295. Debunking Low Carb Science for Endurance Athletes

2026-01-27

Download

We ordered extra-extra cheese before this deep-dive episode. The main topic took up most of the recording today, involving a new narrative review that argues for a low-carb approach for endurance athletes.The real-world performance benefits of carbs are clear for anyone who has traveled this path, but at the end of the day, who cares? It's just performance. The low-carb believers can get left behind and that's ok by us.The reason we are talking about this relates to health. The carb conversation...

The real-world performance benefits of carbs are clear for anyone who has traveled this path, but at the end of the day, who cares? It's just performance. The low-carb believers can get left behind and that's ok by us.

The reason we are talking about this relates to health. The carb conversation is nuanced--it's not about taking in as many carbs as you can all the time, and their arguments point out legitimate discussions about how to balance fueling in training and life. But their arguments also infiltrate the broader discussion of nutrition, and anyone who works in this field sees what can happen on the other side.

There is a boneyard of ruined careers from serious endurance athletes who have undershot carb intake. The negative mental and physical health outcomes from carb restriction take this out of the academic realm and into much more serious places. We love carbs because we love performance. But mostly we love carbs because we love people, and we want to see athletes be able to shine their lights as brightly as possible.

Other topics on this episode: our approach to cross training, the incredible Beth McKenzie episode on the Freetrail podcast, Alex Honnold free soloing a skyscraper, a study tracking DEXA scan results with stress fracture outcomes, and we answer an important question from a listener about dealing with a tough health diagnosis.

This one starts with a different tone as we grieve the terrible news from Minnesota. Thank you for being on this journey with us.

We love you all! HUZZAH!

-David and Megan

Click "Claim Your Sponsorship" for 40% off at The Feed here: thefeed.com/swap

Buy Janji's amazing gear: https://janji.com (code "SWAP")

The Wahoo KICKR Run is the best treadmill on the market: https://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/running/treadmills/kickr-run-buy (code “SWAP”)

For training plans, weekly bonus podcasts, articles, and videos: patreon.com/swap

Comments (3)