The Low Carb, High Fat Diet_ Is it beneficial for endurance performance? with Professor Louise Burke

Triathlon Nutrition Academy

The big question on so many endurance athletes lips - should I try the low carb high fat diet to improve performance? Maybe you’ve had a coach feel successful with this method or maybe you’ve watched a persuasive documentary on one of the streaming services.

To answer this big question, I brought in the big guns, Professor Louise Burke OAM. Affectionately dubbed the godmother of sports nutrition, she is an Australian sports dietitian with over 40 years of experience! She is the author of over 350 papers in peer reviewed journals and book chapters and is the brains behind the Supernova research series looking at the LCHF diet in elite race walkers.

On the podcast, I asked her the big questions:

• Why are we so obsessed with the LCHF diet & endurance performance?
• What did Supernova 1-6 tell us about the effects of a low carb, high fat diet on endurance performance?
• What happens physiologically during fat adaptation vs carbohydrate fuelling?
• How long does it take to fat adapt yourself?
• Why do fat adapted athletes then fuel with carbohydrate on race day?
• How long does it take to go from fat adaptation to efficient carbohydrate fuelling?
• In one word - does the Low Carb High Fat diet enhance endurance performance?

Tune in! It’s a goodie!

LINKS:

Connect with Louise Burke on Twitter

To get your nerd on, dive deeper into some of the more recent LCHF literature with these key papers:

• 2021. Adaptation to a low carbohydrate high fat diet is rapid but impairs endurance exercise metabolism and performance despite enhanced glycogen availability

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32697366/

• 2021. Ketogenic low-CHO, high-fat diet: the future of elite endurance sport?
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32358802/
  2020. Crisis of confidence averted: Impairment of exercise economy and performance in elite race walkers by ketogenic low carbohydrate, high fat (LCHF) diet is reproducible

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32497061/

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