Should You Try Carb Cycling?
Though carb cycling, along with things like intermittent fasting and body recomposition, used to be a dietary concept followed among weight trainers and elite athletes, it’s become mainstream in recent years and is one of today’s most popular fitness and nutritional trends.
Celebs like Kim Kardashian, Kumail Nanjiani and Julianne Hough have gotten in on the action, and celebrity personal trainer David Kingsbury, whose clients include the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman, has said he “swear(s) by it.” But experts say carb cycling isn’t for everyone, and that one needs to keep a few things in mind when considering cutting carbs for extended or even short periods of time.
What is carb cycling? Though there is no formal definition for carb cycling, the concept is about adjusting one’s consumption of carbohydrates − nutrients that give the body energy − to meet individual dietary needs and athletic goals. “It’s a dietary approach that includes increasing one’s carbohydrate intake on some days and limiting carb intake on other days,” explains Camilla Madziar, MPH, LDN, a registered dietitian and assistant director for the Center of Applied Nutrition at UMass Chan Medical School.
Excerpted from USA Today
