Last week I answered Tiffany's emailed question how well I fared on a paleo-ized carb night approach. In a nutshell: For 6 days a week you eat super low carb and on one day with a time window of ca. 8 hours you need to stuff yourself with (if possible) healthy carbs. 

Initially I did well and then I experienced the carbo downfall equivalent to the Rick Santorum scandal. Yes, I sinned and it was uuuugly. 
 
This leads us to Tiffany's question number 2: 
Which program will help to lean out while still being able to perform in CrossFit?

Please be always aware that the following report describes MY approach, tweaked to MY needs and MY metabolic quirks. You will still need to keep tweaking for yourself to make this work for you or it might not even work at all. 

As I established before, I do well on a low carb high fat diet. Well enough that I produce ketone bodies rather quickly. No cravings for sweets, stable mood and blood sugar level. If it wasn't for all the high intensity stuff I was doing at that time I could just stayed in ketosis, leaning out and not needing any carb refeeds. Alas, for all the fast-paced stuff I was doing at that time, the refeeds were necessary.

But as soon as I went on a carb refeed I go through a carb/ sugar addiction relapse. Causing me to submit to carb cravings on low/no carb days. I would kick myself out of ketosis and feel miserable. I wanted to stay in ketosis but I needed to replenish my internal carb storage as well without causing in insulin tsunami in my system. 

Reminder: Too much insulin in our system inhibits the metabolization of fat as fuel. 
In very simple terms: Lots of sugar --> lots of insulin --> burn less fat, even gain more fat

Enter Generation UCAN

Tiffany Y. wrote:

"Hey, just read your post on paleo carb refeed.
How did it go for you? I am trying to find a program that will help me lean out. I have been doing paleo for a year and zone for 3 months now and my progress is quite slow! I also do Crossfit most days. "


Tiffany's email is a good set up for my 2 to 3 part series about carb refeeds and ketosis. If you want to know more about the carb-refeed protocol is talking about read this post first. There are actually two questions in her email and I will have to rephrase the latter at a bit. I will go through one question in each part of the series.

1) How did Paleo Carb Refeed go for you?
2) I am trying to find a program that will help me lean out while still being able to perform in CrossFit which I do most days.

The reason why I emphasized the Crossfit nuance in the second question is that there are easier ways to improve body composition if it was not for that performance bit. Nothing against CF, it could also be training for a triathlon or being an MMA athlete. There are easier ways to shed fat if it was not for also for being very active and improving in one's glucsoe demanding sport of one's choice

We are herewith now leaving health nutrition land and entering the realm of sports nutrition. In my opinion sports nutrition focuses on improving your performance and is not necessarily healthy. Health performance focuses on improving the quality of life and longevity but does not necessarily improve your PR of a 50k race. So depending on how rigorously you want to improve and regulate your performance sports nutrition often cannot be 100% Paleo. 

Remember I'm not telling you how to eat or that you will make the same experiences when you follow the Carb Nite protocol.