Preoperative nutritional status plays a key role in perioperative outcomes in oncologic patients. For those with nutritional deficits, several weeks of nutritional support may be required to induce meaningful metabolic change, representing an unrealistic surgical delay for many patients. In an effort to address nutritional status in surgical patients over shorter periods of time, enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs have developed nutritional bundles during the perioperative period. One such component is preoperative carbohydrate loading, which consists of consuming carbohydrate-heavy beverages the night before and the day of surgery. Trials assessing the impact of carbohydrate loading across various surgical subspecialties have had mixed results and have not translated to significant differences in clinical outcomes. While many components of ERAS have proven beneficial, preoperative carbohydrate loading in particular may be “too little, too late” and does not appear to improve outcomes in patients undergoing debulking surgery.