Fructose malabsorption

Fructose malabsorption, formerly named "dietary fructose intolerance," is a digestive disorder in which absorption of fructose is impaired by deficient fructose carriers in the small intestine's enterocytes. This results in an increased concentration of fructose in the entire intestine. - Wikipedia

Turns out, this problem exists in 30-40% of women in central europe. Don't know what that says about americans, but most of us are from somewhere over there, right? Well, that's not the interesting part (wait, is apple juice flowing through the veins uninteresting??)

The amazing thing is that fructose malabsorption appears to lead to depression in women according to an Austrian study. Ironically, men appear to be unaffected - perhaps because of different chemical composition as Emily Deans explains in Evolutionary Psychiatry blog.

I always say that the Paleo diet has changed my life. It gave me energy, emotional stability, thereby making me a better parent, and allowing me to enjoy life. But the truth is, I don't know how it did it. Was I lacking protein on my low-fat high-carb diet? Was iron defficiency a problem? Was my body in a perpetual emotional yo-yo as my sugar swung wildly at each meal and snack? OK, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth - but nevertheless I tend to skip a heart beat every time I see yet another possible correlation between nutrient consumption and emotional state.

Carbohydrates: Food for muscle?

My husband and I got into an argument: is low-carb really healthy? My Paleo exploits have caused him to take an audio course on nutrition, which impressed both of us with its solid grounding. Surprisingly, many conclusions coincide with common wisdom among the Paleo folk, but there are some differences.

 Today I would like to examine the idea that carbohydrates are necessary for proper muscle function. There are two "basic truths" everyone who works out has heard:

1. We need carbohydrates in order to expend energy. All athletes "carb up" for the big marathons and according to mainstream nutritional science, protein can be converted to carbs if needed. However, that's slower and hard on your liver. So if you really want to impress your friends, better start your workout with an oatmeal.
2. Even my Crossfit coach agrees with this one: carbs are great for a post-workout recovery.

I started, as I often do at the old Mark's Daily Apple.  Sure enough,  he doesn't buy it. Have a high-protein snack after your workout and say hello to another great day.  The most interesting thing that came out of that article was a link to a study, which proves that consuming carbohydrates after a workout does not indeed help muscles rebuild.

When I reviewed studies citing this one - I learned that

• Essential amino acid and carbohydrate ingestion before resistance exercise does not enhance postexercise muscle protein synthesis
• Protein coingestion stimulates muscle protein synthesis during resistance-type exercise

OK. Back to beef jerky post-workout. But what about the other end of it? Do we need to consume heavy carbs in order to get out of the chair?

Word of mouth among Crossfit trainers says, no. But thus far I have not been able to find very much evidence. Can you point me in a good direction?