Sorry; carb cycling doesn\’t mean eating these round muffins! It\’s a shame, too; they look delicious!

I\’m not sure that carb cycling would work for me. It sounds like it means eating low carb except on days when you expect to engage in strenuous activity; but I ride five or six days a week. And it\’s quite usual for me to spend a large chunk of my ride time in my \”brisk\” heart rate zone.

When prediabetes first reared its ugly head, I worked with a nutritionist. Based on the amount of riding I do, she classed me as \”very active\”; and advised me to aim for 200-230 grams of carbs most days. That sounds like I have a lot of leeway, but carb grams add up fast; especially when you rely on non-meat sources for most of your protein.

I found this on a web site while looking for info about A1c and cycling:

\”When researchers had people with type 2 diabetes do four to six 30-second cycling sprints followed by four-minute recoveries, they had better glucose metabolism in their muscles than those who just biked at a moderate intensity for 40 to 60 minutes, according to a study published March 2017 in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.\”

What Should I Do?

So riding ought to help with blood sugar and A1c; but do I need more of the intense efforts? However, the nutritionist did say that exercise can make A1c levels rise; and how long does it take for this spike to diminish? Might Sunday\’s long ride explain Monday\’s high A1c levels?

Last year I read this book:

Athlete’s Guide to Diabetes

It\’s rather technical; but among other subjects it discusses managing glucose levels with exercise. This seems to be especially vital to people who have Type I diabetes. It sounds like a lot of hard work; but it\’s doable. Just look at Team Novo Nordisk!

As for me, it\’s back to restricting things such as FitCrunch bars to Sunday long rides! Can I calI that carb cycling?😉 I had gotten too much into the habit of munching on those bars anytime; and that didn\’t help my A1c, I\’m sure.