Didn’t want to hijack the other carbo loading thread but it led me to think more about the best way to carbo load or just what and when to eat 9-16 hours before a IM. I’ve heard some elites load up on soft drinks and Sutton recommending a liter of ice cream the evening before a long race.
It would be faster and easier for you body to transfer to glycogen so it make more sense to me than pasta or grain based carbs.
Be interested to hear others thoughts and opinions.
The sugar that they intake (such as coke) triggers and increased release of insulin in the body which helps the body to store glycogen more efficiently.
The theory goes, first consume something super sugary (coke) and then eat something that has a 4-to-1 ratio of carbs to protein as this is the ratio that the muscle best takes in to store as glycogen. Chocolate milk has a 3:1 ratio, but most pasta dishes (with chicken or some other meat) can be close to the 4 to 1 ratio. That or you can mix yourself the worst tasting drink in the world of maltodextrin and protein powder…bleh.
stay away from anything that has HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) – this stuff does not trigger the same response from the liver or pancrease that other sugars elicit. (sorry for the spelling)
I think the under cooked pasta " al denta " was slower to digest . This helped in carbo loading , sugar is just a short spike in digestion .