Most of you fitness people have probably heard of carb cycling before. There a lots of articles going into detail and also dumbing down the process of carb cycling.  Here are a couple if you are interested in reading more:
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-carb-cycling
http://www.cutandjacked.com/Carb-Cycling-Made-Easy
http://www.fitnessrxwomen.com/nutrition/healthy-eating-tips/carb-cycling-diet-101/


Now, I am not an expert on this by any means, and I honestly don't think that carb cycling is ideal for the majority of my clients (keep in mind a good chunk of my clients are seniors and some are on weight gain diets). The honest to goodness fact is that most people are not willing to suffer through low carb days to see results. While many people that do cleanses (ala Isagenix) swear by the fasting days for focus, personally I find that I am a bit scatter brained when I am low carbing. But it does take practice to adapt, and in terms of fat loss, I absolutely see excellent results when I start to carb cycle. I feel like over time you may get used to the routine and the lower carb days would become easier.
The  problem that I seem to have with this diet is that I lack the discipline to stick to low carb days unless I have a fitness competition scheduled. I find these types of diets work great with people that need some serious weight loss motivation: like a wedding, vacation or fitness competition. A deadline.  In terms of practicality, only the die hard fitness people will be willing to stick this out and suffer.  I like what the Precision Nutrition article states:
Carb cycling is considered an aggressive and high level nutrition strategy. Only people (such as physique athletes) whose nutritional adherence is extremely high, and who require a more meticulous nutritional approach, should use it.Carb cycling is designed for short-term use. It is not a long-term solution for body fat management. In fact, if used for too long it may be downright unfavourable.

On the positive side of things, I find that with consistent exercise, you can see results with this type of program in little time, which results in fat loss. You can carefully add back in carbs and return to a healthy eating and exercise program, and you will not see the weight come back on. I have recently put a few clients on this type of diet who need to see some fat loss after hitting a plateau. I will also introduce two low carb days a week for myself and go on a modified version of the diet. One of the things that I LOVE about this type of eating is that if can help with insulin response (increasing insulin sensitivity), it can be very empowering, and is good to help with hormone control in women.


As I mentioned I hate counting carbs and calories, and over the years have become enough of an expert to know what I need to eat without logging it. One of the things I think everyone should learn is the amounts of carbs in different vegetables. On a low carb day only certain vegetables (and next to no fruits) are permitted. On a moderate carb day there are other choices allowed, and on a higher carb day you can eat pretty much any fruit or vegetable. Obviously for someone that attends a lot of functions or is not completely devoted to their fitness/weight loss regime, this sort of eating is not practical.

Low Days:
Here are the lowest carb vegetables that you can eat on the low carb days. As a 120 lb woman I try to keep my carbs under 40 on the low days. I do allow myself a Quest Bar as they are very high fiber, and typically have one a day on my low days. Learn to love mustard, vinegars, capers, hot sauce, herbs and spices for flavour.
* Greens: Dandelion, beets, spinach, arugula, kale, and lettuces.  Experiment with different types and eat them steamed or raw.
*Cucumber: try pickling these for a different taste
*Mushrooms
*Celery
*Asparagus
*Radish
*Zucchini
*Cabbage (try raw or in a stir fry)
*Fennel
*Avocado: on the low days you can have a bit of fat so a serving is fine on these days. On the high days you keep the fat next to nothing. Boooring. Thank goodness this is short term :)
*Coconut oil and animal fats are allowed here, but keep it in moderation again. Olives and olive oil also ok.
*Obviously avoiding grains and starches here.

Medium days:
*Broccoli
*Cauliflower
*Beans
*Tomatoes
*Onions
*Plus one serving of fruit preferably berries or grapefruit or pomegranate. I have this with cottage cheese, greek yogurt, or in a shake.
*Fat is moderate here. ie cook with it, have an egg or a small amount of nuts.


High Days
*go nuts with the veggies and you can have sweet potatoes, squash, corn, edamame, and lentils on these days (Wow what indulgence. Fat loss diets are not the most fun eh?)
*2-3 servings of fruit of any type allowed
*keep fat very low but if you need to eat a bagel today is the day to do it.
*Small portions of rice and oatmeal also allowed. Don't go crazy with processed carbs. Enjoy your fruit and complex carbohydrates.

I ALWAYS try to eat at least 20g of protein 5 times a day minimum. If I'm hungry on a low day I will do some egg whites, turkey, lean fish, or cottage cheese to fill me up. Nuts are fine except on the high days and watch your portion sizes.