Keto Carb Up Meals

Tasty Keto Carb Up Meal


So, you’ve decided to incorporate cyclical keto into your weekly routine?  Fantastic! Let me provide you with several of my goto tasty and delicious keto carb up meals! 


Tasty Keto Carb Up Meal

If you’ve wandered across this article, then chances are you’ve decided to embark on a cyclical keto journey.  AND you are looking for a tasty keto carb up meal to see just what it might look like!  I have TWO amazing higher carb meals that I will share with you.

But first, let’s talk about a few basics to make sure we are all on the same page.  If you are confident in your cyclical keto knowledge, then just scroll on down!

What is the Keto Diet?

The ketogenic (keto) diet is a lifestyle that involves eating high fat, moderate protein and very low carbs.  This is unfortunately counterintuitive to what most of us have been taught our whole lives.

The goal of the keto diet is to restore our bodies and reach a state of ketosis.  Along with this generally comes weight loss and many other health benefits!

What is Keto Carb Cycling?

Carb cycling is when you incorporate a higher carb day in your regular keto eating rotation.  The most common rotation is 1 carb up day per week.   That’s it.  Pretty simple.

The problem is that many people blindly jump into keto without a full understanding and they are taught carbs are bad.  That isn’t entirely accurate.  And, in fact, the right carbs at the right time can be very beneficial.

With carb cycling, I personally try to eat just enough carbs to kick me briefly out of ketosis but not enough to keep me out for an extended period of time.

How Many Carbs to Add When Carb Cycling

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer for this one.  It is about as unique as your personal macros are.  Each of our bodies have a threshold for which it will move out of ketosis.

It took me several tries before I settle in on the right amount of carbs to be over as well as under in order to get back into ketosis within 24 hours.

For me, it has to be over 50g and less than 75g.  That is my sweet spot to where I will simply pop out of ketosis but will be back in by the next day which is what I want.

Will I Experience the Keto Flu Again?

Eventually, no.  In the beginning, depending on where you are in your journey, you might feel a little twinge as you move back into ketosis after being knocked out.  But generally not.

And it also depends on how many carbs you ate and how long you were out of ketosis for.

Lastly, if you at crap carbs like gluten, your body may feel yucky from THAT vs it being anything relating to the keto flu.

Is a Carb Up Day a Cheat Day?

NO!  Most certainly not!  One of the great things about the keto diet is how it helps battle inflammation in our bodies.  If you choose to use your carb up days as cheat days, you will most likely set your progress back each time.  And as your body recovers, then you’ll slam it with another cheat day and start all over again.

The best keto carb up meals involve a higher amount of healthy root vegetables.

To learn more about the keto diet and inflammation, please read Keto Weight Loss and Inflammation.

Benefits of Keto Carb Cycling

Real simply, adding a keto carb up day into your keto diet can be very beneficial for you.  Let’s briefly go over the high level benefits of a keto carb up day.

  1. Keeps your metabolism revved and guessing-  going in an out ketosis is the goal and it really does keep your metabolism on its toes!
  2. It can help with weight loss plateaus – yes!  Carb cycling and the keto egg fast are both great ways to break a weight loss stall.
  3. It is helpful for building muscle – I learned this the hard way when I was lifting heavy early on in my keto journey.
  4. (personal) It has helped me with Hashimoto’s!  Keto can be hard on a struggling thyroid in which case a healthy carb day per week has helped my wonderfully broken thyroid!

For more a more detailed discussion of the above benefits, please read Benefits of a Keto Carb Up Day.

Sample Keto Carb Up Meals

I have 2 carb up keto meals that I normally make.  Or some variant of these!  They almost ALWAYS involve sweet potatoes and onions.  These are on top of the list for healthy root vegetables.

Keto Carb Up Meal #1

My main goto keto carb meal is a keto sweet potato hash.  It is very tasty and very healthy.  This meal is packed full of some of the top root vegetables, such as onion, sweet potatoes, carrots, and fresh ginger.  And according to HealthLine, these are among the top 13 healthiest root vegetables!

We like to make this meal when we are looking for leftovers.  This makes SO much that it is good for lunch AND dinner.  And the rest of the non keto folks in your house can continue to enjoy this for days after!

Recipe: Keto Sweet Potato Hash

Healthy Keto Carb Up Meal

Keto Carb Up Meal #2

My second goto keto carb up meal is chicken piccata with a side of sauteed sweet potatoes and onions.  You can easily control how many extra carbs you want to add by how much of the sweet potato casserole that you choose to add to your plate.

This is a meal that literally tastes like a gourmet meal and you will thoroughly enjoy it!

Gluten Free Chicken Piccata

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Casserole

Keto Carb Up Meal

Carb Cycling Meal Plan

Trust me, you don’t need one.  You do not need a specific plan to tell you what to eat for a week in order to institute keto carb cycling into your plan.

All you need to do is modify your macros for the day slightly so that you are getting more of your calories from carbs.  You can decrease your fat and protein slightly if you are trying to keep your calories in the same range.  Always make sure your fat and protein are above what is the safe level for your body.  You never want to decrease either of those too low.

Simply choose which day of the week will be your keto carb up day and replace 1-2 meals with a healthier high carb meal.  It is as simple as that!

My last piece of advice – don’t over complicate it!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top