Low Carb Diet.

[Rich_Hav]

Can anyone help with this.

I am trying a low carb diet right now and was curious about what the effects would be if you ate low carb 6 days a week and ate high carb 1 day a week?

Basically like a cheat day.

Or is it just better to go all low carb all the time?

Thank you for any advice.

Peace
Rich

[Doug Szolek]

Well you've stumbled upon the toughest aspect of low-carbing it, Rich. You see the theory behind the low-carb diets as I understand (and have seen it to work for me) is that it is a total change over of how your body will create energy. The goal of it is to cultivate and then maintain Ketosis (the state of energy production that runs off of fat (body and food) for fuel). The kicker is that it takes 1-2 weeks of low-carb eating to make the switch and only then do you really start to see the pounds melt away (and believe me they melt away quite fast). However, just one meal of carb binging will knock you right out of ketosis and leave you with another 1-2 week transitionary period where your energy levels are wrecked because your body is trying to burn sugars for fuel but can't find any.

If you really want to cheat, the Atkins' brand is making some tasty low to no carb snacks that can definately fix a sweet tooth (though they would never qualify as natural). But if you wanna go low-carb it's pretty much an all or nothing sort of diet.

My suggestion, stick it out for two whole weeks then get ONE lindt truffle or some other small serving sweet and eat it as slowly as possible. The 5 grams of sugar won't spike your blood sugar enough to switch off ketosis but it should be enough to keep you sane :wink:

[Rich_Hav]

Thanks for the info.

I can do this for a few weeks without a problem.

I was curious about the amount of carbs you can take in per day for this to work.

Tell me if this sounds good to you.

Start off with western omelette wth 3 eggs, onions, peppers, bacon, and cheese.
Iced coffee black.

Grilled steak with red and green peppers
Water.

So far I think this is pretty low carb.
Usually for dinner I have a protein bar and some water.
The bar I am having right now has in between 20 and 30 grams of carbs.
Not sure if this is too much.
I can get them with less.

Let me know what you think.

Peace
Rich

[Doug Szolek]

20-30 grams is a bit much for one meal, if you could cut the bar in half and eat each half at least 4 hours apart that'd be ok but then it wouldn't be much of a meal. I'm generally a bigger fan of whole foods than bars anyway. but if you want a meal bar, go with one advertised as low-carb or low-net. carbs. (net carbs are the carbs that will actually impact your blood sugar levels, fiber doesn't so you can and should eat as much fiber as you can, making sure that it doesn't bring other carbs along for the ride.)

Also if you want carbs (in small amounts) get 'em early in the day. Before or at lunch, any later and they are harder to burn off before bed.

And finaly, keep that coffee to a one or two cup per day minimum for this diet as caffine (known as vitamin C here in Washington :D ) has negative effects on Blood Sugar levels.

[Rich_Hav]

Thanks again Coach,

Will get the low carb bars. Mostly out of being too busy at night for a meal.

Only 1 cup of coffee per day but will cut that if it will be better.

Thanks again for all the help.

Peace
Rich

[Shaf]

What you are describing is a cyclic ketogenic diet, which can be very effective, and even more so than a full blown ketogenic diet, depending on the person.

Lyle McDonald wrote the best book on cyclic ketogenic diets, do a search on his name with google and it will show up.

Some other cyclic ketogenic diet books out there are BodyOpus by Dan Duchaine, The Anabolic Diet and the Metabolic Diet by Dr. Mauro Depasquale. A simple google search will turn them all up. A more in depth look will tell you how to set them up.

A quick run down:

Ketogenic Diets: No carbs consumed. You are in ketosis all the time. The Atkins Diet is the best example of this.

Cyclic Ketogenic Diets: 1-2 days of carb up. This is beneficial in a number of ways, most specifically it will break up the monotony of ketogenic dieting, and the replenishment of muscle glycogen will also help put you into an anabolic state for a day or two, railroading muscle loss.

Targeted Ketogenic Diet: No carbs except a small portion ~45 minutes before a work out, and a glycogen replacement meal immediately afterwards with just carbs and protein.

There are many, many more diets out there. Of interest might be Ori Hofmekler's Warrior Diet, Faigin's Natural Hormonal Enhancement, John Berardi's diets found over on T-mag, and many, many more.

Steve

[Doug Szolek]

Thanks for the run down Steve, though now my book budget is swelling at the seems :)

Rich, for your basic kegogenic diet you'll want to keep the carbs below 20 grams a day and these should be broken up through the first half of the day as much as possible. So even things like a bit of ketchup on that western omlet need to be considered. (though speaking of ketchup, I found a really great no added sugar variety called "Unsweetened, Unketchup" it took some getting used to for someone who grew up near Pittsburgh, home of Heinz :) but worth the switch.) You know Salsa also makes a great low-carb condiment, maybe the best.

Another idea is to pick the one carb that you really want to eat and figure a way to allow it. For me this was whole milk, (containing 12grams of carbs per cup) so I cut out everything else and still enjoyed my milk. But that's more if you have carbs that you crave, and you haven't mentioned that.

As for the coffee, one cup a day shouldn't have any ill effects so don't sweat it. Just becareful about having it with too many of your allowed carbs as the group may gang up on your blood sugar levels.

In anycase, let me know how it goes, and continue to post your questions as they arise.

[Rich_Hav]

Thank you Coach,

I will let you know hot it's going in a few weeks. Thanks for all the help.

Peace
Rich

[admin]

Rich,

Just a final thought amidst all the very fine and technical responses about the low carb diet. The thing that has helped me most in my quest for the perfect diet is to think of the phrase 'factory spec'. As one wag said, "Lions don't eat Cheerios for breakfast!"
For your type of body (whatever you discover that to be) and your species-specific genome (upright bi-pedal hominid/simian) there is perhaps an optimal way to eat that eons of evolution has shaped. Just like you wouldn't feed your Porche kerosene to run on (although it would, but not very well), you don't give your body sub-optimal input. Find what makes you feel energetic and healthy and what feels second nature and forget what the 'experts' say. So many base their diets on emotion and not on what increases their life-force, their resiliancy, and their 'health beyond danger' as the Chinese say.

Good luck and good eating! :)