Last month, I exposed the truth and helped clear the confusion of popular low-carb diets. If you missed that article, it can be viewed on my web site at www.bodyprinciple.com.

This month, I want to provide a healthy alternative to these low-carb diets. This option involves cycling carbohydrate intake for enhanced fat loss without sacrificing metabolism or doing harm to your body.

Before implementing these principles, it is important that you have already been taking part in a healthy nutritional program in which you consume supportive meals consisting of lean proteins, starchy carbs and fibrous carbs every 3-3 ½ hours. After getting in the habit of doing this for at least a month, only then should you try this carbohydrate cycling regimen to take your body to a new level.

While I explained last month that carbohydrates are nutrients your body uses for fuel, it would be silly to eliminate them from your life for an extended period of time. The trick is to exclude starchy carbohydrates from your diet for a period of 1-3 days, and then bring them back before any damage can be done to your metabolism or the production of your thyroid hormone. On these specific protein days, you will want to consume more protein than you would normally every 3-3½ hours.

This extra protein will help prevent your body from breaking apart precious muscle tissue for the fuel it needs. Carbs are your body’s preferred fuel source and when they’re not being ingested, your body has to go elsewhere to find the fuel it needs to survive. It will break apart muscle tissue to obtain certain amino acids that can be converted into glucose. That glucose is the fuel your body uses to do everything from working out to blinking an eye. Since muscle is the actual location where fat is burned, this explains why long-term carb restriction will destroy your metabolism.

For the protein days, you will want to take in about 1½ grams of protein for every pound of body weight. For example, a 150 lb person would take in 225 grams of protein per day. Since this can be a difficult task to accomplish, the use of protein supplements can come in handy. I’ve also found that people who succeed on this diet are the ones who keep a record of their daily protein intake. Those who fail to achieve the heightened protein level did so because they did not keep track.

While eliminating starchy carbs, you will continue to ingest fibrous carbs which aid in digestion and provide essential vitamins and minerals. Broccoli, green beans, carrots, peppers, lettuce, cucumbers and celery are examples of fibrous carbs that should be consumed with every meal.

Just like anything new you try, start this eating pattern slowly. For the first week, start with only one protein day, let’s say it falls on Monday. The next week, you will have two protein days, the first being on Monday and the second on Wednesday. The next four weeks will go as follows:

Week 3- Protein Days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

Week 4- Protein Days (Monday, Tuesday)

Week 5- Protein Days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

Week 6- Protein Days (Monday, Tuesday)

These protein days are laid out to optimize fat loss and should be strictly followed. They should be immediately followed by one high carbohydrate day taking in 20 percent more carbs than you normally would with each meal.

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. These nutritional concepts should only be done a few times a year, and never repeated back-to-back. Combined with proper exercise, this will allow ongoing progress to bring your body to a higher level of excellence.

Until next month, stay motivated and live healthier

-Casey Einhorn