This one is a tricky one because low carb definitely has it’s place in health maintenance and fat loss.

While I don’t personally don’t like to advocate zero-very low carb diets (Atkins, keto), going low carb for intermittent periods can be great for lowering inflammation and reducing body fat.

Men can generally withstand going low carb for longer than women. Why?

Going low carb and fasting repeatedly for an extensive period of time can cause fatigue, by overworking our adrenals, which can put a strain on our thyroid, and this can have a domino effect on the rest of our hormones.

What does that mean?

It means you can find yourself feeling very tired, moody, and unable to focus. This in turn enable someone to eat traditional stress relieving foods like crisps, biscuits, cheese, etc.

If you’re exercising and want to feel and see gains, you need to smartly incorporate carbs into your diet alongside your protein.

Why?

You need glucose to improve the uptake of protein into your muscle. You don’t need a crazy amount, a couple of tablespoons per meal should suffice.

In addition, along with foods like turkey, eggs and salmon, whole-food sources of carbohydrates contain tryptophan, which can be converted by our bodies into serotonin, the happy/feel good hormone.

So if you want to do low carb, what’s the best way?

-carb cycle.
Choose a few days in the week where you decide to go low carb (what you consider to be low will depend on your age, size & activity level – I go for under 100g). It may be wise to do this on low activity days. Make sure you eat sufficient amounts of veggies, protein and good fats like seeds & nuts.

-eat smaller portions of carbs in each meal.

-eat carbs everyday but not necessarily in every meal.

-if you’re feeling run down, please don’t cut carbs out now. Wait till you’re feeling a bit better, and then try to reduce/eliminate.

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