Muscle Diet

QUESTION: I’ve read a lot about ketogenic diets on bodybuilding message boards, but I’m a little skeptical. What are your thoughts?

ANSWER: Let me make sure we’re all on the same page and explain what a ketogenic diet is to everyone reading this. Basically, a ketogenic diet restricts carb intake to a level (below 50 grams per day for most people) that forces your body to manufacture ketones to fuel your brain. Many mainstream health professionals, who as we know are mostly soft and weak, think that high-fat, high-protein diets will make you fat and ill. This is hogwash! Even the top boss of the Harvard School of Public Health now rejects the “fat makes you fat” theory. Also, many top nutritional scientists are finally coming around to the fact that cutting carbs and increasing protein works. However, some bodybuilders take this carb-cutting concept too far, and many of the best bodybuilders in the world do not cut carbs down as low as some “gurus” recommend. In fact, a guy who visits my office regularly and who knows a bit about pre-contest dieting has said that when his carbs go too low, he actually can’t walk! His name is Dorian Yates (6-time Mr. Olympia). He told me a few months ago that back in his prime, he never radically reduced his carbs at all. And remember, Dorian used to swagger onto the Olympia stage drier than a box of crackers! Carb cycling/restriction is a complex topic to address in a few paragraphs. But, basically, while research shows that some people have to restrict carbs more than others, you don’t have to go below100 grams per day to get ripped. If you do, you run a substantial risk of losing muscle, looking flat, and turning into a bloated puffer fish when you reload your carbs.
 

To read more of Mark Gilbert’s work, please visit his website at: www.MuscleDiet.net If you have a question you want answered, email us at: questions@muscle-insider.com