# @andrespreschel on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DajXM4stJeQ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/67561446-andrespreschel-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/8daf4ea039.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-09T00:48:34.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Andrés Preschel, BSc, MSc(c) | Health & Performance Coach (@andrespreschel) — https://gondola.cc/andrespreschel

## Caption

I LOVE CARBS ALMOST AS MUCH AS I HATE CARBPHOBIA 👇🏽

Carbohydrate aka GLUCOSE is the most efficient fuel source in your body, for mental and physical performance.

To get your carbs working FOR YOU and not against you, match your carb intake and glycemic index to intensity and proximity to exercise, respectively.

Here’s a good analogy to help you make sense of this:

For optimal performance, and to maintain insulin sensitivity over time, we can think about carb intake like the gears on a bike shifting to maintain our cadence.

“Gears are there to enable us to maintain a comfortable pedalling speed (or cadence) regardless of the gradient or terrain - something that no one single gear is capable of.” - Cycling Weekly

Like gears on a bike, there’s no single amount (or TYPE) of carbohydrate for optimal performance, the idea is to adjust carb intake and glycemic index according to physical demand so we keep blood glucose steady for X unit of time (think about blood glucose like CADENCE).

As intensity increases, demand increases, and we shift up in our gears (more carbs) more quickly (higher glycemic index) to maintain the most efficient cadence.

Interestingly, the most efficient cadence on a road bike is about 80-100 rpm, and “ideal” blood glucose is stable around 80-100mg/dL.

Too many carbs with too high a glycemic index when demand is low, and all of a sudden our cadence is super high but we’re not going anywhere (hyperglycemia).

Not enough carbs, or too low a glycemic index when demand is high, and our cadence plummets, now it’s really difficult to get those wheels turning (hypoglycemia).

The mechanism underneath all of this is insulin sensitivity, because after exercise you’ve contracted muscle fiber and burned through stored glycogen, so your GLUT4 transporters pull glucose into muscle with far less insulin required.

A sedentary travel day is the opposite, so you dial carbs down and slow the glycemic index to keep glucose flat.

So pull up a glycemic index chart and match accordingly. Beans and lentils when you’re sedentary, potatoes in an average meal, toast with honey or fruit before you train, and EARN the high glycemic stuff.

#KnowYourPhysio…

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