The Surprising Link Between Carbs and Athletic Performance | Prof Noakes 

Richard! Brilliant podcast ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ so much good information 🙏

I am in my 76th year. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in 2014 I weighed 270 lbs. With the prescribed medicine, I reduced some weight to around 220 lbs. Later, I relapsed into eating like a pig, and then, after a mild heart attack (mid-2018), I abandoned the prescribed stuff which was messing with my GI system. I reduced my weight to 210 lbs. I even became a VEGAN, horror of horrors as I have been a carnivore since early youth, today I am “normal” again. By the end of 2018, I was on an intermittent fasting regimen, eating one meal a day. I have done a few prolonged fasts of 72 hours, a bunch of 48-hour ones, and many of just 24 hours all without grievous problems. Today I mainly stick to a very low-carb diet (maybe Keto?). Today I weigh 190 lbs, I still have fat in my midriff and a lot of loose skin. My exercise? I walk, I bike gently and I swim slowly. I am no athlete but I am in the best of health since my youth. Not bad for a glutton.

I am on a Keto diet for 4 years and a cyclist- I’ve done the Trans Baviaans cycle MTB event in SA - 230km in 11h26 with only a high fat breakfast and electrolytes in my bottles for the complete race

I don't think we should use the term "Food Addiction", it should be "Carb Addiction". We need food (i.e.meat), but we don't need carbohydrates (remember that this includes sugars), and it is carbs that people are addicted to.

What a fascinating interview. Tim Noakes is not only a man of great knowledge, but of unshakable integrity. Pity there aren't more like him in the worlds of diet, sports, science and academia.

I was insulin resistant at 60, it took me approximately 3 months to become fat adapted. At 63 im now stronger and leaner.

This is one of the greatest video's I've seen in a long time. I am NOT an athlete but I have total revised my health on the 4 years on the Keto diet. I'm 69 years old tomorrow.

Listen up, a doctor had diabetus and didn't know it. And started turning it around in a day. But in 2 hours of reading something changed his mind. So profound. Thank you nokes! you saved my life too. Many have helped. Keep it up I still haven't going full keto but low carb for life, just a year ago. My kids are on board and crave butter. In everything.

Tim is positively glowing! His incredible story, his willingness to question his own learnings in the pursuit of real truth via science, his ability to remain positive and to demonstrates resilience in light of all the sh&t that the SA Med Community threw at him (plus the international band wagon riders) cannot be overstated. The shackles he's been wearing over the past x years have been removed. We owe him (and every other contributor in this space) a great debt. It's time to start repaying him for his effort.

this needs to be an 8 hour interview, plz get him on again Richard

I do fasted cycle trips and have found my cut off is around 75miles (120km). For me that is just over 5 hours depending on the category. I can do that even if I have fasted for 48hrs. I am Carnivore and normally OMAD so my rides start at approx 17 hrs in. The huge benefit is no muscle soreness before during or after.

I gave up carbs 4 years ago and went low carb ketogenic and now at 60 I have never felt better ! I'm very athletic, weight lifting, sprinting, biking, mountain climbing and my muscle, strength, endurance and health have steadily improved the last 4 years of low carb diet ! I have been following Dr Noakes for those 4 years. I wish we could punish the large food companies and people pushing Gatorade and that sugar carb crap ruining people's health.

Congratulations, Prof Noakes! Republic of South Africa, has produced incredible MEDICAL and other Talent! Many, are Sought after! “ Cry The Beloved Country “! 🦁🐑🇿🇦🇬🇧

His story never gets old! Nice to see you again Prof Noakes!

Always trained fasted and low carb and did great in training sessions then tried adapting to carbs 3 weeks before a race and started getting sore, legs feeling heavy, and would gain 15 lb and did terrible in races. Foolishly believed the myth of needing carbs. Now i can bike 150 miles with 0 calories with just electrolytes on carnivore. Thanks Tim Noakes.

MOST INTERESTING DR NOAKES. I AM 79YRS OLD. STILL DOING *BODYBUILDING*. SINCE 1958. I AM NOT A RUNNER . FOR THE LAST +-2YEARS I DO NOT CONSUME PASTA,RICE,MAIZE PRODUCTS,CEREALS,MAIZE PORRIDGE. I USE BREAD TO THE MINIMUM. I EAT FRUIT AND ANIMAL PROTEIN PRODUCTS. I AM HEALTHY,FIT AND LIVELY, AND FEEL LIKE A 50YEAR OLD PERSON. MY EXPERIENCE MAKES ME BELIEVE THAT ONE SHOULD CUT CARBOHYDRATES TO THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM , ENGAGE IN PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND FOLLOW YOUR *DR NOAKES FAT ++PROTEIN DIET 💪💪💪 THANK YOU DR NOAKES. I AM ALSO A SOUTH AFRICAN.

Dr. Noakes lastest book, KetoGenetic, a physiology text book is very good. He is the editor but each chapter has a differant contributor, the material is heavily referenced for all the naysayers.

That hour went by way to fast. Can't wait for the next sitdown with Prof Noakes! As always Richard, the content you're putting out is second to none! Thank you for everything that you're doing!

70 yo, I've spent most of this year translating my diet towards very low carb high fat carnivore. I thought my resistance was mental preconceptions. But yep it's Carb Addiction ! Now for me the real test begins. Thanks for this chat, I subscribed.

Prof Noakes book Waterlogged changed my entire way of thinking when I was racing triathlon. Not racing anymore but long days in the mountains climbing is definitely a thing now. Most of them are done in a completely fasted state.

I have been following low carb content online since around 2011 when the LCHF movement really took off here in Sweden and I've been watching literally thousands of hours of low carb/keto/carnivore content since around 2017. I also watched all 80 plus episodes of the Tim Noakes trial.😅 But bcs of my own personal struggles on low carb eating (plus bcs I'm a nutritional therapist and different diets is a personal interest of mine), I've also watched and read tons of other material from both the plantbased "camp" and the pro metabolic community and so on. To anyone reading this I want to clarify that these questions/reflections/opinions I'm about to post does NOT mean that I'm in any way, shape or form is opposed to a low carb/keto/carnivore way of eating. But I do wish to discuss certain things bcs they are valid questions/points and we should always be open to discuss these things bcs I think there are so many nuances when it comes to diet and nutrition. And I know that both Richard (and Stephen) are extremely open minded people, that's why I like them so much, and that's why I feel like I can write these things here without being immediately "shot down" just bcs I have these questions and reflections. There are many things I would want to have clarification about. You are saying here that glucose is a TOXIN. I can't understand that statement since we would literally die without glucose. It's so important to us that we make it ourselves. I think it's strange to then call glucose a toxin for that reason. You also say that carbs are the CAUSE of diabetes. There are pretty compelling evidence that that's not the cause though. The Kempner trials reversed diabetes on a diet of white rice, fruits, fruit juices and plain sugar. Not a healthy diet by any means but it reversed the diabetes and therefore proved that carbs are not the CAUSE of diabetes. And it's not possible to just explain it away with the "Randle cycle" bcs the facts still remains that carbs aren't the cause of diabetes. If that was the case, they wouldn't be able to reverse their diabetes on a super high carb diet, Randle cycle or not. The carbs in themselves are not the cause, as stated. Also, there are plenty of indigenous people that have lived on whole foods high carb diets, like the Tsimane for example, and they don't have diabetes, heart disease and other metabolic diseases to any extent. I think the evidence that whole food carbs are the cause of diabetes is not there. When a person has already developed metabolic disease though they have a difficult time processing glucose, but that's another topic. The reasons for developing metabolic diseases in the first place seems to mostly be bcs of processed junk and especially the combination of seed oils and refined carbs. People like to post pictures from 60's and 70's pointing out that there were hardly any obesity and metabolic diseases back then. I've seen carnivores post these pictures even. But those people weren't eating a low carb diet, so I'm not sure why those pictures are used as evidence for the superiority of low carb eating?🤔 It more proves that a whole foods diet, including carbs, does NOT cause diabetes and metabolic diseases. Regarding the studies on the high carb athletes versus the high fat athletes, are there any studies done on what happens when they run out of glucose and glycogen, meaning yes, it's obvious that the high fat athletes still make their own needed glucose, but that glucose has to be made from somewhere so what I want to know is if the high fat athletes breaks down more muscle tissue during the race to produce this while the high carb athlete don't bcs they continuously supplies the body with exogenous glucose? Is this measured in any of these studies? Regarding the sugar addiction, it's definitely proven that junk food is addictive and that grains and legumes contain antinutrients that blocks nutrient absorption. But we have taste buds for sweet taste on the tip of our tounge and we have amylase enzymes for breakdown of starches. If glucose would be a toxin for us, we would use these senses to detect them and spit them out, but we like them and are drawn to them bcs of a reason. Not bcs it's "addictive" but bcs we actually can use glucose and glucose is the quickest way to blunt stresshormones. I haven't seen any evidence that fruits or honey have a detrimental effect on humans, on the contrary there are studies that shows positive effects instead. I think it's a fallacy to clump all carbs together and to call them toxic, that they are the cause of diabetes and that they are inherently addictive. In that case we could argue that our strong cravings for meat is addictive aswell. There seem to be genetic differences though on how well a person handles carbs, that might explain why some people do so incredibly well on low carb diets when others simply don't. I've come across so many people during all these years that just haven't done well on low carb eating and they haven't all "done it wrong". Sure, some have fasted too much, eaten too little in total, eaten too low fat, too low protein and yadiyadiya...but there are also plenty of people that have done everything in their power for years (I'm one of those people) and they just can't get the benefits that some do on low carb ways of eating. I feel like this is something to be acknowledged by the low carb community and not just explained away by "oh, they are sugar addicts" or "they did it wrong". I'm not accusing anyone on this channel of doing that, but it sure is common in the low carb community overall. And sure, I get that it's probably difficult to understand that some people really struggles on low carb if you are that person that have had miraculous health improvements on a low carb way of eating. I love the friendly, mature and intelligent debates that have taken place recently between the "pro metabolic" way of eating and the lower carb ways of eating. I feel like the low carb communities takes it a bit too far when they use wordings like "glucose is toxic" and "carbs causes diabetes" and that the pro metabolic takes it a bit too far on their end aswell when they claim that everyone would do better eating lots of carbs. As I said..there seem to be more nuances to this.☺️

Mind blowing! Thank you for sharing. I've been low carb 6 years now with significant health benefits and practice both intermittent and extended fasting as well as training in a fasted state. I am also now running ultra trails and struggling with the concept of needing carbs as i'm training for my first 100k. This has given me so much clarity!. I have also seen the benefits of exogenous ketones for performance and recovery. You have given me a new perspective. Thank you!

Been on/off keto/carnivore for the last 4 years. Every time I go back to "moderate" carbs for road cycling performance gains (lol, I'm 55) moderate becomes excessive, I put on weight, raise my FTP cos of the extra leg muscle I need to carry the weight but my W/Kg sucks...been back on

Magical thank you. I completed the Nutrition Network training last year. I'm now mostly carnivore, working very much on the food addiction and other addictions aspects, linked with trauma in many cases, and suicide prevention and education. I'll be at the Public Health Collaboration ambassadors conference this Sunday and I expect Jen Unwin to be there. She's magical of course. Anyway thanks all, and also to Maria Hennings Hunt (Dance Generation, etc), who's magical too, also trained by Nutrition Network, and she sent me the link to this podcast. Wow. Wonderful. Thanks again, Alan Chapman, Leicestershire UK (LiveWildLiveFree, etc)

Fantastic that you got Pro Noakes on Richard! Good reminder of food addiction too.

That was fantastic! Definitely worth waiting for. What a great conversation. Loved every nugget of information - the idea that our body dumps glucose into the muscles not to make us a better athlete, but to save our life. Turns everything on its head really. Enjoyed every word. Thank you! I'm off to find the Food Addiction Podcast now with Dr. Jen Unwin for more excellent learning ☺

A FANTASTIC podcast, thank you Tim and Richard for sharing the knowledge.

That’s stunning….never imagined that carbs are treated as an unwanted invasion by our body. I became Keto adapted earlier in the year,but circumstances led to moving back to carbs. Now,for past few months been low carb and intermittent fasting 16-8. However this podcast has prompted a return to Keto. Many thanks.

Amazing, been doing high fat, low carb for ten months. Paddled 2 kilometers climbed 96 meters in 2.5 hours which is ok considering I was cruising. I'm 67.

Is it a matter of a lack of integrity that causes these people (Lise) to lie about fat vs carbs? Do they know that they're lying? Thanks Tim and Richard. Excellent video!

Excellent interview Richard. Thanks from a ketovore from Canada.

Brilliant! Finally the pros and cons of low fat and low carb eating well explained. So very valuable for athletes and sedentary people.

Hi prof Noakes, love your work

Finally! I undetstand! I am a recreational, endurance cyclist who completes several endurance events every year and went LCHF/ketovore four months ago. I have watched countless videos on RU-vid by Prof Noakes, Dr Jeff Volek, Dr Steve Phinney et al and read their books. However, it always seemed to me that there were a couple of missing pieces in their advice and I was always looking for more up-to-date info. Finally, this amazing interview with Prof Tim Noakes has filled in the blanks for me. Your annecdote Richard regarding the neo-pro cyclist you coach and his amazing zero-carb performance has confirmed that a low carb lifestyle is a viable option. My initial goal for this year is to match (or hopefuly beat!) my previous carb-fuelled performance in one or more of my century rides using minimal carbs or even none at all. Thanks for a brilliant video. 👍👍👍

IMO the best scientists are completely open to new data without prior biases affecting their judgement. Someone like Tim, who has done a total 180 on a massive and well researched subject are clearly that type of scientist and for me the most credible because you know they have looked at all of the research on both sides. As a sport scientist myself I’ve found that people who have always been on one side of the fence on an issue tend not to have looked much at all at the opposing research. This is why I listen to a lot of Tims podcasts and videos - I know I am getting a full picture. Thanks to both of you and keep up the good work 👏👏👏

Just fantastic, Rich and Prof!! Such an fascinating interview. Loved it.

Prof. Noakes will be proud of me for running a fasted marathon in spring of 2023 - no food after 6 pm, ran marathon at 7 am the next day. Yeah!

Noakes and Smith, two stars in their own rights ❤

Been listening to Prof. Noakes for years but still never fail to learn something new from his talks... Amazing content!!

Always interesting! Thank you so much for your work!

I read the book the ‘Lore of running’, I wish Tim Noakes had his current knowledge in that book.. Brilliant interview Richard. It’s not a criticism but Richard has a wealth of knowledge but seems shackled because he doesn’t want to tread on anyone’s toes, listening to Richard from 47th minute on this interview, was in my opinion his best to date. 👍

Excellent, waiting for part 2 ,thanks Richard and Prof Noakes

I have just bought Tim’s book based on this interview. Can’t wait to read it.

Fabulous podcast. It baffles me that scientists thought that someone suffering 'the bonk' had worn out their muscles and that it wasn't caused by hypoglycemia. If I bonk on my bike I can still walk it along the road, my legs are still great. I'm glad that I suffer badly from consuming high glyceamic foods so that back when I was young I prioritized protein and minimized simple carbohydrates. Every time I watch the pro cyclists eating those gels I wonder about their livers, kidneys, pancreas and gut biome. I would like to know how many of them will become diabetic.

The grandfather of our carnivorous life

Noakes is brilliant, a real life hero. Awesome interview!

I always love listening to Dr Noakes

Wow! How did you land an interview with Tim Noakes with only 3.16K subscribers? That's brilliant! It would have been great to have links to the studies mentioned for us hard core folks.

Dr. Naokes I've seen a lot of and is very interesting, but I'm really appreciating the host, his humility when he listens and enthusiasm when he speaks. Very good channel.

Great conversation, so informative loved it ❤

Awesome Prof. Koakes Thank you for the astounding lesson❤

I can do 20 minutes of bagwork in 36°C heat. I'm 58, 4yr carnivore and I needed breaks between rounds when I was 25 and training in a colder country. Better recovery, less injuries, no competition.

My partner and I have almost completed a 3500km cycle tour of the Balkans. We normally eat few carbs in our home country but couldnt get much suitable safe alternative. We both suffered muscle pain and fatigue as never before even after just short stops for photos etc. We could accurately predict the onset, duration and termination of the pain, and it was identical in us. Im aged 70 and she is 58. I also lost 10% of my body weight, she, none.

Awesome Rich!! “The God Farther” Noakes

Thanks so much for this. This really cleared up my confusion over this.

Fabulous episode with one of the greatest doctors and teachers of all time! ❤❤❤

Loved this interview! Very informative 🙌

Love the book will need to read it again, very deep lots of research worth every penny.

Educational !! Great information to learn and apply! Thank you for sharing your amazing knowledge. 👌🌹🌹🌹

Great podcast! The Prof can talk more than Richard! 😁

Phenomenal content. Thanks to both of you 👏🙏🏼

If you're addicted to it, it is not food. Carb addiction, though, is a thing.

This podcast with tim is super full of good stuff. The concept of pain blocking or drugs or reward path to continue performance. Super cool. Not everyone is Goggin's insane on no drugs. He is so high on life. Wim hoff method makes you high, cold showers do. So this mental path is yet another tool in the box. Thanks

Such a great explanation by Prof. Thank you for a fantasise interview!

This is an excellent talk/interview, this needs some nice clips taking out for people short on time. Hopefully Kent Carnivore will grab some clips for one of his compilations.

Great interview!

The day before I do a 20 mile fell run I fast. The day I start the run I am in ketosis. By the time I finish I am deep into ketosis. Recovery is much quicker than it used to be 20 years ago when I was 47. I don’t stay in ketosis for long. I eat a meal of meat and veg and I’m back to normal glucose levels within a few hours.

Thanks to both of you . Great wealth of knowledge

Awesome info, I’ve run a couple of half marathons while fat adapted and I find I always have an energy boost during the second half of the race. Great content!

Thanks for this revolution. It's not so much based on caveman science. But by todays hot mess of miss guided/biased/influenced information, very much a revolution. I'm low carb and have gone 2 days with nothing, dry fast. Exercised my usual small amount each day and felt great. It was as if i ate my normal meals feeling. It is a good amount of mental focus and re-training to go along with it. The triathlon fasted, BRAVO. that gives me hope to keep going at this new fresh life. I feel so rejuvenated and ready for a full life. just a year ago, i was pre-diabetic and gave up on life. I was desperate but didn't know what to do. Tim and his story was part of the inspiration to go low carb and find what works. Exercising and low carb still didn't make total sense but now it does.

I've started about 4mths ago a fasting which is roughly 24hr (basically 1 meal per day) for 5-6days per week I'm still low carb but I think it's because of taste more than anything rather than performance. But as a strength athlete I find recover is better and at a much small body size I'm still just as strong as I was 20+kg heavier.

This is absolutely fascinating; thank you - I have completed 12 Comrades marathons and so know all about Carbo-Loading but, since 2012, have been on a low carb diet. One thing that I have discovered is a phenomenon known as Insulin Suppression. It can be problematic in some people, interrupting a host of other hormonal activities - just something to be aware of.

Great discussion you have with Timothy Noakes, cheers from Aus.

I’m so anxious to hear how the Ray Peat/Pro metabolic experts will react to this.

Great podcast. Thank you both👍👍👍👍👍

Excellent as ever. Makes complete sense, the body prioritises burning glucose because it’s toxic and wants it out of the body 😮

66 year old Diabetic from Cardiff living in Thailand went on a carnivore diet two months in diabetes free blood pressure normal off all medication 13.5kg lost and never felt better

Richard, great interview, thanks for doing this. Tim, as always great to see you, I always learn so much from you. This discussion reminded me of Norrie Williamson, I think I'm remembering correctly, sometime in the early- mid 1980's at the UCT Sport Science Institute he attempted to break the 24 hour treadmill record fuelled just on fats (no carbs). I don't remember the details on what lab work was done during his attempt, maybe you can recall?

For running marathons and ultras I just use water, electrolytes - SCaps and cheeseburgers without the buns. Pretty Keto diet. Works for me.

Very interesting as always, thanks so much, I was so excited when I added that Bright Red book which changed my life to my book collection, Read it more than than once, must say, the only treat I really did not like were those blueberry and cream cheese fritters 😅 as for the rest, new way if looking at food for sure.. Leaning more towards Carnivore in the last year, and feeling good May God continue to keep his hand of protection over you, people whose facts stand against the powers that be need support and encouragement!

So excited, got my copy of that amazing book at the weekend ❤❤❤❤

Excellent!!! Thank You!😊

Thanks for this information.

Great chat thanks guys

Good info. Luckily I had already listened to Dr Noakes and Dr Robert Cywes discussing this research several months ago. This info just goes into further detail. Unfortunately there are still plenty out there who swear by carbs and not ketones. Oh and Dr Anthony Chaffee has a great story of his discovery of an all meat diet before it was a thing.

the zone diet by barry sears " don't spike your insulin" and smart exercise by covert bailey "fat is the best fuel" said as much 20 years ago

Insightful podcast ❤

ONE OF THE BEST PROGRAMES ON YOU TUBE. WORTH LISTENING TO .....

Great Richard love it. Love Tim too

I’ve been waiting for this book.😂🎉😂🎉

Awesome Richard and Professor Tim. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in the science 👍

Very interesting - thank you !

Thank you for your qualification on a man who needs no introduction.,

I am 80 yr. old & very low carb WOE for the last 6 years. It has been a life saver for me

This was and is a great chat lecture with Professor Noake’s. To bad the crazies tried to destroy him and his work when it was their greed and arrogance that were wrong. It has always made me sad that I don’t have the smarts for books but at least I have this brain 🧠 that lets me listen to and understand lectures and experiments 🔬 ❤ and decide between money grabbing BS and the talks that want to help you in life decisions. Thanks Dr Noakes 🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

This was pretty confusing. Now I don’t know what to think.

One thing that's interesting about carbs. The way the body responds is similar to smoking, and other drug addiction. You eat carbs, you get a kind of high from it, and then as it drops in your body a few hours late you want more. It's very similar to smoking. Smoke, feels good, little while later you need another smoke.

I just looked up Louise Burke on Google and read her profile. I understand where she’s coming from and and why her argument is so one-sided I hope she has a good grace to take what you are saying, in a scientific manner. Science Hass to be objective. Keep doing what you’re doing Dr KNoakes, and please pardon the spellcheck.❤️🙏

It should be mentioned that muscle fibers do need a bit of glycogen to facilitate the twitch response - even if their cell metabolism is completely ketone driven. Gluconeogenesis is sufficient for this purpose, of course.

I’ve been testing my own body energy by doing 50 mile walks using different foods. I can walk all day on fat but I have found out the hard way that a bonk is really close at hand. I need to experiment more with what causes a bonk in the first place.