# Gluten free pasta- can you still carb up?



## dpo (Apr 30, 2012)

Ok...I am new to to all of this and this may well be a stupid question. I was wondering as I am switching from whole wheat pasta to gluten free, I was wondering if this type of pasta will still work well to "carb up" the night before a ride. I then noticed on the package it actually has a few more carbs than the regular whole wheat pasta I was eating. Not knowing a ton about nutrition and riding are these the same type of carbs? Is there anyone else here that can shed a light on gluten free pasta. I believe the ingredients are corn flour and rice flour. I came here to ask the experts!


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

yes carbs is carbs
--
but if you want to maximize food intake vs available energy stored...
skip that pasta stuff if you want to carb load and avoid glutens

Potatos mang....potatos have more skull-crushing cycling power in them than pasta, at least in my experience all my best rides were big potato+tuna eatin either a carb load cycle, or 1 or 2 days before


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## Devincicx (Nov 20, 2011)

so given your best rides were done close to ingestion of potato it means these have more energy then pasta right?

C'mon...


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

Devincicx said:


> so given your best rides were done close to ingestion of potato it means these have more energy then pasta right?
> 
> C'mon...


no more available energy to use....I mean this:for whatever physiological response I have eating pasta, potatos or something else, I can seemingly 'ride forever' when my carb load cycle, or the night before, was a mountain of potatos. pasta is ok too but I think I actually don't store as much glycogen in the liver as I do with potatos. also never had stomach upset with taters but on occasion I have nighttime 'hot burps' after pasta (no tomato paste either) so something about pasta just isn't up to snuff as it is with taters...for me. maybe I am gluten intolerant a bit... ymmv. maybe i sleep better, therefore have a better next day

WHO KNOWS, just posting my results. everyone is different.

in this order my best 'deep fuel' is taters, pasta, rice, corn...all with tuna


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

Gluten is a protein, removing it from pasta doesn't reduce the amount of carbohydrate. Do you have an allergy to gluten? I have found that, as I get older, I have to carbo-load with lower glycemic index foods. If I ate potatoes, I'd fall asleep and wake up a pound heavier. And it would be a pound of fat! One thing I think that helps me is to hit complex carbs very shortly after a ride. The process of recharging glycogen is less efficient hours after a ride than it is closer to the end as hormone levels change up. Not a big deal when you're young, but as part of the over 60 crowd, my insulin response just isn't what it used to be. My bigger concern is high fructose sweeteners, which are added to everything. The only way your body breaks down fructose is in the liver, which, because we eat so much of it in everything, can cause the liver to get fatty deposits. Try finding bread without high fructose corn syrup! But, as 127 said, it's amazing how differently, different people respond to diet variations.


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