In a previous article, “Carbs are not the enemy! Just get the timing right…“, I tried to show why we do not need to avoid carbohydrates completely when we are trying to lose weight. This is very important to remember – especially those of us who are athletes or who do any form of physically demanding activity. In that article, I showed how timing carbs within a single day can really boost your fat loss efforts, and I explain the Paleolithic scenario that would have ‘hard-coded’ this favorable response into our DNA. In this article, I go one step further with carbohydrate manipulation. This is good information. Anyone who honestly follows this plan will drop bodyfat – and the more excess fat you have, the faster it will come off. However, to understand this article, its best to read “Carbs are not the enemy! Just get the timing right…” first.

Very low-carbohydrate days

Now that you’ve read Part 1 you now know that we can prevent fat storage from carbohydrates by consuming them when your body’s genetic memory expects them, we need to exploit another ‘paleoscenario’ – days when hunting was so good, that our ancestors ate very little fruit and nuts. Remember, getting meat was hard work for them. They couldn’t open a fridge or make a trip to a market, and therefore the most was made of such times of plenty.

Even those who are against low carbohydrate eating plans would admit that very low carbohydrate diets like Atkins drops fat fast. However, they would also argue that the diet is not sustainable and not a healthy way to eat indefinitely. And they would be right. My whole concept of paleocyclic nutrition is that the only thing that was certain in the ‘old days’ was change itself. But, while long low carbohydrate eating plans don’t make sense, low carbohydrate days most certainly do. And they do map to a very plausible paleoscenario – one where hunting was very good. As meat was a luxury, there were days when our ancestors would consume it over anything else when it was available. Occasionally, we should do the same.

Benefits of low carb days

While the nutrient timing strategy in Part 1, would help keep insulin sensitivity high, part of the day would still be relatively neutral in terms of fat burning. We can accelerate that, and further boost the effectiveness of those carb days. Since the body’s genetic memory expects carbohydrates in the morning (if ‘high-carb’ days look like what I described in Part 1), a low carb day will do several very beneficial things:

• prevents spillover of excess carbs into fat storage
• glycogen stores are used up, which stimulates a acute fat burning state
• as levels of the hormone glucagon rise, it stimulates amongst others the release of growth hormone, which:
  • builds new muscle tissue due to its anabolic effect
  • mobilizes (indirectly) fat stores due to its lipolytic effect
  • stimulates burning of the released fat for energy
• insulin resistance becomes extremely low, which means that on subsequent days when carbs are consumed, they get stored in the muscle and the liver and fat cells starve
• insulin receptors are refreshed – a good thing for people who are ‘pre-diabetic’

In summary, this is just a way of supercharging the plan outlined in part 1, particularly if your goal is to lose fat.

The Plan:

Follow the guidelines, and this plan is guaranteed to work. I am currently on the same plan, after letting myself get horribly out of shape – its working, and working well. Note that I said “guidelines” – you don’t have to eat the exact foods or amounts. Its the food classes that matter most.

I’ll post my own progress photos at the 21 day mark, which is in 4 days time. I think I have done quite well – not even close to being lean by far, but I have substantially lowered by cardiac risk profile since my visceral fat has dropped a lot. Anyone can do that. Now of course, some physical activity is a given, and I prefer 2 days of weight training + 2 days of cardio (HIIT is preferred). However, if you’re currently inactive and very out of shape, I would recommend just going for as brisk as possible a walk for 30-45 minutes, 5 times a week.

Monday and Saturday (low carb):

• this allows you to have a HUGE carb lunch on Sunday
• on Saturday it gets the body to absorb carbs into the muscle
• on Monday it cleans out those carbs that you ate on Sunday to get you nicely back into a fat-burning mode
• this is also a cool way to boost the metabolism, since any starvation signals would get switched off on Sunday, and important hormone (e.g. ghrelin and leptin) receptors and levels would get refreshed
• So on those 2 days:

Breakfast:

• eggs, meat, chicken or fish for protein
• 1 apple or 1 orange or 1 pear or 1 or peach or 4 apricots or a watermelon slice or half a sweetmelon, (no bananas or dried fruit)

Lunch:

• Lean protein, e.g. 2 chicken breasts or can of tuna or whey protein shake (pure whey – not the fancy stuff)
• choose a fruit from the breakfast list

Supper

• Higher in fat, high protein, low carb
• Chicken (thigh, drumstick), steak, liver, fish (with melted butter over)
• Low-carb, fibrous veggies, e.g. Squash, cauliflower, broccoli, butternut, pumpkin, cabbage, green beans
• No rice, bread, potato – no starch at all
• No fruit

Snacks

• lean meat, e.g. beef jerky, tuna, salmon, or protein shake
• + a small portion of nuts

Tuesday to Friday

Breakfast

• high carb, high protein, low fat
• SIX fruit (bananas are only OK at breakfast) + protein shake OR
• oats (not that instant oats junk) made with water + a protein shake OR
• raw oats soaked in a whey protein shake – you get used to it – I actually like it
  

Lunch

• Moderate carb, high protein, moderate fat
• 2 fruit – apples, oranges, pears, etc
• A handful of nuts
• lean protein (chicken breast, whey shake, egg whites, can of tuna/salmon)

Supper

• low carb, moderate fat, high protein
• red meat or chicken (excess fat trimmed) or a fatty fish like salmon, sardines, mackerel, anchovies
• some eggs on the side if you want more protein
• Low carb fruits and veg, e.g. squash, cucumber, tomato, olives, peppers, etc (yes, they’re fruit not veggies) + broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc (fill up on these)
• 5 grams salmon oil
• 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil – tastes terrible, but really speeds up fat loss

Snacks

• fruit (no bananas)
• nuts (in moderation)
• protein shake

IMPORTANT:

• You MUST eat breakfast EVERY DAY – and make it high protein
• No bread or rolls or pizza. Ever.
• Rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes on Sunday Lunch only – have as much as you want – actually, LOAD UP and remember to eat some protein and fat as well.
• Sunday morning: 2 fruit and a protein shake or some very lean meat
• Sunday evening – have a low carb meal

So there you have it, a weekly carb cycle, which contains low carb days + ‘carb-days’ when carbohydrate consumption is timed. Its a double-whammy that works. And it works very well. I’ll post my own progress pictures (after only 3 weeks of being strict again) in 4 days time.

Just do it, and don’t forget to report your success in the comments!

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