To Lebron or Not to Lebron?
Is the King's no carb diet right for you?
When LeBron started off the 2014 basketball season, people were shocked by his slimmed down physique. Lebron credited his 50 lb weightloss to cutting out carbs - eating only meat and vegetables for 67 days. The goal? To increase performance and energy on and off the court by training the body to use fat for fuel.
Carbohydrates we consume in our diet are broken down by our body into glucose (sugar) to be used as energy or stored in our body as glycogen for later use. When carbs aren't available, our body depletes these stores and turns to protein and fat as a secondary fuel source. The process of breaking down fat into fatty acids for energy is called ketosis.
Many nutritionists and athletes laughed to themselves when learning of Lebron’s plan, as we have long been taught we need carbohydrates for energy. But do we really? Maybe we've been thinking about it all wrong.
According to a study by Phinney et al., people who cut carbs and supplemented with protein and omega 3s for 6 weeks were able to maintain their blood glucose and muscle glycogen during strenuous exercise. These results suggest that prolonged ketosis results in adaptation, after which lipids become the major metabolic fuel.
Volek, Sharman, Gómez, et al (year) compared the effects of a low carb diet versus a low fat diet on weight loss, body composition, trunk fat mass and overall energy expenditure in overweight individuals. They found a clear advantage of the low carb diet for short term body weight and fat loss, demonstrating metabolic advantage with diets representing extremes in macronutrient distribution.
Typically, on the court performance plummets as athletes burn through their sugar stores and adrenaline runs out. By training your body to use fat as fuel instead of carbs, your body goes through a metabolic shift bypassing this lull, leading to increased energy, enhanced performance, and a slimmer body. To good to be true? Let's see how lebron does on the court.
Please let me know your thoughts and comment below!
About the Author:
Caelainn Coffman is a Medical Student @ Western University of Health Sciences. She has completed her Bachelors & Masters degrees in Psychology & Biomedical Sciences
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