The Science Behind Carb Cycling: Does It Really Work?

What is carb cycling?

 

Carbs have taken a lot of hits lately, but they still fit into a healthy diet—here’s how. Carb cycling means you change your carbohydrate intake from low carb to moderate to high carb day to day, week to week or monthly. You’re basically scheduling carbs for when you need them most—to enhance recovery, athletic performance or to meet physique goals.

Long-term low-carb diets can zap your energy and get boring. Alternating higher-carb and lower-carb days offers not only a physical and mental break from low carbing, but it could also help you get through weight-loss plateaus, speed up your metabolism and give you more energy for your workouts. It’s definitely more of an extreme dieting approach and has little research supporting its use. For the average person, it can be a headache to figure out and stick to.

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