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What is Carb Loading |
Carbs in Food |
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Information About Carbs | Carbohydrates Guide | Low Carb Diets |
Carb LoadingAs the name suggests, carbohydrate-loading means loading-up on carbs to provide an extra energy reserve when energy expenditure is prolonged. Glucose as an Energy SourceGlucose is the body's fuel or energy source. All work done by the body - its organs, muscles and cells - is powered by glucose. Usually, most glucose is metabolized (converted) from the food we eat, especially carbohydrates - which are easily converted into useable glucose. If food calorie intake drops below calorie expenditure, the body burns up any spare blood-glucose, or dips into its "glucose reserve" stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver. Once these reserves are used up, the body then utilizes its fat stores and burns adipose (fat) tissue. Normal Energy ExpenditureThe glucose we get from food is usually sufficient for the body's daily activities, and the glucose stored as glycogen is usually enough for normal bursts of energy. But energy requirements for athletes involved in (eg.) endurance events (not less than 90 minutes) are much greater. To avoid "hitting the wall" - ie. running out of energy - some athletes load-up on carbs to ensure an adequate energy supply. How Carb Loading WorksCarbohydrate-loading is a diet-tactic to temporarily boost the amount of glycogen (the glucose energy reserve) stored in the muscles and liver, and goes something like this:
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Carbs-Information.com provides general information about different types of carbohydrate, like monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, as well as nutritional value of carbohydrates, carb-content of foods, plus details of GI values of all food groups, plus advice about diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance. But no information is intended as a substitute for medical advice. Copyright 2003-2021. |