They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so before I offer a few of my own, have a peek at this:
http://www.lowcarb.ca/stories/story015.html
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Originally Posted by Jammin
I've read on the Internet (so you can trust me) that while strict carb control cuts the fat, it doesn't promote muscle gain through weight training, just minimizes its loss.
Is this true?
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Like a lot of what is found on the internet this is partly true. Yes, LC is muscle sparing,
if you eat sufficient calories from fat and adequate protein (to maintain a positive nitrogen balance).
Saying that it doesn't promote muscle gain is too sweeping a statement, IMHO. You'll find many success stories on this forum in the CKD, BFL and success stories subforums - people who've made changes in their lives using both LC and resistance training. Most of them simply increased protein grams, raised carbs slightly to account for the intense activty involved and put a lot of sweat and effort into it. Yes, may of us were new to lifting, accounting for some of our gains (newbies to lifting often see remarkalbe losses of fat and gains in lean mass simultaneously) - but many of us also came from low fat, restricted calorie dieting, where protein is a rather scarce commodity. In this case any kind of weight bearing activity, coupled with adequate protein can lead to the developement of lean muscle.
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would it make sense to include a nice shot, say 50 grams, of berries with my post workout protein shake to assist the muscle preservation and growth process? Surely 50 g's of carbs after a workout aren't stored as fat?
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No, it would not make sense to include your 50g of carbs from berries. The purpose of the post workout carb load it to create an insulin spike, returning the body to an anabolic state and refilling muscle glycogen stores. Berries are low glycemic and composed primarily of fructose. Low GI does not cause a rise in insulin. Fructose does not cause a rise in insulin (fructose is metabolised in the liver and does not replentish muscle glycogen).
It would make sense to use something high GI post workout - or preworkout (dextrose is usually the simple carb of choice). This is actually a body building plan - the TKD (targeted ketogenic diet) and you can find information on it in the CKD/BodyOpus subforum.
And no, those 50g post workout would not be stored as fat. They would be used by your system to refil muscle glycogen stores. Again, the CKD forum would probably be of interest to you
HTH
-Nat