One of the biggest reason to keep carb consumption low is to keep insulin levels from rising too much…and more importantly prevent it from staying too high which can cause your insulin to become less sensitive. Insulin sensitivity plays an integral role in maintaining a healthy and optimally functioning body.  It’s also paramount when it comes to effective weight loss.

However, much like working out, your body does get used to a particular diet.  And this goes for low carb diet as well.  You’re insulin is a little like a prized vintage sports car…you want to take real good care of it to ensure it’s quality and longevity, but it also needs to be driven once in a while to make sure that the engine still works.

If you’ve been on a low carb diet for a prolonged period of time, an occasional bump in your carb intake can actually be beneficial for your health.

This is commonly referred to as carb refeeding.  It’s a way to shake up your metabolism a little and give it a little kick in the butt to make sure that it’s working optimally.  It can also be an effective way to kick start your weight loss, especially if you’ve hit a plateau on a low carb diet.

The carb refeed is usually done by consuming starchy carbs, since the idea is to actually increase your insulin production.  But this is where many people get carried away and take it as an open invitation to eat whatever they want!

Bad carbs are bad no matter when you consume it.  And too much is too much, even on a cheat day!  I don’t think eating a dozen donuts and washing it down with one of those obnoxious 7-11 Big Gulp is doing your body any good at all.  The goal is to stimulate your insulin, not slaughter it!  I mean would you take a prized vintage sports car to a drag race and push the car beyond it’s limits until the engine blows up?  I hope not!

There are much healthier ways to increase your carb intake that’ll help re-stimulate your insulin and make sure that your hormone is working efficiently.

Ordinarily, I recommend keeping your carb intake to around 100 g a day.  I think this is a level easily maintainable and it allows you to be able to consume enough nutrient dense foods from vegetables and (some) fruits to sustain a very healthy diet.

However, it doesn’t allow much wiggle room for consuming starchy foods.  And who doesn’t want some starch once in a while!  A little starch goes a long way in satisfying your cravings as well as giving your insulin and metabolism that extra boost it needs to keep it functioning at it’s peak.

Now when I mention starches, I’m not talking about breads, muffins or any baked goods for that matter or even pasta and rice** since they all contain one or more harmful components that can negatively affect your health.

The starches I recommend are grain free foods that don’t have lectins (bad proteins), anti-nutrients or other enzyme inhibiting factors.  They are what some experts have referred to as “safe starches” (although that term has sparked a heated debate amongst the experts, whether any starches can be considered “safe” or not…but that’s a different post for another day).

So here’s a list of starchy carbs that I recommend: sweet potatoes, yams, plantains, squash, beets and taro.  Keep in mind that this is a short list and there other starchy carbs that may be “safe”.

**For instance rice is considered acceptable for some and for others it’s on the “do not eat” list…it’s in the gray zone, like so many starchy carbohydrate foods.  For many of these foods, it’s really up to the individual and should be consumed with caution on a trial and error basis.

In any case, before you go off happily skipping down the aisle in the grocery store picking up yams, sweet potatoes and plantains until heart’s content.  Here are 8 important things to keep in mind before you include carb refeeding into your diet.

(1) Carb refeeding is optional.  You don’t need to do this if you don’t want to.  There are plenty of situations that come up in your life that requires you to deviate from your regular diet, like social occasions, holidays, vacations etc.  And that’s usually plenty to keep your insulin on it’s toes (per se) and to keep your metabolism functioning optimally.

(2) Carb refeeding should really only be for people that have been on a low carb diet for at least 2 - 3 months.  Incorporating carb refeeding before your body has the chance to get fat adapted from being on a low carb diet defeats the purpose of a carb refeed and if your goal is to lose weight, it will hinder your weight loss progress.

(3) Keep in mind that carb refeeding is not suited for everyone.  If you have insulin insensitivity, metabolic disorder, diabetes or any auto-immune disease it’s not recommended.

(4) Carb refeeding can be done several ways.  Most common (and easy) method is once a week, similar to a cheat day.  If you’re eating “safe starches” you can increase your carb consumption to around 300 - 400 g for that day.

(5) On carb refeed days, you should allow enough room to increase your total calories by as much as 600 - 800 calories (even up to 1000 calories depending on your activity level) for that day.

(6) It’s best to decrease your fat intake when you’re carb refeeding.  A good range is between 25 - 50 g of fat or around 200 - 500 calories.

(7) Carb refeeding is most effective after a challenging workout that involves weight lifting exercises.  The more muscles that’s involved the better, so doing functional full body exercises like the squat press ups (as seen in the MAX Workouts program) is best.

(8) If you’re doing a carb refeed once a week, make sure that the next day you get right back to your low carb diet.  Don’t flounder and let your carb intake remain high (unless you’re purposely doing a carb refeed for a longer period of time).  You can even lower your carb intake further than normal (around 50 g) the next day to help you get back to your normal routine.

If you’ve been leading a low carb lifestyle (like the one I recommend in my Lean Body Diet which is part of my MAX Workouts program) for sometime now and you’ve been feeling great…keep doing what’s been working for you!  Don’t change a thing.  Diet’s like a fine tuned engine, it takes a lot of tweaking before you find the exact combination that allows it to run efficiently.

However, if you’re feeling like things have stagnated and you need to shake things up a little, incorporating a carb refeed may be just what your body and mind needs.