Boundless Life Why You Need FAR Less Carbs Than You Think (Especially During Exercise) & Ketones As An "Alternate Fuel", With Dr. Andrew Koutnik - Part 2
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Feb 21, 2026 
Dr. Andrew Koutnik, a research scientist who studies ketones, glucose regulation, and lives with type 1 diabetes, explains why far fewer carbs are needed during daily life and exercise. He highlights sustaining blood glucose for brain energy, minimal hourly carb dosing, how ketones can substitute as fuel, different exogenous ketone types, safety data, and surprising links to sleep and hypoxia resilience.
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Brain Glucose Trumps Muscle Glycogen
- Sustained blood glucose for brain energy, not muscle glycogen, most reliably predicts exercise performance.
- Many carbohydrate studies showed benefit because controls experienced hypoglycemia, not because carbs boosted muscle fuel.
Microdosing Carbs During Long Events
- For prolonged exercise, try ~10 grams of glucose per hour to sustain blood glucose and prevent hypoglycemia.
- Split it into small doses (e.g., ~3.3 g every 20 minutes) rather than large boluses.
Adaptation Allows Low‑Carb Performance
- When adapted to low-carb diets for ≥4 weeks, athletes can match high-carb performance despite lower muscle glycogen.
- This shows metabolic flexibility lets performance persist without massive carb loads.