The way we perceive food has been changing with time. Earlier, the diets were restricted to not having some foods while focusing on eating more of other foods. Now, the focus has shifted to how you eat the food, which nutrients you should eat and when. It has also focused more on how you can control your blood sugar levels or your hormone production by having the correct diet.
Is it getting too complicated? Let the celebrity trainer David Kingsbury explain a useful method, Carb Cycling and offer you some simple and useful diet tips that would enhance your life.
Appreciating Carb Cycling
David says that he has used this method with all the clients who wanted to cut the fat. He has used it with movie stars who went shirtless and impressed with their bodies. It’s an effective method which has worked for decades.
What is Carb Cycling Exactly?
Carb cycling is a simple method in which you have to control your carbohydrate intake by eating high, low and medium carbs for a course of an entire week. When you have high carb days, you need to work hard at the gym and when you have low carb days, rest days and low-intensity training should be your focus. Protein intake remains high at all times to boost muscle growth.
This method leads to muscle growth and fat loss. Fat intake must also be cycled along with the carbs. On high carb days, you need to have more fats while on low carb days, low-fat foods are also pushed.
The Benefits
The benefits of this amazing method range from boosting metabolism to improving insulin sensitivity and enhancing the muscle gain to perking up the fat burning process.
Why Carb Cycling works?
Though carbs are not as vital as essential fats or amino acids, they can help in boosting the metabolism if you use them to your advantage. Many people wrongly believe that carb cycling is just about what you eat. While the main focus is on the consumption of carbs, the level of activity you do also matter a lot.
On high carb days, you will usually flood your body with insulin and refuel the muscles’ glycogen levels. This process has anti-catabolic effects that reduce the muscle loss as well. Insulin also inhibits the muscle breakdown which is a good option for the days when you are doing the most intense and toughest workouts on high carb days.
During the moderate intake of carb days, the muscles get just enough carbs to maintain the glycogen stores. On these days, you are also creating a biological environment that improves the insulin sensitivity as well as the fat loss.
On the days when you are eating low carbs, you are going to be in the lowest calories situation as well. You can do low-intensity workouts or enjoy a rest day. At this time, you are fooling the body into burning a lot of fat by keeping the insulin levels low. This is that part of the process when the carb cycling method actually begins to work.
Supplements Are Good
The MyProtein ambassador is a fan of supplements, reports The Sport Review. He suggests having two scoops of the Impact Whey Isolate every day. He trusts MyProtein supplements as they have more than 90 percent protein and just 1 percent fat. The Whey protein isolate also has 2g of Leucine per serving which will push the development of the lean muscle mass.
Apart from trusting the carb cycling methods, the Pinewood Film Studios based trainer has also shared some vital diet ideas and tips. Let’s have a look at them.
Nutrition is Vital
The fitness expert believes that having lasting fitness and health is not possible without looking at your diet. Nutrition and exercise should be interlinked to get the results you want.
Easy Changes
The online coaching star does not want you to overhaul your diet, reports Huffington Post UK. He just wants you to make a few easy changes mentioned below to get great results.
- Use Smaller Plates
The first thing you need to do is to start using smaller plates, bowls, drinking vessels, etc. for eating. It will result in reducing your portion sizes. It would also be beneficial for those people who tend to overeat just because they don’t want to waste the food. With smaller plates, you will take only that amount of food that you actually want. Tall skinny glasses should replace the wide and short ones.
- Eat Away from the Kitchen
It has been seen that people tend to be lazy creatures. So, you should eat away from the kitchen. If you are eating in the kitchen, you might want to keep refilling your plate until you feel content and often overeat. In contrast, if you wish to limit your meals to one full plate, you should eat away from the kitchen like a table far away from the kitchen. Chances are high that you would not want to refill your plate by bothering to go all the way back to the kitchen. Hence, you will let go of the habit of having unnecessary refills.
- Clearly Pack the Leftovers
Did it ever happen to you that you planned to eat leftovers but ended up having a fresh meal even when the leftovers were in the refrigerator? If you are nodding, then here’s some advice for you. You need to pack the leftovers in clear and transparent containers as opposed to the dark and tinted ones. It is a fact that when you see the leftovers as soon as you open the refrigerators, you will have them first rather than creating a whole fresh meal. Thus, your food intake would reduce.
- Reduce the Leptin Levels
Leptin is a hormone produced by the fat cells. When you control it, you have better control over your hunger, metabolism and energy levels. Staying away from the sugary drinks is the best bet to reduce Leptin levels. You can also do it by staying lean, avoiding all the bulking regimens and going too far over the target weight you have.
- Control the Blood Sugar
You should always have a handle on your insulin levels. If the blood sugar is low, you will feel lethargic and if they are high, you will be high. Right insulin levels can help you maintain the muscles. Before you control the blood sugar, you should know whether you are insulin resistant or sensitive. If you are the former, you will get more lipolytic effects of insulin which mean your carbs intake should be on the low side. If you are the latter, your carb intake can be on the high side.
People who wish to monitor the insulin sensitivity should cut out fructose by avoiding sugars, sweeteners, smoothies and even fruit juices. Cutting out hydrogenated oil and trans fat is also highly recommended.
Did you like the diet ideas shared by the fitness guru? If so, you can check out his official website and can follow him on Twitter.
