When discussing triathlon carbohydrate intake and how carbs should be worked into your day-to-day nutrition routine, the following is the one single important aspect of human body science that you need to understand if they want your bodies to feel better, perform better and look better. At the Rock Star Triathlete Academy at, we teach this as one of the most crucial nutrition concepts to know.

Here it is:

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas. Insulin takes blood sugar and delivers it to the muscles for energy. If insulin levels are chronically high, then insulin receptors in your body become unresponsive to insulin. This can lead to many issues or a situation called “insulin insensitivity”. Problems can be weight gain, fatigue, appetite cravings, and even cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

In regards to triathlon carbohydrate intake there are two things you need to know

1) Never go hungry. When going more than 4 hours between meals, it’s probable your blood sugar levels will drop low. As a result the next time you decide to eat you are more likely to eat more carbohydrates. This will also cause blood sugar levels to rise more rapidly than usual, causing a big spike in insulin levels. To avoid this, eat small amounts 3 hours apart during the day. This will be easier if you pre plan a host of healthy snacks small snack to have on hand through out the day.

2) Choose the Right Carbs. The quicker sugar is released into the blood stream the faster insulin levels rise. “quick release carbs” include sports drinks, candy, cookies and other sweet tasting compounds. You want to stick with “slow release carbs” such as carrots, squash, nuts, seeds and berries. For the best triathlon carbohydrate intake, choose quick release carbs right before during and after exercise and use slow release carbs the rest of the time.

These 2 easy rules will enable you to have control over you insulin levels, health, physical performance and body. There is much more to carbohydrate intake than just those 2 rules but it is a solid place to start.

For more tips on triathlete carbohydrate intake go to Rock Star Triathlete and get your free tips now!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 7:30 pm and is filed under triathlon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.