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Cycling, T2 and Carbohydrates

A

adm

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I am Type 2 and successfully control it with exercise and low carb diet. HbA1c was 5.4 three months ago, and my next set of results are due next week. Hopefully it will be the same or lower.

Since being diagnosed back in April this year, I have been enjoying swimming and cycling and in fact have been enjoying the cycling so much that I will be entering several long distance "sportive" cycling events next year.

Everything I read about nutrition for cycling talks about "carbo-loading", and for these long distance events, there is a lot of use of energy bars or gels which are all carohydrate based. Now, this goes directly against my low-carb diet practice, but I am at the point where I am starting to need additional nutrition to allow me to push myself harder.

I guess if I eat a big bowl of wholemeal pasta 3 hours before a ride, then my BG will spike right up but the sugars will get burned off during the ride. Same for energy bars if the ride is long enough...

Then there's a school of thought that says there is a "glycogen window" for three or four hours after a strenuous ride where you should eat more carbs as it aids muscle recovery.

Anyway - I'm a bit confused about whether or not I should eat loads of (preferably complex) carbs when I am cycling hard but stick to my low carb diet at all other times.

Has anybody else got experience or knowledge with this?

Thanks,


Alasdair
 
Firts of all you need to test and teat and test and maybe try a few experiments. Most people and that includes Diabetics do need extra carbs to keep glycogen levels replenished and CHO is more efficient than converting protein etc. I have experience of weoking with diabetics by the way!

It is not a school of thought there are alot of studies that have shown glycogen uptake is accelerated for about 2 hours after exercise and is enhanced with protein. An intake of around 20-25g protein and 30-50 g CHO is probably an ideal amount. A study at Lloughborough uni showed that in fact skimmed milk was the ideal recovery drink - about a pint!

So really need to maybe start with small amounts of carbs , test and see what happens!
 
Thanks for the info.

Looks like I'll be packing my meter for the next few months when I go cycling.....luckily it's pretty small (Contour USB).
 
Hi,
You may want to have a look at the runsweet website/forumn this site covers specifically diabetes and sport so some of the guys on that may be able to give you some useful ideas. The site covers all sorts of sports but I do know cycling is covered quite well.
Anyway have a look and keep up your sporting activities, I find that so long as I am exercising on a regular basis I can consume far more carbs than I would be able to otherwise. Certainly without some extra carbs I start flagging quite quickly.

Hope this helps.
 
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