When To Carb Up On A Ketogenic Diet
If you’ve been doing the ketogenic diet for long, you may have heard the term “carb up” used. We are going to explain When to Carb Up on a Ketogenic Diet to help you make the most of your recent choice to live a healthier lifestyle and work toward losing weight. When to Carb Up on a Ketogenic Diet A ketogenic diet is mostly a low-carb and high-protein dietary option. However, many individuals restrict carbohydrates strongly and use what they call a cyclic keto diet by using a few days on a regular basis to “carb up”. Below, I will explain more about the process, and some tips for when you should choose this method. Have you hit a plateau with weight loss? If you have been doing the ketogenic diet for a length of time, your body may be at a point where it just needs a change. That includes those who have lost a lot, but have just a few last pounds to reach their goal. A carb load can switch your body out of ketosis just long enough for the change back to ketosis to boost you back into loosing mode. Are you training regularly for building muscle? Many who are focused on building muscle find that doing a carb up day helps give them the extra boost of energy needed to really push to a goal. This is especially found with those who are preparing for a competition or a marathon of some sort. A carb up day allows them to add extra energy for 1-2 full days to get past that event. Most who do this follow a weekly regimen of ketogenic for a week, then follow that with 1-2 days of carb loading. They may limit this to once a month or do it routinely each week. However, they are using this as part of their high-intensity workout regimen. Do you have the discipline to go back on plan? If you don’t have the discipline to stop and go back on plan after 1-2 days, then this ma Continue reading >>
Low Carb Cheat Day
Diet stalls are frustrating. You limit carbs but the scale ignores you. A low carb cheat day may help by shaking up your metabolism. Here’s scientific proof and a plan to do it right. Why cheat days burn more fat How to plan your perfect low carb cheat day The days before and after you cheat How does cheating help? Your body adapts to physical routines and ways of eating – eventually. Diet progress stalls and we plateau. Cheat days shake things up a bit, metabolically speaking. If you’re not seeing progress on low carb, cheating on your diet can help. To get started, schedule six low carb days, followed by one (wonderful) cheat day. When to Cheat on Your Diet Your low carb cheat day allows extra carbs, preferably in the form of slow carbs: sweet potatoes, beans or nuts – foods allowed after the Atkins Induction phase. If you’re just starting Atkins, a low carb cheat day is generally NOT recommended. Wait a few months, see if your progress slows, then revisit the idea. Why Cheat Days Help Burn Fat Low carb cheat days sound counterproductive. Actually, it’s a key to faster fat loss. As our body adapts to routine, leptin levels drop and weight loss slows. Leptin is a hormone that controls metabolism and hunger cravings. After a few weeks of dieting, leptin levels drop and we store more fat. Outsmart Your Metabolism Use a low carb cheat day to outsmart your body. Eating more calories, carbs and fat one day a week raises leptin levels. Raising leptin levels keeps your body primed for rapid fat loss all week. How to Cheat on Your Diet Cheat days boost fat burning and weight loss – but only when you cheat in a sensible way. Have a Plan Budget your calories for what matters most. Track/count the extra carbs you’re eating. Be realistic – don’t go crazy. Don� Continue reading >>
The Other Side Of Keto Paleo: A Gut Healing Carbup
What is a Carb-up, why and how to do it? WARNING: This is a carbohydrate containing recipe!! And YES intentionally so! And YES it fits in your Keto Paleo lifestyle, very much so! If you have never heard of a Carb-up or a carb night, you might be in for a nice surprise. Yes it is ok to have carbs on a Keto Paleo plan, if done the right way, with the right foods. It is actually a very beneficial practice. So what is a Carb-up in the first place? It is a meal containing a very small percentage of fat (about 1% to 5%) a moderate amount of protein(20% to 25%) and a certain quantity of carbs, calculated in base of your weight and how often you carb-up. Basically you are switching the quantity of fat for carbs in your plate when you carb-up. Why are carb-ups good and who are they for? Carb-ups are mostly beneficial for people who are very sick or have any kind of endocrine issues. A moderate amount of carbohydrates supports adrenal and thyroid function, specifically the conversion of thyroid hormone to the active form, it also stimulates Leptin production, helping you curb hunger and feel more satisfied after a meal. In healthy individuals carb-up stimulate muscle growth, when combined with resistance training. If you are having any sleep issues, hormonal issues, are very stressed or are a woman over 40, you might want to consider introducing some carb-ups to your Keto Paleo lifestyle. It will also make you less likely to cheat or binge, when you can indulge and expand your food range, without losing control of what you are doing. How do we do this carb-up thing? If you are a healthy individual you will want to use the carb-ups in conjunction with some sort of resistance training, to help you stay very lean and build muscle. In that case you would have your carb ups on workout Continue reading >>
Not Losing Weight On Low Carb? Try Carb Cycling.
Carbohydrates are just as addictive as nicotine, if not more. The first time I quit smoking after fourteen years, I quit it for two years. Then one night at a party I was offered a cigarette by someone I hadn’t seen for a while and I, figuring I was “cured,” lit it up. The next day I bought a pack and jumped right back into smoking a pack a day for three more years before I finally quit again (2.5 years now!) When it comes to carbohydrates, I don’t see a difference. Last year on my birthday, after doing keto for a solid six or seven months, my wonderful fiance got me a doughnut cake as a cheat day treat. A doughnut, the size of a cake. I figured hey, it’s one day, one doughnut. But it wasn’t. The minute carbohydrates were back in my system it was as if they were never gone. And suddenly we were ordering Dominos and drinking Coca-Cola. And again. And again. In fact, I never ate pizza regularly or drank soda until that moment. It’s like one big doughnut was a gateway drug to everything bad, even things I didn’t eat before. Eight months and 20lbs later we were able to get the will power together to quit them again. Losing Weight on a Low Carb Diet If you’re on a low carb diet, you don’t need me to tell you the benefits. Some do it for weight loss, others for mental clarity, and others for illnesses like cancer and alzheimers. But remember, quitting carbs doesn’t mean quitting real food. Every day I eat grass-fed meat, organic greens like spinach, and even berries. If you choose to drink diet coke and processed things loaded with fake sugars, with a block of cheese for lunch, you’re not making yourself healthier, you might even be damaging your body rather than helping it. One thing I’ve learned from quitting carbohydrates and then falling off the Continue reading >>
What Do Keto Kids Eat?
On the ketogenic diet at a 3:1 ratio, Nora ate about 1200 calories per day. Broken down into grams, that is 10 grams of net carbohydrates, 28 grams of protein, and 115 grams of fat. Quick note on net carbs: you can take total carbs (starch and sugar) in a food and subtract the fiber because it moves right through the body without raising blood sugar. Fiber is awesome! Net carbs are strictly limited to 10 grams, so any wiggle room in the target amounts comes from varying protein and fat. A 3:1 ratio means that Nora ate 3 grams of fat for every gram of carb + protein, so if she eats just 1 more gram of protein, I need to provide 3 more grams of fat. But that adds up to extra calories very fast. One gram of protein has 4 calories (carbs also have 4 calories per gram), while 1 gram of fat has 9 calories. So if she gets an extra gram of protein plus 3 grams of fat, that adds 31 calories (4 calories from protein + 27 calories from fat) to her diet. Considering that the keto diet is also calorie restricted—too many calories can interfere with ketosis and seizure control—we have to stick to these numbers fairly closely. The traditional ketogenic diet sets a strict limit on carbs, protein and fat for each meal and snack, but our delivery of the diet is modified to allow some flexibility in each meal. We just try to keep it fairly even through the day until reaching the correct breakdowns by the end of the day. It requires some planning ahead and having targets, but allows flexibility. Each family should decide what works best for them and work with their dietician. To get started, it is probably best to stick to simple meal plans, especially meals that your child likes. As you get comfortable you could add new foods and flexibility to the diet when you need it. One modificat Continue reading >>
14-day Keto Diet Plan
What should I eat? That’s probably the most common question from people who want to try a keto diet. Our goal is to make a keto diet simple, so we have just the answer for you. Either use our free two-week keto challenge for a step-by-step guide, including shopping lists etc., or just check out our 14-day keto diet plan below. Cook 1, 2 or 3 times per day Below you’ll find 42 recipes – breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for two weeks. Perfect, if you like variety. But if you instead want less cooking there are two things you can do: Simplify lunch: Cook two servings for dinner, and refrigerate the second serving for lunch the next day. Voilà: no need to cook for lunch! Simplify breakfast: You could choose one keto breakfast you like, and eat it every day. Like scrambled eggs. Or, if you’re not hungry, you could skip breakfast completely, perhaps only having a coffee. This not only saves you time and money, it also raises your ketone levels. More on intermittent fasting Whatever option is right for you, find all the recipes below. But first a few words about getting ready. Get ready A ketogenic diet is safe for most people, but in the following three situations you may need extra support: If you’re not in any of these situations you should be good to go. Just remember one final thing if you’re just starting out on keto: you need to drink enough fluids and get some extra salt during the first week, to avoid the keto flu 1 and feel your best. A cup of bouillon 1-2 times per day, for example, really helps. That’s it, let’s move on to the actual 14-day keto meal plan. Week 1 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Week 2 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Note Feel free to adjust this diet plan to your liking. We off Continue reading >>
How To Combine The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet And Intermittent Fasting
keto and fasting are a match made in heaven, but what about the cyclical ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting? Do they work well? If so, then how to do it. Let’s cover some basics. The cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) is a ketogenic diet in which you cycle between low carb and high carb periods. You eat keto for a given period and then have refeeds with a lot of carbohydrates. Here’s an example schedule. Initial keto-adaptation for 10-21 days Carb refeed for 1-2 days Back on low carb keto for 5-7 days Carb day Rinse and repeat Intermittent fasting (IF) on the other hand is a way of timing your food intake. Your daily caloric consumption can be divided into two periods. Feeding window, during which you’re in a fed state and can eat. Fasting window, during which no calories are consumed and you’re in a fasted state. There are several types of intermittent fasting that differ in terms of time constrictions and what’s eaten during the feeding window. Common IF schedules are: 16-hours fasted and 8-hours eating (16/8) The Warrior Diet (20/4) One Meal a Day (OMAD) Alternate Day Fasting, in which you fast every other day, ending up with 5 days of eating and 2 days of fasting a week (5:2) Intermittent fasting can be done on any diet protocol and is especially effective on the cyclical ketogenic diet. In my opinion, doing intermittent fasting in some shape or form is a lot more important for overall health and longevity. However, combining it with the ketogenic diet has greater benefits. Keto puts you into a state of ketosis, in which you’re burning fat as your main fuel source, instead of glucose. Before that can happen, your liver glycogen stores need to be depleted, which takes about 16-24 hours. We can use this information to our advantage when doing the cyclical Continue reading >>
All About Keto Carb Ups And Cyclical Ketosis
Lots of cyclical ketogenic resources to help show you how to do a keto carb up, why it may be a game changer, and take your keto awesomeness to the next level! Carbs are not all bad (*gasp*). However, eating too many carbs can cause a plethora of problems, from blood sugar spikes to digestion problems. You probably already know this… and you know it’s not fun. Carb ups (also known as cyclical ketosis), a strategy one can practice on a ketogenic diet, are when you eat more carbs, on a ketogenic diet. And, there are specific strategies to doing this right while doing keto. By adding a carb up practice to your keto diet, you have the potential to encourage your body to heal, overcome plateaus, balance hormones, and more. To show you why you want to carb up, and how to do it, I’ve put together a bunch of resources to help guide you through carbing up while still rockin’ it at keto! In these resources you’ll find lots of helpful info on: What a carb up is When you should carb up How many carbs are in a keto carb up Examples of keto carb ups and cyclical ketosis Keto meal plans with a cyclical ketogenic practice Good carb up recipes PODCAST: KETO CARB UPS 101 Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes Okay, let’s start with the basics of carbing up with keto. The hardest part is usually just figuring out how to get started. Once you get past that, you’re golden. Everyone is different so it’s good to arm yourself with enough information to know if carbing up on a keto diet is something that’s right for you. Highlights… What a carb up is Your body during and after a carb up How to know if carb ups are right for you VIDEO: TIME TO CARB UP? SIGNS TO WATCH FOR + HOW TO DO IT Plateauing with weight loss on keto? Need to balance out your hormones? There are several signs Continue reading >>
How To Lose Weight On A Keto Diet In 5 Easy Steps (+ 4 Real-life Examples)
CLEARLY the “eat less”, “eat low fat”, and “just eat everything in moderation” diets haven’t worked too well for most people. So, if you’re still trying to lose weight and keep it off, then maybe it’s time to try something that’s working for tens of thousands of people right now… The Ketogenic Diet. But is it all too good to be true? Yes, we believe Keto is fantastic for weight loss. We’ve just seen it work for way too many people (check out the success stories below). But it’s also not for everyone. So, in this post, we are giving you the real facts behind all the hype as well as real-life stories of people who have lost a lot of weight on Keto. PLUS, how to get started on Keto to lose weight in 5 EASY Steps. What is the Ketogenic Diet? THE HISTORY: Originally the Ketogenic diet was created as an effective treatment for epileptic children. BUT NOW: More and more people are finding that a Ketogenic diet has tons of benefits, including: a healthy way to lose weight, control blood sugar levels, improve your brain function, and potentially even reverse a myriad of health conditions. How does keto do this? The Keto diet puts your body into a powerful fat-burning metabolic state called nutritional ketosis. NUTRITIONAL KETOSIS: In nutritional ketosis, your body generally uses very few carbohydrates for energy. Instead, it switches to using ketones (which are produced from the breakdown of fats). That’s why the keto diet is often called a fat-burning diet… You can literally be burning your own body fat for energy! (It’s still unclear whether ketosis is the magical factor that makes a Keto diet so effective for weight-loss, but whatever it is, it seems to work!) So, how do we get into this nutritional ketosis state? You can get into nutritional k Continue reading >>
Carbing Up On The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet
Please send us your feedback on this article. Introduction Although ketogenic diets are useful for fat loss, while simultaneously sparing muscle loss, they have one significant drawback: they cannot sustain high intensity exercise. Activities like weight training can only use carbohydrates as an energy source, ketones and free fatty acids (FFA) cannot be used. Therefore the lack of carbohydrates on a ketogenic diet will eventually lead to decreased performance in the weight room, which may result in muscle loss, and carbohydrates must be introduced into a ketogenic diet without affecting ketosis. Probably the most common way to do this is to do a weekend carb-load phase, where ketosis is abolished. During this time period, assuming training volume was sufficient to deplete muscle glycogen (see last article), the body can rapidly increase muscle glycogen levels to normal or supra-normal levels prior to beginning the next ketogenic cycle. Anyone who has read both "The Anabolic Diet" (AD) by Dr. Mauro DiPasquale and "Bodyopus" (BO) by Dan Duchaine should realize that there are two diametrically different approaches to the carb-up. In the AD, the carb-up is quite unstructured. The goal is basically to eat a lot of carbs, and stop eating when you feel yourself starting to get bloated (which is roughly indicative of full muscle glycogen stores, where more carbohydrate will spill over to fat). In BO, an extremely meticulous carb-up schedule was provided, breaking down the 48 hour carb-up into individual meals, eaten every 2.5 hours. The approach which this article will provide is somewhere in the middle. This article will discuss a variety of topics which pertain to the carb-load phase of the CKD, including duration, carbohydrate intake, quality of carbohydrate intake, fat gai Continue reading >>
Ultimate Guide To The Keto Diet With Sample Meal Plan
1. Introduction to ketogenic dieting 2. What exactly is ketosis? 3. The 3 main types of keto diets 3.1. Standard keto dieting 3.2. Cyclical keto dieting 3.2. Targeted keto dieting 4. Which keto variation should I use? 5. Setting up your own keto diet 6. Food selection on keto diets 7. Alterations for cyclical keto dieting 8. Alterations for targeted keto dieting 9. Fine tuning TKD and CKD 10. Saturated fat intake on keto diets—considerations 11. Selected recipes for keto dieting 12. Frequently asked questions Intro to ketogenic dieting Ketogenic (herein referred to as “keto”) dieting has been around for decades and garnered a somewhat strong following in bodybuilding subculture. In a nutshell, keto diets are simply diets that are high in fat and protein and very low in carbohydrate (usually <10% total macronutrient intake); given this the body is diverted to utilize fats for energy since glucose stores become depleted. Keto diets can be effective for many individuals and tailored to suit their goals, whether it’s to build muscle, lose fat, develop strength, etc. While keto diets are often used mainly for health and fitness purposes, they are also implemented in medicine as treatment for epilepsy. [1] You may be asking, “What makes a keto diet different from any other low-carb diet?” The truth is not much, other than that some people believe keto diets are only effective when the body enters a state called ketosis and starts to produce ketones for energy (hence the name “ketogenic”), which requires extreme carbohydrate restriction. However, this supposition is shortsighted and will be touched on later in this guide. In this guide we will take an in-depth look at the physiology behind keto dieting, the different types/variations of keto diets there are, ho Continue reading >>
How To Exercise When You’re In Ketosis
Since going keto means greatly reducing carbs, and since carbs are the body’s primary source of fuel, you might be wondering what your options are when it comes to how to exercise while in ketosis. The good news is that while there are some things to keep in mind, exercise is totally possible on the ketogenic diet and even has some big benefits health- and energy-wise. These are important to know when wading through any misconceptions around low-carb eating and working out. Exercising in Ketosis First, let’s note that the traditional view of weight loss—simply eating less and exercising longer, often with long bouts of cardio—is outdated and unsustainable. In order to see real results when it comes to losing weight and getting leaner, what you eat really matters. A great place to start is checking out a guide on sourcing meat, dairy, and seafood. Therefore, paying attention to the quality of your ketogenic diet itself, and maintaining a steady state of ketosis, is the most important first step you can take. To see if you are actually in a metabolic state of ketosis, testing your ketone levels is vitally important. However, exercise also has many benefits for your health. It’s good for the heart, builds muscle to keep you lean and toned, and strengths the bones. Thankfully, exercise can completely fit into your routine while eating for ketosis. You just need to keep in mind a few simple considerations: Type of Exercise Nutritional needs vary depending on the type of exercise performed. Workouts styles are typically divided into four types: aerobic, anaerobic, flexibility, and stability. Aerobic exercise, also known as cardio exercise, is anything that lasts over three minutes. Lower intensity, steady-state cardio is fat burning, making it very friendly for the Continue reading >>
Carb Cycling Diet Plan Benefits & Tips To Maintain Healthy Weight
The carb cycling diet has been popular among bodybuilders, fitness models and certain types of athletes for decades. Carb cycling — eating more carbs only on certain days — is believed to be beneficial as one of the best diet plans to lose weight and gain muscle because it stimulates certain digestive and metabolic functions. What makes carbs so special? Carbohydrates are the body’s first source of fuel, since they’re easily turned into glucose and glycogen, which feed your cells and help create ATP (energy). Your metabolism rises and falls based on your consumption of calories and different macronutrients, including carbohydrates. (1) And many studies have found that adequate carb intake improves performance in both prolonged, low-intensity and short, high-intensity exercises. (2) Perhaps you’ve heard that your metabolism is a lot like a fire: If you fuel “the fire” with the right ingredients, it keeps burning hotter. As Chris Powell, one of the leading authorities on carb cycling, puts it, “If you don’t throw enough fuel on the fire, the flame fizzles out.” Eating enough carbohydrates at the right time resets your metabolic thermostat and signals your body to create enough beneficial hormones (like leptin and thyroid hormones) that keep you at a healthy weight. However, as we all know, too many carbs can have the opposite effect and cause weight gain. What’s key about a carb cycling diet that makes it different from other plans? Carb cycling increases carbohydrate (and sometimes calorie) intake only at the right time and in the right amounts. While other long-term diet plans might seem overly restrictive, daunting and overwhelming, many find that a carb cycling diet is easy to follow and even fits into a hectic schedule. What Is Carb Cycling? Car Continue reading >>
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Tracking Macros On Keto: Should You Always Do It?
I have had quite a few questions about counting macros on the keto diet so wanted to do a quick post about it! First of all, in case you aren’t aware, macros are fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. If you are eating a ketogenic diet then your macros are going to be something like 5-10% carbs, 20-25% protein and 70-80% fats. Sometimes people talk about these percentages in terms of grams – so it would like 30g carbs, 70g protein, 170g fat per day (for example). When I first started eating keto I tracked everything using myfitnesspal. It’s an easy to use app that is free. In the beginning, it really helped me to track my macros because I had no idea what a high fat, low carb diet looked like! But the thing about tracking your macros is, it can send you a little crazy. Well, it did me anyway. You end up spending quite a lot of time every day writing down what you eat and totaling up the macros of every bite of food that passes your lips. There were times were I’d sit there letting my food go cold while I furiously typed in every little thing on my plate. Or I’d try to map out everything at the beginning of the day and end up feeling like I was eating like a robot. So although tracking was helpful in one way, I also knew that it was not how I really wanted to be spending my time in the long run. A huge reason for starting eating keto was that I wanted freedom in my diet – freedom to enjoy delicious food, feel satiated, lose weight and be able to focus on other, more important things in life. So here’s the deal with tracking macros on the ketogenic diet: I highly recommend moving away from tracking your macros as soon as possible, or even better, simply not tracking them at all. But how do you do this? There are various ways that you can stay on top of your macr Continue reading >>
What Is The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet?
A ketogenic diet is a style of weight loss plan where the body is forced to enter a state called ketosis. The human body is designed to work with either carbohydrate, stored in the muscles as glycogen, or fat as its primary fuel source. If glycogen is present, the body will use that up first before beginning to burn fat. Ketosis is the state where the body uses fat as its primary energy source, which leads to healthy but rapid weight loss. To make your body enter ketosis, you need to follow a diet that is very low in carbohydrate, so your body has to switch to using fat for energy. The Atkins diet, and other well known low carb eating plans, are examples of ketogenic dieting. The Downsides to Ketogenic Dieting Some of the main complaints people have about ketogenic diets are that while they are undeniably effective, the lack of carb powered energy can make it hard for them to work out at their normal level, and that the absence of carbs can make the diet very hard to stick to long term – people simply enjoy eating carbs. If you find a ketogenic diet difficult for either of these reasons, a cyclical ketogenic diet could be the answer. What is a Cyclical Ketogenic Diet? A cyclical ketogenic diet is where you follow a standard ketogenic diet from Monday to Friday, incorporating three workouts into your week, and then on weekends you load up on carbs and don’t exercise. This works because carb loading allows you to store up some carbohydrate energy for the week ahead, helping you keep a reasonable level of strength up for your workouts (you won’t break any personal records, but you’ll feel good) and preventing your body from going into “starvation mode” (where weight loss slows down) as a result of the low calorie intake on your ketogenic diet days. This also me Continue reading >>
