A high complex carbohydrate diet is essential for endurance athletes running marathons or partaking in triathlons, but you are probably eating a high complex carbohydrate diet if three-fourths of all your meals are full of rice, pasta, bread, oatmeal or other grains. Endurance athletes generally consume 60 to 70 percent of their calories from carbohydrates -- and eating even more carbs in preparation for an upcoming event. Complex carbs are also referred to as dietary starch.
Fast-Digesting Carbs
Different sources of complex carbs or dietary starch are digested and absorbed into your bloodstream at different rates. White rice, brown rice, white-flesh potatoes, white flour and even bran flake cereals are all complex carbs, but they cause your blood sugar to spike. On a normal diet, you would eat two servings, or a total of 1 cup of fast-digesting, complex carbs, immediately after an exercise session. However, as an endurance athlete, you should eat four servings, or a total of two cups of rice or potatoes, after a training session or event to quickly replenish the energy you used in your muscles for your next session.
Slow-Digesting Carbs
Slow-digesting, complex carbs move through your digestive tract and are absorbed into your bloodstream at a slower rate compared with fast-digesting complex carbs. Such foods include spaghetti, fettuccine, boiled beans, rice noodles and whole-wheat flour products. These types of complex carbs should make up the majority of the carbs in your high complex carb diet, giving you sustained energy for your workouts.
Fruits and Milk
The sugars in fruits and milk are simple carbs, but are processed by the body like complex carbs due to the fiber in fruits and the protein in milk. The carbs in apples, pears, sweet cherries, grapefruit and oranges are absorbed into your bloodstream like spaghetti and whole-wheat flour products; the carbs in pineapple and watermelon are absorbed quickly like white rice and potatoes. Eat more apples, pears, oranges and sweet cherries than pineapple and watermelon on a high complex carb diet.
Considerations
To reduce your risk of insulin resistance and diabetes as you age, eat primarily slow-digesting, complex carbs on a high complex carb diet. Fast-digesting, complex carbs can wreak havoc in your body when consumed too often, over many years and other than in your post-workout meal. Consider eating lean protein and healthy fats with fast-digesting, complex carbs to slow their absorption into your bloodstream. You can certainly gain weight on a high-complex carb diet if you discontinue your exercise program and/or eat more calories than you expend. Your body will store calories from fat, protein and carbs as body fat if you do not burn the calories.
References
- "ACSM's Health and Fitness Journal"; "Carbohydrates"; Dixie Thompson; November/December 2008
- "Exercise Physiology, Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance"; William McArdle et al.; 2007
- "ACSM's Health and Fitness Journal"; "Glycemic Index: An Educational Tool for Health and Fitness Professionals"; Stephen Wong et al.; November/December 2003
- "ACSM's Health and Fitness Journal"; "Applying Concepts of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load to Active Individuals; Melinda Manor et al.; Septemeber/October 2004
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