Is Carb Cycling Good for Menopause?

Should you do strict keto or carb cycling with menopause?

The menopause is a time of many changes for women, and some of the effects can feel particularly difficult. 

Throughout this time, many women report that they feel tired and run down. 

Menopause also brings a host of other physical and emotional challenges in addition to these symptoms. 

If you’re just starting a keto diet, & you’re going through menopause, then that can be a lot of stress on your body. 

If you’re struggling through menopause, you may have looked for carb cycling to help you ease some of the symptoms of menopause & keto. 

Let’s explore what carb cycling is, whether it’s a good idea for menopause & keto, and who should carb cycle.

What Are the Side Effects of Keto?

When you start keto, you may experience side effects like fatigue, muscle soreness, & irritability. This is because your body is getting used to using fats as fuel, so until your mitochondria adjusts, you’ll be fatigued.

• Fatigue — Fatigue is a common side effect of people starting keto. This is likely because your mitochondria is adjusting.
• Muscle Soreness — Muscle soreness is another common side effect of keto. Similar to muscle fatigue, this side effect is caused by your body adjusting to using fats as fuel instead of carbs.
• Irritability — When you start keto, you may experience irritability. This is probably because your body is adjusting to a different stressor, keto, so any additional stress may make you irritable.

What Are the Side Effects of Menopause?

When you enter menopause, you may experience side effects like tiredness, muscle aches, & mood swings. This is because the ovaries stop working when you enter menopause. This leads to more work going to the adrenals, which can result in stress hormone increases.

• Fatigue — Fatigue is a common menopause symptom, and it can make it challenging to stay active. If you’re feeling fatigued, don’t worry. This is a normal side effect of menopause. It just takes time to wait it out. 
• Muscle Soreness — If you have menopause your stress hormone, cortisol, would be higher than normal. This makes your muscle recovery worse, making you feel muscle soreness. As with fatigue, the same way to treat this is to just wait until your hormones recover.
• Irritability— Feeling stressed out, anxious, or angry can make menopause far more challenging. This is also caused by your adrenal glands producing excess cortisol, so you just need to wait it out.

Why Are the Side Effects of Keto & Menopause the Same?

The common side effects of keto & menopause, like fatigue, muscle soreness, & irritability are all the same because the cause is the same — increased cortisol. 

Why Does Keto Increase Cortisol?

Keto increases cortisol because it’s something different to the body, so it takes time to adjust to the new circumstance. 

Completely removing your body’s main food source on keto can be stressful on the whole body, causing the adrenal glands to react by creating more cortisol. 

Your adrenals create more cortisol so you can “react” & eat carbs faster to put the body back into its balance.

But, as you get adjusted to keto, your body will be forced to use its own fat, so you shouldn’t worry about it.

As long as you keep doing keto, your body will get used to the new diet & your adrenals will produce normal amounts of cortisol.

Why Does Menopause Increase Cortisol?

Menopause increases cortisol because as your ovaries stop functioning, more work gets put onto the adrenals. This makes the adrenals respond by pumping out more of the stress hormone — cortisol.

When you get older & your body doesn’t have a use for your reproductive organs, your ovaries stop functioning. 

However, when your ovaries functioned, your ovaries split the hormonal balancing workload with your adrenals. 

But when you hit menopause, your ovaries stop working. 

This causes your adrenals to take on more of the workload. Once the adrenals get hit with the new stressor of more work, then it responds by increasing cortisol.

This can lead to weight gain, fatigue, muscle soreness, & mood swings.

What Is Carb Cycling?

Carb cycling is a form of dieting that involves alternating between a low-carb and a high-carb diet. The low-carb period follows a strict low-carb diet. The high-carb period is when you increase your carbs to normal levels, typically above 50% of your calories.

Most people carb cycle to make keto easier, but it makes keto less effective.

But, you may be wondering, is carb cycling good for helping my menopause symptoms?

Is Carb Cycling Good for Menopause?

No, carb cycling is not good for most people with menopause. Though it may seem like it can ease the side effects of both menopause & keto, it’ll only make the side effects worse. 

Carb cycling can make the side effects of menopause & keto worse because you won’t be able to use either fuel source 100%, making you even more fatigued.

That’s because your mitochondria take six weeks to go through their life cycle.

But, if you’re constantly eating carbs on and off, your body & its mitochondria would never be fully adjusted to either side.

Should You Carb Cycle With Menopause?

If you’ve been doing the keto diet for more than a year, & you’ve lost all the weight that you wanted to lose, then carb cycling can be a good way to increase your eating freedom & help you become adjusted to both fuel sources.

However, most women that enter menopause experience weight gain, meaning most women shouldn’t carb cycle on menopause.

But, if you’ve lost all the weight you wanted to, then you can consider carb cycling.

Benefits of Carb Cycling

The benefits of carb cycling are that it can help you become “dual-fueled,” meaning you’d be able to use both fats & carbs for fuel. It would also give you more freedom with which foods you can eat.

How to Start Carb Cycling With Menopause

There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to carb cycling menopause.

First, the type of carb cycling you choose is really important.

There are two types of carb cycling:

• Short-Term Carb Cycling — In short-term carb cycling, you eat carbs for let’s say two days out of the week, then eat low-carb for the rest of the week.
• Long-Term Carb Cycling — In long-term carb cycling, you eat carbs for let’s say two months out of the week, then eat low-carb for the rest of the year.

Is Short-Term Carb Cycling or Long-Term Carb Cycling Better?

Long-term carb cycling is better than short-term carb cycling because it gives your body time to adjust to using either carbs or fat as the primary fuel source instead of staying in between.

Most people who do long-term carb cycling, like two months out of the year, utilize their carb cycle during their longest vacation, which for most people is summer.

This let’s people enjoy their vacation with a little more freedom.

However, remember that if you haven’t reached your weight loss goal on keto, or have gained weight on menopause, it’s more important that you just stick to keto & wait until your adrenals recover — which can take up to a year.

Conclusion

Keto is a great way to lose weight, but it can be extra challenging for those going through menopause. However, for most people, carb cycling isn’t a good option since it’ll just make you more fatigued. However, if you’re at a healthy weight, carb cycling may benefit you.

If you’re interested in starting keto, here’s my article talking about the benefits of keto & how to start.