Over the past decade or so, “carbohydrate” has become the biggest hot word in the nutrition community. In the ‘70s, fats were removed from food and replaced with carbohydrates. Since the Atkins and South Beach diet emerged and research surfaced showing that excess carbohydrate consumption is what has caused our obesity rates to skyrocket, carbs have suddenly become the enemy. Once again, the truth and solution to eating carbs lie somewhere between the two extremes. You may have heard of “carb cycling.” This mythical method of using carbs allows you to gain muscle mass, cut body fat and still be able to eat bread; a veritable Nessie of nutrition. Well folks, it does exist, it’s really not that complicated and it does work.
It’s not clear who developed the system other than the bodybuilding community, which in general, is usually way ahead of the curve where nutrition is concerned. After experimenting with different ways to use carbs, this system of alternating carb consumption was created to take advantage of the physiological and hormonal reactions that carbs inflict on the body. This system evolved by taking the best results from other systems, more via trial-and-error than anything else. Its base in science is far beyond anything that the Atkins or other diets can legitimately claim and it allows you to eat bread. Here’s the scoop:
I’m sure that everyone knows that carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, which is used in the glycolosis metabolic pathway in our cells to create energy for the whole body. What many people don’t realize is that carbohydrates influence the production of two of the most powerful hormones in your body that deal with muscle creation and fat storage – insulin and it’s antagonistic partner, glucagon. Insulin is created in the pancreas in response to blood glucose levels, so ingesting carbs forces more insulin to be made. Insulin can be your best friend or your worst enemy (depending on how much you’ve made), because of the roles it plays in the body. Insulin transports glucose and amino acids into muscle tissues and cells to stimulate muscle growth, which is good. On the other hand, when there is too much insulin in your blood, it transports the nutrients to fat cells for storage and promotes lypogensis (fat creation), which we all know is bad. Getting the right amount is paramount to making slabs of muscle without also creating globs of fat at the same time. The hormone that works opposite of insulin is glucagon, which is responsible for using excess amino acids and glycogen (the stored form of glucose) for energy. This might be confusing, so to simplify:
Glucose – simple sugar made from carbs
Glycogen – stored glucose
Glucagon – hormone that promotes usage of glycogen (stored glucose)
They sound really similar but I hope the definitions are clear and everyone can see the differences between them.
The tough part is finding the right amount of carbohydrates to get the results you want. You need carbs to get the glucose to have enough energy to be able to train hard, but you don’t want to jack up your insulin levels and make yourself a fat-ass in the process. Low-carb diets not only withhold the easiest source of glucose from your body, they consequently cause serious muscle loss. Glucose can be created from amino acids in a separate pathway in the body and if your body can’t find the carbs to make the glucose, it is more than happy to break down your precious, high-caloric requirement muscle to make it. Nobody wants that. To compound the problem, insufficient carb levels also affect your thyroid hormones and the conversion of inactive thyroid hormone T4 to active thyroid hormone T3 (which makes fat loss even harder). On the other hand, high carb diets make you fat, period. The happy middle ground between the two options is where carb cycling comes in.
Carb cycling is essentially mixing cycles of low carb intake with high carb intake. The low carb cycles increase production of glucagon and force your body to use your glycogen stores and fat for energy. The high carb cycles allow your body to replenish those depleted glycogen stores and provide a much appreciated shot of carbs to use for glucose, along with an insulin boost to stimulate muscle growth. Cycling between these two phases gives your body the best of both worlds, if done properly.
Depending on whom you talk to, implementation can take several forms since the only thing you are modifying is the amount of carbs you consume. Some experts espouse high carb days and low carb days, some add moderate carb days, some recommend ingesting carbs only before noon and after workouts and I’ve even seen off/treat days where you are allowed to gorge on whatever carbs you want.
Again, I like to take the middle road and keep things simple by breaking it down into three principles.
1. Days in which you are planning to train extremely hard should be your high-carb days, about a 1:1 protein to carbohydrate ratio. Your body will utilize the carbs most efficiently on those days, and the high amount of expended calories from training will ensure that you aren’t storing fat. This is fairly easy to achieve since it allows for use of proper pre-, peri- and post-workout nutrition (which hopefully you’re using). I’m talking about your shakes, which should contain a high amount of quality protein and carbohydrates.
2. Your “off” and “cardio”/HIIT days can be your low-carb days--generally under 100g of carbs.
3. As a general rule, I agree with limiting carb intake on low-carb days to before noon (the time your body and hormones most efficiently process carbs) and right around workout time.
Things get more complex when factoring in how many days you lift, your body type (endomorph/ectomorph) and your body weight/caloric expenditure--but these three principles are the basics.
See, that’s not so bad! To recap:
1. Hard training/heavy lifting days = high carb days
2. Off/cardio days = low carb days
3. Only ingest carbs before noon and around workout time
Bottom line--follow these three basic principles (we’ll call them “Pete’s Basic Principles for Carb Cycling”) and you’ll see amazing progress toward your goals. The best thing about this system (besides the gains and losses you’ll see in all the right areas), is that it allows you to eat the carbs you want! You have to get quality sources, eat them at the right time and eat them in moderation--but you get to eat them.
Peter Bauman – Peter is a chef first and personal trainer second. With a background in the biological sciences and degree in psychology, Peter knows how to make food that tastes great and keeps you lean and healthy.