What is cycling in carbohydrates and how does one do it?

Carbohydrate cycling is a nutritional strategy in which you change the amount of carbohydrates you eat each day, week or month to maximize athletic performance, build muscle and lose weight and fat. This approach has been practiced for years by bodybuilder and elite athletes in sports where body weight has an impact. Only recently, because of our societal obsession with carbohydrates, the approach has spread to the general public, appearing in major health and fitness publications, and in the form of hashtags in more than 350 000 Instagram posts. In theory, the carbohydrate cycle could reduce your body's stress, give you more flexibility in your diet and allow you to enjoy the physiological benefits of high carbohydrate foods, such as: the benefits of fiber.

What is the idea behind cycling on carbs?

Cycling on carbohydrates is still theoretical because it relies mainly on research into the effects of low-carb diets or periods of high carbohydrate consumption ("carbohydrate loading") in athletes – and not alternately between both. But here are some of the reasons why athletes think that adding a few days of higher carbohydrates to a low carbohydrate diet could be beneficial.

Cutting carbohydrates could lead to premature death, if you replace them with bad things

Regardless of the diet, reducing calories slows down your metabolism and affects hormone levels, which makes you more hungry, which makes weight gain more likely. Research shows that carbohydrate loading can temporarily increase metabolism and increase levels of leptin, a hormone that alleviates hunger, which together could promote weight loss. Research has also shown that carbohydrate-rich foods boost athletic performance and recovery, and that carbohydrates are burned for energy proteins, which can then be used for muscle growth rather than fuel. Thus, days of higher carbohydrate intake from time to time may help even non-athletes prevent metabolic slowing, improve the efficiency of their workouts, reduce fat and build muscle. And low carb days the rest of the time can encourage the body to burn fat for fuel.

But, as noted above, we do not have research studies on carbohydrate cycling to tell us if these diets are effective and much less safe in the long run. Another disadvantage is that they are not so simple to implement: Carb cycling requires a lot of math, meal preparation and weighing, and even more patience and experimentation. There is no proven formula.

How does cycling work on carbohydrates?

(L.J. Davids / For The Washington Post)

Anyone who wants to ride a bike should first consult their doctor and meet a dietitian to make sure that she meets her energy and nutrient needs – and to help her do the first calculations. But here are some general guidelines.

First, calculate your energy requirements to find out how many calories to target each day. You can get a rough estimate by multiplying your weight in pounds by 10 to lose weight, by 12 to maintain your weight and by 15 to gain weight. On higher carbohydrate days, you should try to get about half of your calories from carbohydrates, and on low carb days, you are trying to consume about 25% of your calories. You would aim to consume one gram of protein per pound of body weight, and build the rest of your caloric budget from fat. (Each gram of fat is made up of nine calories and each gram of protein or carbohydrate is four calories.) The amounts of protein will be fairly constant on a daily basis; it's your carbs that you change. Then adjust your fat levels to get the calories you need. Your low carb days will be higher in fat and your higher carbohydrate days will be lower in fat to meet your energy needs.

Start with four days of high carb and three days of low carb per week. It is usually better to have higher days of carbohydrates on the days you exercise, in order to benefit from improved energy, performance and recovery. But your exercise routine, your body type, and your health condition all affect the frequency with which you need carbohydrate-rich foods and how much they are. You will probably need to adjust your carburetor treatment plan until you find something that works.

Wondering what a few days of cycling might look like? At a less carb day, you can start with a breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs with cheddar, mushrooms and asparagus. Lunch could be a salad garnished with salmon sauce and oil and vinegar, snacks could be celery with natural peanut butter or cottage cheese.

At a high carbohydrate day, you can add a slice of toast to breakfast, a quinoa spoon to lunch and brown rice to your dinner while reducing the amount of oil you add to your salad and while cooking.

Keep in mind that you must always achieve specific calorie goals to lose weight or develop your muscles, and you must focus on healthy, high quality whole foods. The types of carbohydrates in your diet affect your health. For example, added sugars, such as soda and candy, and starchy foods, such as white rice and white bread, are not the most nutritious choices. Choose mainly nutrient-rich and low glycemic index carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, oats, quinoa and beans.

Another word of caution: be careful not to overdo the days of higher carbs. The difference between your days of lower carbohydrates and higher carbohydrates could be narrower than expected. Higher days of consumption are not a "cheat day", so do not think this diet is your license to go to a pasta bar at will.

The bottom line

The carbohydrate cycle may be easier to follow in the long run than a low carbohydrate diet. This can also help people go beyond weight loss or workout trays. In addition, modest reductions in high carbohydrate foods, particularly those high in refined carbohydrates, may help promote fat loss in some people.

At this point, we do not know enough about carb diets so I recommend them. What we do know is that consistency is essential to getting results, and choosing good carbohydrates in moderate amounts as part of a healthy diet is associated with lower risk of certain types of cancer , heart disease and stroke. Rather than focusing on grams or percentages of carbohydrates, protein and fats, you could eat a variety of whole foods, such as vegetables, beans, fish, poultry, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds. . The best diet is one that is durable and does not require endless calculations.