The keto diet is based on the premise that by eating less carbs and more fats, your body goes in ketosis. This means that your body starts burning down fat as fuel, which results in weight loss and other health benefits. However, this doesn’t mean that keto doesn’t have any undesirable side effects. That’s the reason why some people opt for carb cycling instead of keto.
Carb cycling seeks to alleviate some of these negative effects, which include fatigue, lethargy, dizziness, low blood sugar, and even bad breath. By cycling your carbohydrate intake, you can keep your body in a state of ketosis to gain the benefits while avoiding the drawbacks of a keto diet.
What is carb cycling?
In a nutshell, carbohydrate cycling aims to give your body just the right amount of carbs it needs so that you avoid the drawbacks of a full-on ketogenic diet.
This means that you’re still technically doing a keto diet. But every so often, you’re consuming high-quality carbs to replenish your body’s supplies of carbs. It’s very important to watch what you eat if you’re planning on carbohydrate cycling since eating too much carbs can cause you to lose ketosis.
This type of diet can sometimes be more difficult to stick to. That’s because you need to maintain a healthy balance between having enough carbs and staying in ketosis. But once you get used to it, it’s pretty easy to do. You get to eat a wider variety of foods through this diet.
You also feel stronger and can do more physical activities compared to when you’re just doing regular keto. This means you can do more workouts and improve your overall fitness just by eating more carbs.
How do you get started?
Carb cycling is a pretty straightforward process. To get started, you simply need to pick a day of the week when you can eat high-quality carbohydrates. These include white rice, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, and plantains.
It’s important to make sure that when you’re on a “carb day,” you eat less fatty foods and more carbs instead. Don’t eat high-fat foods and high-carb foods on the same day since that can cause problems for your diet.
Other than that, it’s pretty similar to a regular keto diet. The key to making it work is that your body needs to be in ketosis. Eating too much carbs can cause you to lose ketosis, so be mindful of how much carbs you’re eating. It’s all about finding the right balance so that your body can reap the benefits of the keto diet without the drawbacks.
Another thing to remember is that this type of diet can be a bit difficult for beginners. It’s hard enough to stick to a keto diet, and carb cycling can make it even more difficult. It will take a lot of conscious effort and choosing the right foods to make this diet work. However, you’ll be very pleased at the positive results that carb cycling can give your body.
