First for Women – August 26, 2019

the body needs carbs to function at its

best. “Cycling back in some carbohy-

drates stimulates your metabolism,”

says Dr. Wood. Carb breaks remind

the body that it’s not starving, which

staves off metabolic slowdowns,

energy dips and other uncomfortable

symptoms familiar to keto dieters.

Keto cycling can supercharge fat

loss. The reason? Unlike traditional

calorie-restricted diets, keto cycling

helps you burn stored fat while retain-

ing metabolism-revving lean

muscle. “When you cycle

carb restriction with peri-

ods of replenishment,

over time, more of t hat

weight loss is fat and

less of it is muscle,”

explains Dr. Wood.

“You end up with a

more efficient metabo-

lism than you would

have through calorie

restriction alone.” Indeed,

in a randomized trial published

in the European Journal of Clinical

Nutrition, subjects who alternated

between periods of fasting and feasting

lost 11% of their fat mass and gained

2 pounds of muscle after 10 weeks. For

women who FIRST talked to, those lab

results transferred into real-life weight

loss—as much as 20 pounds in 10 days!

The results go beyond deprivation-

proof slimming. “Keto cycling can

litera l ly change your body at a cel lu lar

level,” asserts Santos-Prowse. Research

shows it can improve blood sugar by

25% while boosting immunity and

reducing body-wide inf lammation.

“Normally when I diet, I’m a puffy,

bloated mess, but this was different,”

says 28-year-old keto-cycler Lauren

Breeze. “I could name my health ben-

efits all day long, there are so many.”

Ready to get started?

of The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet. “But

what I hear over and over again is that

people just can’t stick with it. Worse,

they feel so deprived that when they

fall off the keto wagon, they fall hard.”

Why is it so difficult to stick with

a keto diet? Staying in ketosis—the

state where the body is exclusively

burning fat for fuel—without enjoy-

ing carbs for weeks on end puts the

body into a metabolic state that mim-

ics starvation, warns osteopathic

physician Joseph Mercola,

D.O., author of KetoFast.

“Long-term ketosis

is invariably harm-

ful,” he asserts.

“Our bodies are

designed for feast

and famine, but if

you’re in constant

famine mode,

which you tend to

be with continuous

ketosis, then your body

starts to slow everything—

including metabolism—down.” The

upshot? The body begins to (1) break

down muscle for immediate fuel and

(2) hoard fat to stave off starvation.

This lowers metabolism and causes

a pileup of stubborn pounds.

Fortunately, researchers have

uncovered a solution that offers all

the benefits of keto without the side

effects: keto cycling. It takes the sting

off the keto diet by building in “carb

breaks”—sanctioned pauses from

the extreme restriction of a ketogenic

diet—after a one-month keto adjust-

ment period. These breaks make diet-

ing feel less restrictive, and they won’t

derai l progress toward your weight-

loss goa ls. Indeed, says Ox ford-

trained physician Tommy Wood,

M.D., a research professor at the

University of Washington in Seattle,

Hint: You need

more carbs!

Puree 2 avocados,^1 ⁄ 2 cup each of coco-

nut milk, cocoa powder and maple

syrup and 1 Tbs. of vanilla

until smooth. Pour into

ice pop molds. Freeze.

Superfood secret:

Avoc ados’ carotenoids

encourage cells to f lush

f luids, helping you shed

1 pound a week.

A cyclical keto diet will help you

drop stubborn pounds—and these

snacks make it easy! They all

boast superfood fats that stave off

hunger so you don’t feel deprived

In a fr y ing pan, heat 1 T bs. of coco-

nut oil, 1 tsp. of cumin seeds and

1 cup of pumpkin seeds.

Cook, stirring, until

seeds start to pop.

Sprinkle with sea salt.

Superfood secret:

Pumpkin seeds’ poly-

unsaturated fatty acids

boost weight loss by 37%.

Puree^1 ⁄ 2 cup of macadamia nuts,^1 ⁄ 2 cup

of raw pecans,^1 ⁄ 4 tsp. of salt, 2 Tbs. of

melted butter and 1 cup of unsweet-

ened coconut f lakes in pro-

cessor. Scoop dough into

15 circles on parch-

ment. Freeze 1 hour.

Superfood secret:

Nutrients in macada-

mias speed belly-fat

burn by 25%.

3 SNACKS THAT

MAKE IT EASY

to stick with keto

Turn for your part-time keto plan

“Cycling periods

of carbohydrates

into a ketogenic

diet stimulates

your metabolism”

—Tommy Wood, M.D.

Try no-bake keto cookies

Try pumpkin seeds

Try avocado fudge pops

Crave cool and creamy?

Crave salty and crunchy?

Crave sweet and chewy?

keto

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