A cyclical ketogenic diet is an eating plan that involves cycling the amount of carbs you eat on different days, helping to maximize your weight loss. This is our review.
What is a Ketogenic Diet?
Finding the right weight loss plan for your body can be a constant journey of trying to figure out what works. Some people flourish on a low-fat diet, others get the results they want from a calorie-restricted diet. However, all of these diets lack one thing – variety. If you frequently plateau, you might want more information about a ketogenic diet.
A ketogenic diet is characterized by foods that are low in carbohydrates, but high in fat. There are multiple scientific studies from different researchers that show the way that this type of diet improves your overall health, while motivating weight loss. In fact, consumers that use this type of diet are known to have a better defense against diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease.
This type of diet is often compared to high-profile, trendy diets like Atkins. This type of diet dramatically minimizes the amount of carbohydrates you eat, regardless of if they are good or bad for you. Instead of eating carbs, you are encouraged to enjoy high amounts of fat. According to the supporting science, this change helps to push your body into ketosis, a metabolic state that burns fat into energy for your body and brain.
However, there are multiple types of ketogenic diets. For this review, you will be learning more about a cyclical ketogenic diet.
What is a Cyclical Ketogenic Diet?
A cyclical ketogenic diet is a variation of the original ketogenic diet. While the ketogenic diet focuses on minimizing the carbohydrates you take in entirely, the cyclical ketogenic diet offers a little more leniency and variety. During this diet, you will have short periods of time when you will eat a high amount of carbs, which is then followed by a longer period of time without carbohydrates. For instance, a standard diet would consist of two days that you are encouraged to eat more carbohydrates, and five days that you stick with the original ketogenic plan.
How A Cyclical Ketogenic Diet Works
The reason that this method is so effective is in the way your body is constantly having to “guess” how much energy it will receive to burn during the day. On the days that you eat low amounts of carbohydrates, your body learns to seek out energy and nutrients from the fatty foods you choose.
However, as soon as your body gets used to the level that your metabolism works, then you change your pace to make it have to work harder during high-carb days. When you transition back to the high-fat days, your body takes time to adjust to the difference and burns more.
Why Choose a Cyclical Ketogenic Diet?
Much of the reason that you should pursue this type of diet is due to the high amount of physical and nutritional benefits it offers for multiple body systems. In addition to helping to lose weight, this diet can make a difference in the following ailments and conditions:
- Heart disease, by reducing body fat, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels
- Cancer, by slowing tumor growth that is stimulated by sugar
- Alzheimer’s disease, by slowing down the progression of the disease
- Epilepsy, by minimizing the amount of seizures in children
- Parkinson’s disease (no reason given)
- Polycystic ovary syndrome, by reducing your insulin levels that play a role in this syndrome
- Brain injuries, by helping during recovery after a brain injury (when studied in animals)
- Acne, by limiting the amount of sugary or greasy foods that can affect your complexion
Potential Side Effects and How to Prevent Them
The best way to amplify your success and minimize the bad side effects is to speak with your physician or a medical professional before you begin any type of diet. If you have struggled with any of the above ailments in the past, your physician may already have you following particular instructions to control it. You should make sure to get medical approval before drastically altering the way you eat.
When you first begin any ketogenic diet, your body will endure a few changes as it adapts to the new way of eating. The most common effect is the “keto flu,” which present at increased hunger, problems sleeping, and an overall sluggish disposition. These symptoms are usually due to the decrease in the amount of carbohydrates in your body, since they are responsible for your energy levels usually.
You may be able to avoid this “flu” by adding a little extra salt to your meals or adding mineral supplements. You need to focus on becoming full during your meals, which means you won’t have to worry about calories. If you are having an especially hard time handling the diet, you can choose to ease into it, rather than immediately transitioning to the strict guidelines.
Supplements
One of the easiest ways to make the changes are by including supplements with your dietary changes. There are multiple vitamins and nutrients that can make the difference between feeling tired and hungry, rather than alert and satisfied. Try out some of these vitamins as you make the switch:
- MCT oil, which can be added to drinks to boost energy and ketone levels
- Minerals, which helps to even out your nutrients as your water intake changes
- Caffeine, to help boost your energy and fat loss
- Exogenous ketones, which help to increase your ketone levels
- Creatine, which can help you stick with the diet if you are also engaging in exercise
- Whey, to help maintain enough protein in your eating plan
Conclusion
There are many websites that offer information on this type of diet, and the balance of different foods is a great way to even out any issues you have with your metabolism. Once you begin using this diet, it will become much easier to come up with your own balanced recipes. We have had many comments on the forskolin benefits of cutting carbs, boosting metabolism and suppressing appetite that may be worth checking into.
As with any new diet, you should speak with a medical professional before making any major changes.
