Posted by Tim (65.64.136.193) on December 04, 2002 at 17:22:59:
In Reply to: fives and vegetarianism posted by Amy (67.116.48.231) on December 03, 2002 at 19:58:13:
I am vegetarian but it is not for PETA-esque reasons. I think if you want to be as active as possible and you only eat when you are hungry, a vegetarian high carb, low fat, low protein diet is optimal. I have tried pretty much every diet composition and the high carb system (eating mostly pasta, rice, bread, soda, juice, etc...) works best for me as far as quality of life. Fives (as well as Fours and Sixes) tend more often to be thin (ectomorphic) and most of the ones I have known, whether they were vegetarian or not, seem to prefer higher carb diets. Is there a connection between vegetarianism and/or high carbism and the ectomorphic body type? I think so. (I certainly like the taste of pizza or steak, i just don't like how they tend to make me feel afterwards... somewhat dull headed and sleepy so they are not worth it.)
There is a study in several college physiology books which compared a high carb (low fat/low protein) diet, a mixed diet (carbs/fat/protein), and an all fat/protein diet. They put test subjects on cycles and exercised them to exhaustion. Then they divided the subjects into three groups, each one receiving one of the three diets.
muscle recovery time...
high carb - 24 hours
mixed diet - 48 hours
all fat/protein diet - 96 hours
The reason is simple - carbs are the most highly metabolizable food source so your body expends less energy processing it. That is why people lose weight on those fat/protein diets because your body has to struggle to work harder to get to the calories.
If you eat more than you should and don't get much activity, a mixed diet or high fat/protein diet is probably better because a high carb diet will be more likely to cause obesity as well as diabetes.