What are the characteristics of carb cycling? For what purpose can we use it? Is there any point in using this method? You will find answers to these questions in this article on this nutritional strategy. In this article we will answer questions about meal planning.
As a quick reminder, the carb cycling strategy divides the week into low, medium and high carbohydrate days. The day with which we adjust the value of carbohydrates to the training and its intensity. The amount of protein and fats in the most common method does not change on these days over the course of a week.
Here are some tips on how to plan your meals in a carb cycling strategy at home.
The number of meals and snacks should not cause any problems in maintaining the dietary plan. If you have a day without training, use a low carbohydrate day. All you need is 4-5 meals and the time you save in the kitchen can be used for other activities.
If you have a day with training, adjust value of carbohydrates to duration and intensity of the workout.
Medium intensive – average carbohydrate content.
High intensity – high carbohydrate content.
In these 2 cases, it is better to use 5 meals and 2 snacks than to reduce the number of meals and risk stomach and intestinal discomfort and the feeling of fullness through volumetric large meals. This will not be conducive to our results during training.
On days with low carbohydrate content, take care to choose wholemeal products and plenty of vegetables. On days with medium and low carbohydrate content by a large amount of this macro element you can introduce products such as honey, syrups, fruit juices, more fruit, energy gels, isotonic drinks, jams, jams – while not forgetting the basic sources of carbohydrates that we use on days with low carbohydrate content.
Days with high and medium carbohydrate content will help to speed up glycogen recovery and will allow you to train the next day with similar intensity. However, if you want to reduce your body weight and you have 3-4 days of low carbohydrate per week, you should make sure that after a day of high carbohydrate value you have two days of low carbohydrate content and the first day was planned for training, and the second day was a day off workout. Despite the lower amount of carbohydrates, the body will be able to replenish glycogen reserves and on the next day, when I have a workout, we will be able to train on effective performance.
Do not exceed 40g of fiber per day due to the risk of constipation.
Realize your needs for daily protein rations. Protein allows, among other things, to rebuild damaged muscle fibers during workouts, takes part in the transport of oxygen, creates digestive enzymes, participates in the active work of our immune system. If you are a professional athlete, make sure that in every meal there is 20-40g of protein for a meal.
Make sure that your menu contains at least 2-3x a week of fish. If you do not like fish, take care of a proper supplementation with omega 3 acids. A proper supply of omega 3 acids has an anti-inflammatory effect, reduces oxidative stress and improves the lipid profile.
Sources of fats in the diet should be based on products of plant origin. In the diet of physically active people, saturated acids should not exceed 10% of the total supply of fats. Focus on introducing vegetable oils, olive oil, olives, fatty fish, flax seed, nuts, avocado to your diet.
Our carb cycling diet plan is exemplary and can serve as a model. It will not serve people with all kinds of deficiency, incorrect laboratory tests, etc.
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