutes ahead of the field during the 18th mile of the Boston Marathon. But both hit the wall. They had to walk. And they finished well back in the back. For a guy who had no concept of hitting the wall, he hit it pretty hard.

As you're looking that stuff up, you might also want to look up information about Groves' take on how metabolism works. He gets a lot of stuff wrong.

Groves got a lot of stuff RIGHT...and Gary Taubes' new book backs him up.

Now, my question is, if you still want to eat carbs and think it is healthy, what the heck are you doing on a LOW CARB forum??

Wifezilla, that's a bit harsh. This is not a No carb forum and the OP didn't say anything about wanting to eat high carbs... just trying to find an ideal carb source for after running.

On another forum I am on, an experienced lc marathon runner there suggests that running for 1 hour doesn't require add'l carbs before the run, but anything longer and you should have some. Post run, she suggests eating just like other people do for resistance training workouts. Her specific suggestions for post run are cereal and skim milk plus some egg whites or oats with protein powder.

I typically have protein powder after my workouts, sometimes with a few carbs, sometimes not. If I already have some carbs before the WO, then I won't add much afterwards, maybe 5-10 grams. Then within 2 hours, I have a normal protein/fat meal.

I understand that carbs for endurance athletes is a heated debate. There are some who say you don't need any and some who say you do. Westcoast, what I've found in my journey is that it's best to experiment with the suggestions offered to find out what works best for you. Maybe try it both ways for a week or 2 to see how you feel.