All About Low-Carb and Carb-Cycling Diets
(How they worked for me, and why I love them!)

NOW AVAILABLE!!
All the details you need to follow a carbohydrate cycling plan such as the one I followed for my first fitness competition.  I cut my bodyfat in HALF (from 18% to 9% in less than 10 weeks), surpassing my goals and shocking my personal trainer (who objected to the low-carb diet). 

I have compiled a comprehensive, but simple, easy-to-follow outline of carbohydrate cycling, so YOU can get started TODAY!!!  No reading 1700 scientific studies, no books to speed-read through before you can figure out where to start! 

GET MORE INFO!

 

All About Ketogenic Diets

Ok, everyone has heard of The Atkins Diet...  haven't they??   Ketogenic diets are low/no carb diets, however, unlike Atkins, cyclical ketogenic diets (CKD) incorporate carbs at certain intervals to allow the muscles to refill glycogen stores.  Glycogen is essential for the incorporation of EXERCISE... something which is not a primary topic with The Atkins Diet.

While we've created a fat furnace of sorts and the body functions optimally during daily activities, muscles need glucose and/or stored glycogen to be at their very best. This is why we must incorporate a period of carbohydrate loading to refill or even overfill muscle glycogen stores so they have the energy needed to function optimally. If you're not exercising this carbohydrate loading period is not necessary. But if you're not exercising, you're also not following my recommendations for proper weight loss.

When carbohydrates were plentiful your body used them as the primary energy source. Now that fats are the primary energy source the body uses them preferentially over carbohydrates. Simply amazing!

Short-term carb cycling forces the body to turn to fat for fuel supply, and then brings back carbs before any damage can be done to muscle tissue, thyroid hormone or metabolism. Combined with proper exercise, this will allow ongoing progress to bring your body to a higher level of excellence.

One question you're all thinking relates to how we can possibly lose weight eating 55% of our calories as fat. The greatest answer is that carbohydrates are no longer the primary energy source-fats are. Doesn't fat make you fat? Let me give you a law you can use forever: **Dietary fat doesn't make people fat.  Excessive calories, a lack of activity, metabolic disease or combination of any two or more of these factors make people fat**

If you stopped reading right there and based any diet you use on this law you would know everything you need to know to lose weight and stay lean. Since dietary fat doesn't make us fat, we need not fear a relatively high fat diet, as long as calories are controlled for age, lean mass and activity.

All About NHE

NHE stands for Natural Hormonal Enhancement.  It is a book written by Rob Faigin explaining the hormonal effects of diet and exercise.  The premise of the book is a low-carb approach to diet with carb-up refeeds 2x per week.   It is a very popular plan being discussed all over the internet.  I have experienced great success with the program and LOVE the book.  I composed this page to help others get started and to answer the many questions I receive regarding my approach and how I achieved 9% bodyfat by using the information presented in NHE.  I will continue to update this page with information and new links.  If you have questions or want more info, please email me...  I will add the info here. 

Get the book!
Power-packed with 343 pages explaining how to eat, train, and live for EXPLOSIVE muscle growth and razor-sharp definition! Fully indexed, and filled with charts, graphs, and diagrams. Natural Hormonal Enhancement is pinpoint cited to more than 1700 scientific studies, making it the most well-researched and well-documented bodybuilding book ever written. Although it is based on ultra-cutting-edge scientific research, the material is presented in plain, simple English that anyone can understand and follow. 

Rob Faigin's site is here:  http://www.extique.com/

This is by far THE best book written on anything fitness related.  In my opinion, it is the best $30 you can spend on a exercise/fitness/bodybuilding book.  I am biased on his type of diet/training because it works so well for me.  I love it and follow it whole-heartedly.   Rob is hilarious and his humor is speckled throughout the book.  If you buy one fitness book, this should be it!  Even if you don't like the diet itself, you really should read up on this information and understand the fundamentals of hormones and how they relate to fitness and improving your body composition.  This information is essential to understanding the what-how-why's of exercise and making it work for you.  Stop struggling with your body.   Understand your body and work with it!

Dave Draper's site has a large excerpt of the book.  Read it here.

 

My Personal Endorsement

If you have followed any of my diet writings or fitness journals, you know I love NHE and cyclical ketogenic diets.  I have dabbled in these no-carb diets for a good 6 months.  The pictures tell the story:  see my transformation pics.   Also the realization of my insulin resistance led me to the answer (for me):  NHE, CKD, ketogenic diets. 

I started on a strict CKD diet ala Lyle McDonald.  After losing several pounds of fat (I don't really know exactly how much because I refuse to assess my progress by the scale and I could not find a soul locally who knew how to use a pair of Lange calipers with any degree of accuracy), I switched to NHE on the recommendation of a few guys who train/consult girls for fitness competitions.  On CKD, I would eat no carbs during the week and then carb binge for 24 hours- and I mean BINGE!  I felt great.  I thought the 'diet' was easy to manage with going out to eat- chicken ceasar salads were my favorite.  Even traveling from TX to MN over a week, I simply hit McDonalds, ordered a double cheeseburger (very cheap - 99 cents) took off the bun and ate the burger.

So for my competiton dieting (the 9-10 weeks prior to my comp), I was doing no-carbs (or very very low carbs) with a carb meal 2x a week.  I needed to be a little more strict on the intake.   Contrary to the keto-haters who insist you lose muscle on these plans, I did not lose an OUNCE of lean body mass.  Not one.  And for anyone on a pre-comp diet, that is monumentally successful.  My trainer is very astute at body comp measurements - with Lange calipers - at 7 sites.  He objected to my following a diet like this and would have loved to prove me wrong, but still his measurements showed that I clearly had great success on my low-carb plan. 

Following a low/no carb plan immensely helps with my sugar cravings, my mood and depression, and increased my overall energy level.  If you have any of the tendencies of insulin resistance, I highly recommend you try this no-carb approach for yourself.  But be sure to give it ample time (6-8 weeks) before judging it.  

And no, Mr. Faigin is not paying me to promote this... never met the guy, however, I would jump at the chance to meet him.   Love his info!!

 

NHE Diet Plan

The first week:

NHE starts with an "induction" period of 7 days - keep carbs below 20 grams to get out of the sugar (glucose) burning mode and into the fat burning mode.   Basically you are eating meat (chicken, eggs, turkey, lean beef, etc) and some cheese and fats.  Stay away from carbs!  Read labels diligently. 

After about 3 days of strict carb restriction, liver and muscle glycogen should be depleted and your body adjusts by recruiting energy from stored body FAT!  You will feel a little lethargic for a couple days.  There is no way around it.  Just get through it.   If you stick to the plan, this will be a one-time event. 

Focus is on meat, cheese, eggs, cottage cheese for the first 7 days.  Don't worry about the fat during this 7 day period.  Cabbage, celery, broccoli, spinach, garlic, lettuce, peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, carrots should be eaten in moderation for these 7 days.  Stay away from fruits and nuts for now.

Energy levels should increase after 4 days and cravings should disappear as you make the metabolic shift.

 

The NHE carb load (2x/week)

The carb load should be the last meal of the day for two reasons - before bedtime counters the threat of hormonal hunger and the time asleep allows for the insulin leaves to stabilize. (all food is fattening when insulin levels are high).

There is no upper limit for carbs - women should eat at least 40 grams of carbs.  Protein and fat are limited during the carb up.

You can also choose to split the carb load into 2 separate meals.

There is a strategy for incorporating sugary carbs and "junkier" carbs into the plan.   His suggestion is to eat the starchier ‘clean’ carbs (oatmeal, yam, rice) first, then follow with the junkier food...reason being...you are fuller and are apt to eat less of them. 

 

All About CKD

CKD stands for The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet, a low-carb diet popularized by Lyle McDonald.  Unlike with NHE, there is SOOOO much info out on the net explaining and debating CKD.  So instead of rewriting the book, I have listed several detailed links.  Happy Reading!

All about ketogenic diets (Lyle McDonald abstract):  Part 1  -  Part 2  -  Part 3  

Articles by Lyle:  Training on CKD, Carbing up on CKD, FAQs, Lyle's BodyOpus journals

 

 

My Random Musings on NHE/CKD

On FAT phobia:
I wholeheartedly believe one should be eating loads of fat on this plan without worry, you want to eat significant amounts of PROTEIN BECAUSE it is metabolically costly.  It is true that protein can be converted to fat by the body for storage.... it is the last macronutrient to be converted to fat because it is difficult for the body to do.  Fat is already fat and carbs are easier to convert quickly to energy and fat storage.   You don't want it to be easy for your body to convert to and store fat, which is why you attempt to control insulin in the first place.  If you are over your caloric energy balance, that extra fat is going directly on your ass- no matter what plan you are on.  At the end of the comp diet, I was eating basically only protein... why?   because it is so highly thermogenic and metabolically costly to breakdown.   And muscle sparing....

The whole premise of Atkins, CKD, NHE, and even Beverly International is that fat+carbs= disaster.   Fat alone is fine, fat with protein is fine... but when you are consuming fat+carbs that gets ugly.  Which is why the whole Low Fat Is Great Era failed miserably.

On the 'vague-ness' of Rob's book:
IMHO Rob is somewhat vague because it depends on your goals and your body as to the amount and percentage of fat to consume.  I was eating 65-70% fat and losing BF early this year (on CKD), but then I stalled and wanted to get ultra lean.... I found I had to cut it back.  I think one should toy with the fat % and see how they react.  As much as I absolutely hate to admit it, I don't think this plan (or any plan or lifestyle or whatever you follow) allows for unlimited calories.  It is just not effective.  I believe you can get away with significantly higher caloric intake when you manage your insulin and other hormones, but still.... there is a max for everyone.  Once you find YOUR range, you will achieve greater success by sticking to it.  I refused to believe that one had to consider calories constantly, but found for myself- if I am trying to get really cut, it matters.  When I am not doing the careful dieting, I eat low carb but don't watch the percentages or calories.... just NO carbs... because I know I can be flexible that way and still maintain/lose fat.

In NHE, Rob says not to count calories.  I believe Hussman did say something useful to the effect of "the only time you should count calories is when NOT counting them isn't working."  I think that applies to everyone on some level. You have to know how YOUR body reacts to different approaches.

And funny... this is a little off the NHE topic, but I was thinking the other day how there is suddenly so much guru worship - Keith Klein is huge right now, others swear by CPB (I still don't know why?) or Leanness Lifestyle or even Beverly International.  But it all comes down to figuring out your own body.  Plain and simple.  Basically that is all the gurus (well, the ones who actually have a clue) are doing- FOR YOU for an ungodly fee.   They start you on a baseline program (generally off some magic formula of 12*bodyweight or whatever- that works for MOST people) and tweak it FOR YOU as you progress.  Seems so many people are seeking this mythical perfect program- it simply does not exist.  NHE is a great place to start, but you won't get the max benefits until you dial it in for yourself.

Also.... don't know if anyone else is following the Lyle McD front... but last I read (whilst searching out info on leptin).... Lyle has retracted his love for CKD or at least his former philosophy that is was much more effective than any other controlled energy balance dietary approach.   He is now more focused on leptin and feels that the effective component of CKD was the binge-fest because it reset the leptin.  Interesting.

On insulin resistance and NHE:
IMHO, CKD and NHE are by far the best and in some cases the ONLY means of long-term success for carb sensitive and insulin resistant folks.  JUST MY OPINION.  But also as I watch so many surgery profiles of folks getting gastric bypass.... I just want to scream because I can see the characteristics (which I have, but supress and control via diet/exercise) of someone severely insulin resistant and I think they would have significant success on NHE or CKD or Atkins... but I just don't see that they care all that much to put in the extra effort to figure out their body and metabolism or bust their ass for an hour everyday in the gym.  SAD. 

 

Lots More Info

Warning: contains LOTS of deep biological scientific mumbo-jumbo, so not a beginner/layman’s article, but I love this stuff, so I could read it all day....  AND I just love Lyle McDonald.   Self-professed Lyle groupie!

Now, fundamentally, there was really nothing that new about refeeds. Bodybuilders have been using cyclical diets (of one sort or another) for decades. In hindsight, I really feel that the carb-load was the reason that the Bodyopus diet worked, not the keto phase so much. It turns out that ketogenic diets per se aren’t really protein sparing in lean folks. But the carb-load was bumping leptin and keeping the body running better overall, metabolically speaking. That’s also on top of the psychological effects of being able to ‘eat anything on a diet’ every week.

Part 1 (source of the above quote) 
Part 2

 

HUGE LIST of FAQs

Ketogenic Diets for Beginners

Hold the Toast

 

 

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