Today on the Ask Coach Parry podcast we chat nutrition, particularly the LCHF diet that Prof Tim Noakes talks about. Today we answer a question from Val Opperman. She wants to know if you believe in and follow the diet LCHF diet?

She wants to know what your views are. Her reason for asking is at one of your Comrades Marathon seminars last year in Durban you advocated a healthy and balanced diet. She says she finished the Comrades Marathon this year  and directly attributed it to your advice.

An interesting question, what is your take Lindsey?

Brad Brown: Today on the Ask Coach Parry podcast we chat nutrition, particularly the LCHF diet that Prof Tim Noakes talks about. Today we answer a question from Val Opperman. She wants to know if you believe in and follow the diet LCHF diet?

She wants to know what your views are. Her reason for asking is at one of your Comrades Marathon seminars last year in Durban you advocated a healthy and balanced diet. She says she finished the Comrades Marathon this year  and directly attributed it to your advice.

An interesting question, what is your take Lindsey?

Lindsey Parry: I do not follow the Tim Noakes diet. There are aspects of what he says that do resonate with me. I think for me the most important one of those is the amount of processed sugar and processed carbohydrates we consume as a western nation.

Sugar is the enemy

So I think if you take real heed of how much sugar you’re actually taking into your body, it will help improve your health; it will help you manage your weight better too. I am still looking into how bad wheat may or may not be for you.

Prof Tim Noakes is fairly blanket on that that it is bad for everybody. I'm not so sure about that, so I'm still having a look into those kind of things. What’s also very important for me and where I think I differ quite a lot from Prof Noakes, is that I still feel the people that are doing a lot of exercise - and particularly training for something like an ultra-marathon – they still need to take in a fair amount of carbohydrates on their diet.

I just encourage them to take it from natural sources. Prof Noakes feels that potatoes are the enemy, I am ok with potatoes. As long as it is taken in with a good dose of protein and fats.

I have seen excellent results from loads of people on the Tim Noakes diet, including my brother, but his performance improved exponentially once I convinced I'm to take in some healthy extra carbohydrates back into his diet, he just felt like his legs were dead all the time (and he is training for multiple day mountain bike races).

So no, the simple answer is I don’t follow the LCHF diet, but avoid sugars – I absolutely agree with that.