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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lataxe" data-source="post: 2744491" data-attributes="member: 594963">It's been a subject of contention for many years, really.  It seemed to begin with the notions of "the stone age diet" which there's no evidence for of any definitive kind but which can be the subject of very educated guesses. The guesses tend to go: hunter gatherers didn't/couldn't gather stuff like wheat, rice and the other staples of our modern high-starch diet so they must have lived on a diet with a much greater proportion of fats and proteins than we moderns live on.It does seem unlikely that enough grain-foods could be gathered and stored before the advent of farming to match modern diets. But then what about the rest of the hunter/gatherer lifestyle? For example, high levels of physical activity may have been relatively brief (the hunt) with long periods of very low level physical activity (the gathering). Such a lifestyle has a relatively low demand for glycogen in the liver and blood. On the other hand, many styles of hunting may have been wolf-like, requiring day-long following and chasing at levels rather like that of a marathon.There do seem to be different evolved body types (often classified as mesomorph, endomorph and ectomorph - big boned/muscled, large proportion of body-fat, very slim and low weight). Perhaps these are associated with the evolution of different hunter-gatherer lifestyles burning different amounts of energy at different rates? All speculation.  <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> As a racing cyclist (road racing and time trialling) I found it impossible to avoid a need for carbs. We all certainly trained to use bodyfat as a readily available fuel for exercise but it's metabolisation from fat to glycogen (muscle-fuel) is unavoidbaly slow compared to the transformation of carbs into glycogen. Cycling at high energy levels can only go on for a relatively short time without carbs, the usual time quoted being two hours-ish. And this is the time taken for the body to burn up all the blood and liver-stored glycogen when we try hard and continuously. When its gone, its possible to continue riding on bodyfat fuel if one has trained to more easily transform fat-to-glycogen ..... but not at race-pace. Race pace means "the bonk" (identical to the runners' "hitting the wall"). I do know touring cyclists who can go hours and a lot of miles (60+) without eating.  I've done it myself on long Sunday club runs when the pace is 15mph average rather than the 25mph pace of road racing or time trialling. I was always ready for a large serving of mashed tatty and a bowl of rice pud when I got home though.  Yes.  <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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