Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life (11 page)

By now you know that carb cycling consists of alternating high-carb and low-carb eating days. Cycling carbs keeps your metabolism—your body’s inner furnace—stoked to its hottest every hour of every day, even on low-carb days when you’re not feeding it much fuel. There are a lot of ways to modify the pattern and the details to meet your specific needs, but the basic method—my Classic Carb Cycle—is a great place to begin.

The Classic Carb Cycle

Sunday—Free Day/High-Carb Day

Monday—Low-Carb Day

Tuesday—High-Carb Day

Wednesday—Low-Carb Day

Thursday—High-Carb Day

Friday—Low-Carb Day

Saturday—High-Carb Day and Weekly Weigh-In

When to Eat:
Each day, whether it’s a high-carb, low-carb, or reward day, eat five meals, no more and no less. Start your day at about the same time every day (any time is fine, as long as it’s consistent) and
eat within 30 minutes of getting up
to crank up your metabolic furnace for the day. Then eat another meal every three hours for a total of five meals in the day. It’s
essential
to time your meals on this schedule to keep your metabolism blazing away at its hottest and using up what you eat when you eat it.

Eating at three-hour intervals fuels your inner furnace to burn super-hot between meals, melting your body fat. If you go longer than three hours without food, your furnace cools down. The calories you take in won’t go up in flames. They’ll just sit there until your body turns them into more fat! What if you’re not hungry and don’t feel like eating every three hours?
Eat anyway—no matter what
.

Here’s an example of a carb-cycling meal schedule, with a 6:45 A.M. wake-up time:

7:00
A.M.
—breakfast

10:00
A.M.
—morning snack

1:00
P.M.
—lunch

4:00
P.M.
—afternoon snack

7:00
P.M.
—dinner

Keep in mind that this is just an example. Whether you’re an early riser or work the midnight shift, you should always eat your first meal within thrity minutes of waking, and then eat every three hours after!

What to Eat:
Okay, so what kind of food will you be eating all day? We’re not talking about high-carb french fries and low-carb sausage! To keep your metabolism at peak efficiency and your body at peak performance, you have to feed yourself
the right fuel
. In
Chapter 6
, “Feed Your Fire: The Recipes,” I’ll give you a big list of the best foods for carb cycling.

Proteins:
Grilled steak, roasted chicken, broiled fish, Greek yogurt—your taste buds and your body love protein. I’m going to ask you to
eat lean protein at every one of your five daily meals
. It builds and maintains energy-hungry muscle that burns calories like an inferno. It accelerates your overall metabolism to demolish even more calories. What’s more, protein breaks down more slowly than carbs and fat, using up even more calories and keeping you fuller longer. When you eat protein, you also digest other nutrients more slowly, sustaining your energy level longer. Aside from lean meat, poultry, and fish, great sources of low-fat protein are cottage cheese, nonfat plain Greek yogurt, soy products such as tofu, and whey protein (for mixing into smoothies—yum!). All of these also contain lots of other good stuff that your body loves. Protein is the cornerstone of carb cycling and the centerpiece of all your meals.

Carbohydrates:
Carbs are the main nutrient in foods that come from plants. Sounds healthy, right? Well, sometimes, sometimes not: There are junk and processed carbs, and then there are real carbs. It may come from corn, or beets, or sugarcane, but the sugar in candy bars is far from good for you. It’s a
simple
carbohydrate, which means it breaks down superfast in your body and moves rapidly from your bloodstream to your muscle and fat cells. It sounds backward, but by eating sugar you end up with low blood sugar! When you eat processed carbs, like white flour and sugar, your blood sugar surges to dangerously high levels, triggering a hormonal reaction that ultimately leads to a devastating blood-sugar crash. That translates into low energy and a slowed metabolism. Good carb sources, though—sweet potatoes, berries, black beans, pears, peas, oatmeal, and many more—do your body a slew of favors. These are
complex
carbs, which break down slowly, keep your blood sugar steady, maximize long-lasting
energy, and keep your inner furnace hot, hot, hot! The short version of the carb story is: complex carbs = a vigorous metabolism. They’re the powerful variable of carb cycling.

Vegetables:
Vegetables fall into the carbohydrates category, but since they’re mostly low-carb and they’re a huge part of carb cycling, I put them into their own group. Veggies are hugely nutritious and send all kinds of good stuff to every part of your body. Everything from your heart to your immune system benefits from a veggie-filled diet, and the antioxidants in veggies help prevent cancer! You can eat as many of these low-calorie beauties as you like, and since they come in such a variety of tasty flavors, shapes, and textures—green beans, spinach, carrots, onions, and so many others—
you won’t get bored
. Filled with fiber, veggies keep you feeling full for a good, long time. Without a doubt, veggies are the perfect food when you’re out to get rid of your fat.

Healthy Fat:
Speaking of fat, I’ll let you in on a delicious fact:
You can eat fat
when you’re carb cycling! Healthy fat, that is. We’re talking about peanut butter, string cheese, eggs, and a whole assortment of other plant- and dairy-based foods. When you’re carb cycling, you can eat healthy fat on your low-carb days. You’re already getting enough calories on your high-carb days, so you should stay away from fat then. But on low-carb days, a little healthy fat will keep your energy from dipping too low, and will keep you from feeling too hungry. Don’t eat too much, though, or this high-calorie stuff will hold back your weight-loss mission.

How to Eat:
When you’re carb cycling, it’s vital to put together the “when to eat” and “what to eat” components the right way to get the best, fastest possible results. Here’s how to do it: