Many low-carb or ketogenic diets have carbohydrate cycling. Yes, so it’s not clear, let me explain. In these diets, there are days off when you can eat carbohydrates, with the aim of avoiding that long-term carbohydrate restriction can damage your health.

This is the case of the metabolic diet, of the cyclical ketogenic diet, but also of the normal ketogenic diet in which, perhaps, once a month he goes astray. But unfortunately a study reveals that doing so only worsens the situation.

FREE MEAL ON THE LOW-CARB DIET? NO.

A group of researchers from UBC Okanagan evaluated the effect of a free, high-carb meal on a low-carb or ketogenic diet on health. And he found that a single 75-gram increase of carbohydrates (the equivalent of a medium coke and a sandwich or a side of potatoes, or a large plate of rice, even wholemeal, or a dessert of your choice) is enough to damage blood vessels.

The possible explanation is this. A low carb or ketogenic diet that goes on too long worsens insulin sensitivity, and as this coach with type 1 diabetes explains , you need a lot more insulin to manage even a small intake of carbohydrates if we have been on a low carb for months. The only way to improve insulin sensitivity and consequently improve our blood sugar is to eat them, carbohydrates, and not avoid them.

In a state like that of a person who has been on a low carb for some time, perhaps a couple of months, insulin sensitivity is therefore reduced, and it is enough to introduce even a single food rich in carbohydrates to have a much higher blood sugar than normal . This has an effect on blood vessels , as scientists have found higher inflammation markers for cardiovascular risk in research after just six days on a ketogenic diet and one day with a free meal.

As I explained in this video , the low carb diet doesn’t seem like the solution to either overweight or diabetes, not in the long term. And the health problems that can arise if the diet is continued for more than 6 weeks are such that I do not consider it a diet to be done for life.