Confused about carbs and how they fit into carb cycling? Believe me, you’re not alone! Many of my most frequently asked questions are about carbs. And yes, with all the talk of “carbs this” and “carbs that” in the media, it can get a bit confusing. It gets even more complicated when you think you need to keep track of grams of carbs per meal and per day and the “good” vs. the “bad.”
It’s time to rethink how you think about carbs, agreed?!
First, the basics: Carbs—and the roles they play in your diet—are actually pretty simple. If it comes from a plant, it’s a carb, and carbs are the preferred fuel source for your muscles and organs. Breads, beans, potatoes, table sugar, fruits, and vegetables are all carbs.
There are two categories of carbs: simple and complex. The simple, not-so-healthy ones are found in foods such as cakes, cookies, some commercially made breads, and many processed foods. Fruits are also considered simple carbs because of the type of sugar they contain, but they’re a healthy choice because they’re loaded with vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, antioxidants, and some fiber. Your body breaks down simple, not-so-healthy carbs very quickly, which spikes your blood sugar levels and stimulates the release of insulin, resulting in a craving for more simple carbs. And that is soooo not good!
Complex, healthy carbs—like those found in legumes, root vegetables, whole-grains, cereals, breads, and pastas—are typically high in fiber, which slows food digestion and the release of sugars. This keeps your blood sugar and energy levels steady (and longer lasting), so your calorie-burning furnace stays hot and burns more calories! And that is awesome!
So how do carbs fit into our carb cycling program? It’s actually pretty simple. No matter what carb cycle you choose, every breakfast of every day will contain a carb. Every breakfast, every day. Your carb can be a grain, a legume, a starchy or root veggie, or a fruit.
In the Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit Cycles, on low-carb days, your remaining four meals (spaced every three hours) consist of a portion each of protein, fat, and veggies (think fibrous green veggies, not the starchy, root kind), and on high-carb days, your remaining four meals (spaced every three hours) are made up of a portion each of protein and complex carbs (grains, legumes, starchy or root veggies, or fruits). To learn more about the new Extreme Cycle, go here. And no matter which cycle you choose, if you’re ever still hungry, you can always throw in a portion of veggies (again, the fibrous greens). Remember: With carb cycling, you can have non-root/non-starchy veggies with every single meal (starchy, root veggies, like potatoes, will fall into the carb category)! Pretty simple, right?
Here’s what it looks like, including some handy portion size helps, for the Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit Cycles:
Here’s the most important take-away about carbs: With carbs and carb cycling, it’s not about a magic number of grams of carbs to eat every day. It’s about that carb for breakfast every morning and spreading your carb intake throughout your high-carb days so your body gets the greatest benefits from those healthy carbs you eat. Carbs are amazing, and they can be an important key to achieving your transformation goals. 🙂
693 Responses
Hello,
I have a question about the graph above, first it’s so great that Chris and Heidi put this together so helpful. For the high carb day, lets say for the dinner meal, I have chicken and whole grain pasta, because chicken is my protein and the pasta would be my carb, does that mean I can’t put anything on the pasta? In the graph is it one serving of each protein and carb? So by doing my protein (chicken) and carb (pasta) I’ve used up the serving for protein and carb?
On a high carb day where I wouldn’t eat fat, because my protein and carb foods would have some fat in them, is there a certain amount of fat grams I should be staying under on a high carb day? And same thing for a low carb day, where I need to stay under a certain amount of carbs when I eat the protein and fat?
If I did zero fat greek yogurt with granola for a snack on high carb day, because I used the granola as my carb and the yogurt as my protein, I couldn’t put fruit in it because that would be a carb and I used my carb for granola, is that right?
I’m sorry for all the questions, my hubby bought me the book today, I can’t wait to start reading it tonight when I get home.
Hi, I have a quick questions, the above graph that shows portion sizes, which are the same for women and men, at the bottom of the graph it says men 1500 and women 1200 for low carb day, how do they have different calorie amounts when they use the same portion sizes? Thank you for the help!
Hi,
I was looking at the above graph, I think I’m misunderstanding it, it gives the portion sizes for your low carb day and high carb day, at the bottom it says estimated calorie intake goals for women and men. If the portion size is the same for both female and male for their meals and snacks, how is there a different in calorie intake for male and female? For example if both female and male are having a palms sized amount of protein and a fist amount of carbs for breakfast on a low carb day, both male and female are consuming around the same amount of calories? How do men end up consuming around 1500 a day and women 1200? Thank you for your help!
Hi Isabella: It can be a bit confusing. Remember, men’s palms, fists, fingers, etc., are larger than women’s. It doesn’t take much of a larger portion to add the extra calories men consume. These are the portion sizes in this chart, and the calorie recommendations are there as a way to double check how you’re doing (or for those who really like to count calories). Hope this helps – you can do this!
Hello!
Any tips for a diabetic. I was diagnosed in February and cant seem to get it together. I do really good, then fall off track and want to give up. I work full time and am not sure how to incorporate eating every 3 hours, then I feel like I check my blood sugar in between there too, it gets me overwhelmed at times. Id loc to reverse my diabetes of poss and I know my weight, eating habits and lack of holding my self accountable for not consistently exercising all hurt me but for some reason I get right back off of it after I start . Any ideas? Thank you for any advice. Love the powell pack ?
Hi Ellie: Here’s a post about carb cycling and diabetes, and I hope it might help: https://heidipowell.net/5078/ask-heidi-anything-im-diabetic-which-plan-should-i-follow/. And please discuss any nutrition and exercise program with your healthcare team first, and then follow their recommendations. And here’s another post that might help too – it outlines Chris and Heidi’s #1 transformation tool: https://heidipowell.net/9060. You can do this!
Are chia seeds allowed with the program? Can I count them as a fat with my greek yogurt or is it too many carbs?
Hi Marie: Chia seeds count as fats, so you could add them as the fat portion of any low-carb meal.
It seems like this is more food then I usually eat in a day– ED habits… Do you recommend just GOING for it? or building to that amount slowly?
Hi Megan: You can just go for it, and if it’s too much at first, then work up gradually. You can do this – it’s all about taking those baby steps. 🙂
Hi I’m a vegetarian and am planning to start with CC right away! But I have a couple questions:
– are ALL legumes ( so not only beans I have read i the book about) to be considered carbs and never protein? So when I eat any legumes I must eat protein as well?
– As a protein source in the morning could I have soy milk/lactose-free milk together with my carbs? I only see almond milk among the drinks but would like to have e liquid protein source with oatmeal for example for breakfast….
Thanks a lot!!!!
Elisa
Hi Elisa: 1). Yes, all legumes are considered carbs, so you’ll need to add a protein for a high-carb meal. 2). Soy milk/lactose-free milk are not on the plan as protein sources because they do not have enough protein/serving to qualify as a protein. And milk has carbs, also. Unsweetened almond milk is not counted as a protein or a carb, it’s counted as a beverage, so that’s why it’s a great option to use with cereal, oatmeal, protein shakes, etc. I hope that helps! 🙂
Hi thanks a lot for your anwser, just another little thing. As snacks, would soy yogurt/fat free yogurt counts as protein instead ( in replacement for the greek yogurt) or same deal as for the milk meaning its not enough protein?
Thanks!!!
It probably wouldn’t have enough protein. A protein serving needs to have around 15 grams. And watch the carb content on non-Greek yogurts too.
Or like adding a bit of whey protein to a normal yogurt would that be a right fix?
Hi again,sorry for all The questions…But need help for The protein part! can a soy Burger (150 kcal, 6g of carbs and 16g of protein for 100g) be an ok protein source for both days especially a low carb day? We dont get tvp here in italy so it turns out i dont have many vegetarian protein alternatives…or you do u have any other suggestioni apart ? gg Whites, tofu and cottage cheese? Thank u so much!
Hi Elisa: This would be an acceptable source of protein for both days. 🙂
I’m also wondering about dark meat chicken- like chicken drumsticks. Are those alright as a protein source on the plan??
Any lean meats are okay for carb cycling. 🙂
Hi! I have another question about meats that may contain some fat. I recently bought uncooked buffalo (bison) burgers at trader joes. I went to have one with dinner the other night on a low carb day and realized that they are not as lean as I thought. One patty has 28 grams of protein and 29 grams of fat! When I saw this, I was uncertain as to whether or not to pair a healthy fat like avocado with the burger (as I would have if I were certain it was a lean enough protein). Since the burger was higher in fat than I thought, I chose to just eat it with veggies and no additional fat source. Can you help with this confusion?
Thanks so much!
I’m not sure – is this considered a lean meat per your last response?
Hi Jen: I thought I’d replied to Jenn’s comment, but I hadn’t, so I just did. Here’s what I told her: You?d probably not want to eat these bison burgers on any day except for a reward day because of the extremely high fat content. This burger is okay protein wise (and actually has more protein than 1 protein portion), but even if it served as both your protein and fat, there?s still too much fat. Hope that helps!
So sorry! I thought I’d replied to your comment. You’d probably not want to eat these bison burgers on any day except for a reward day because of the extremely high fat content. This burger is okay protein wise (and actually has more protein than 1 protein portion), but even if it served as both your protein and fat, there’s still too much fat. Hope that helps!
Does this mean that I can never have a fat and a carb together? No more peanut butter on a piece of whole grain bread?
Hi Joanne: Peanut butter on bread would be a great option for a reward meal/reward day depending on which cycle you choose. 🙂