Charles submitted his question for the Ask Prof Noakes podcast today and it has to do with explaining the Banting diet to athletes who are not following it.

Charles said he’s been asked this question by people who are against the Banting diet, and he doesn’t quite know how to answer them.

If a non-fat adapted athlete, who fuels on carbohydrate, runs out of carbs, will their body then switch to fat for fuel, or what will the body use?  Likewise, for a fat adapted person, if a fat adapted person adds carbs before a race, does their body use the carbs first and then the fat stores for fuel later?  And finally once those carbs are burnt out, will it burn fat first?

Professor Tim Noakes:  Those are great questions and what we do know is that once you become fat adapted you metabolise carbohydrate totally differently.

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