People nowadays following healthy diet plans always look for new trends to have a flat stomach and toned body. So many food and diet plans are there that are in trend nowadays. A new emerging diet trend is carb cycling. Carb cycling diet means to optimize the daily, weekly, and monthly carb intake to have a healthy body.
What is Carb Cycling?
Carbs are one of the macronutrients that provide fuel to our brain and body. Carb cycling diet is a dietary strategy for shedding weight, increase muscle mass. To optimize carb intake this diet came in trend. Carb cycle is to switch between the high carb and low carb. Carb cycling was originated for bodybuilders because bodybuilders need carbohydrates to give energy to the body and to prevent their bodies from putting on extra weight. But now this diet is followed by regular people who are interested in staying healthy and maintaining their weight. The idea behind this diet is to burn body fat which encourages your cells to use energy more efficiently.
How does it work?
Every diet plan is different and it all depends on your goals. Whenever you do any hard or strenuous physical activity, the body starts burning the stored carbohydrates and convert it to glucose to provide energy at that moment but when carbohydrates are unavailable, the body starts using the stored fats.
You can program your carb intake based on many factors
- Body fat levels: if you aim to lose weight then keep 5 days low-carbs and 2 days high carbs.
- Special events: if you have any special event or photoshoot approaching them to start “carb loading” prior toe event
- Weekly carb cycle: this will include two high carbs day, two moderate carbs days and three low-carbs days.
- Body composition goals: if you are building muscles then four high carbs day and three low carbs day.
Benefits of carb cycling
There are several benefits of carb cycling:
Low-Carb days are high-fat and a high-carb day means low –fat.
- Benefits of the low-carb cycle: enhanced metabolic health, increased fat burning, improved cholesterol, and better insulin creativity.
- Benefits of the high-carb cycle: positive effect on your hormones.
Diet to follow in Carb-cycling meal plan
- High carb day
High carbs are high in fiber content, slow in digestion and unprocessed
Breakfast: fruits, nuts, low-fat yogurt and eggs
Lunch: meat or fish, mixed vegetables, whole wheat flour, and beans.
Evening snacks: oats, berries, and nuts
Dinner: brown rice, quinoa, and steamed vegetables
- Low carb day
Low carb foods are: highly processed food, low in fiber and usually have white flour and sugar.
Breakfast: eggs, cheese, protein pancakes, almond butter, bacon, and mixed vegetables
Lunch: salmon, low-starch vegetables (tomatoes and cucumber), olive oil and vegetable soup.
Evening snacks: eggs, nuts, and low-fat yogurt
Dinner: chicken, roasted beans, avocado, and mixed vegetables
While following carb cycling tries to avoid simple carbohydrates like white flour, sugar, and soda.
Things to keep in mind:
- Following carb cycling doesn’t mean that our body doesn’t need other nutrients it is important to get the balance of all nutrients to stay healthy. Like: keep your protein intake content.
- on low carbs, day intake of high-fiber intake should be high in your meal plan such as whole-grain carbohydrates
- On high carbs, day avoid refined options such as white flour, sugar, cookies, and soft drinks.
- Follow the carb cycling diet for a short duration.
Carb cycling diet can be a good diet for those trying to lose weight, they can optimize their diet by balancing the low carb and high carb intake level.