Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate is the body's preferred fuel for moderate and hard exercise, stored in muscle and liver as glycogen. It comes from grains, fruit, starchy vegetables, legumes and dairy.
What published research reports
The joint position statement of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine (2016) publishes carbohydrate targets scaled to training load: roughly 3–5 g per kg of body weight per day for light training, rising to 6–10 g/kg for endurance athletes training one to three hours daily, and up to 8–12 g/kg for very high volumes. It reports that low muscle glycogen is associated with reduced high-intensity capacity, and the ISSN nutrient-timing position stand (2017) reports that carbohydrate eaten in the hours after exercise restores glycogen fastest when recovery time is short.
References
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