Does Ketosis Affect Caffeine Sensitivity?
Caffeine might cause disturbance in glucose metabolism, which could affect ketosis, although only anecdotal evidence of this exists. Insulin resistance, which is the inability of cells to respond to and absorb glucose, can raise glucose levels and cause weight gain. Ketosis decreases insulin resistance by improving insulin sensitivity, which is the the ability of cells to absorb glucose which ultimately help in weight loss. Caffeine might increase insulin resistance. Increase in insulin resistance makes losing weight difficult. It also increase the chance of having type 2 diabetes. Although caffeine might raise glucose levels after eating a meal high in carbohydrates, it's unclear that this effect occurs after a low-carbohydrate meal such as those eaten by low-carbohydrates dieters. It's also unclear whether blood glucose would rise high enough to keep a low-carbohydrates dieter out of ketosis. Continue reading >>
What Is It Like To Go On A Ketogenic Diet?
It's do-able. Some people love it and some people hate it. Personally, I find that nutritional ketosis is almost ideal for me, whereas "normal" eating with lots of carbs in my diet leads to feelings of non-satiety, drowsiness, mood swings, insulin spikes, bloating, and sometimes nausea. A ketogenic diet consists of 70-80% calories from fat, 15-25% calories from protein, and 0-5% calories from net carbohydrates (carbs). You must restrict your daily net carbs to 20-40g daily. (total grams carbs) - (grams fiber) = (net grams carbs) Your transition period depends on a few factors: how strictly you limit your carbohydrate intake, how much energy you expend day-to-day, and how much energy in the form of glucose and glycogen you have stored in your body currently. My transition period takes 3 days. Day 1: This is an easy day. Your blood is still filled with circulating glucose, and any deficit will be taken from the glycogen in your liver to be converted to glucose. You may feel hunger pangs by the afternoon, and a small dip in insulin, which will feel normal to you because this is what happens every day on a normal diet and you are used to it. Day 2: This is an easy day, too. Your body is happily pulling glycogen from your liver, converting it to glucose, and all is well. Any small amount of carbs that you consume are burned away, nothing is being stored. You may feel the typical afternoon slowdown and hunger, as on day 1. Day 3: Hard day. Your body has been (or is nearly) depleted of glucose and glycogen. The small amount of carbs that you consume are not enough to fuel your brain. You have a feeling of satiety from all the fat you are consuming, but you may feel achy, have headaches, and feel sluggish. Your body is alerting you to the lack of glucose and glycogen. It will t Continue reading >>
Is Ketosis Safe And Does It Have Side Effects?
Some people think that ketosis is extremely dangerous. However, they might be confusing ketosis with ketoacidosis, which is completely different. While ketoacidosis is a serious condition caused by uncontrolled diabetes, ketosis is a natural metabolic state. In fact, ketosis and ketogenic diets have been studied extensively and shown to have major benefits for weight loss (1, 2). Ketogenic diets have also been shown to have therapeutic effects in epilepsy, type 2 diabetes and several other chronic conditions (3, 4, 5, 6). Ketosis is generally considered to be safe for most people. However, it may lead to a few side effects, especially in the beginning. First, it's necessary to understand what ketosis is. Ketosis is a natural part of metabolism. It happens either when carbohydrate intake is very low (such as on a ketogenic diet), or when you haven't eaten for a long time. Both of these lead to reduced insulin levels, which causes a lot of fat to be released from your fat cells. When this happens, the liver gets flooded with fat, which turns a large part of it into ketones. During ketosis, many parts of your body are burning ketones for energy instead of carbs. This includes a large part of the brain. However, this doesn't happen instantly. It takes your body and brain some time to "adapt" to burning fat and ketones instead of carbs. During this adaptation phase, you may experience some temporary side effects. These are generally referred to as the "low-carb flu" or "keto flu." In ketosis, parts of the body and brain use ketones for fuel instead of carbs. It can take some time for your body to adapt to this. In the beginning of ketosis, you may experience a range of negative symptoms. They are often referred to as "low-carb flu" or "keto flu" because they resemble symptom Continue reading >>
What Is Ketosis?
"Ketosis" is a word you'll probably see when you're looking for information on diabetes or weight loss. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? That depends. Ketosis is a normal metabolic process, something your body does to keep working. When it doesn't have enough carbohydrates from food for your cells to burn for energy, it burns fat instead. As part of this process, it makes ketones. If you're healthy and eating a balanced diet, your body controls how much fat it burns, and you don't normally make or use ketones. But when you cut way back on your calories or carbs, your body will switch to ketosis for energy. It can also happen after exercising for a long time and during pregnancy. For people with uncontrolled diabetes, ketosis is a sign of not using enough insulin. Ketosis can become dangerous when ketones build up. High levels lead to dehydration and change the chemical balance of your blood. Ketosis is a popular weight loss strategy. Low-carb eating plans include the first part of the Atkins diet and the Paleo diet, which stress proteins for fueling your body. In addition to helping you burn fat, ketosis can make you feel less hungry. It also helps you maintain muscle. For healthy people who don't have diabetes and aren't pregnant, ketosis usually kicks in after 3 or 4 days of eating less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. That's about 3 slices of bread, a cup of low-fat fruit yogurt, or two small bananas. You can start ketosis by fasting, too. Doctors may put children who have epilepsy on a ketogenic diet, a special high-fat, very low-carb and protein plan, because it might help prevent seizures. Adults with epilepsy sometimes eat modified Atkins diets. Some research suggests that ketogenic diets might help lower your risk of heart disease. Other studies show sp Continue reading >>
How Does Depression Affect The Body?
The most commonly used theory is the affection of serotonin levels which is a neurotransmitter in the brain and other parts of the body also know as the “happiness hormone”. Scientists are not sure if depression causes the drop of serotonin levels OR the drop of serotonin levels causes the depression. But obviously everyone's cause of depression might lead the psychiatrist to pin point the biological causation thus prescribing treatment which is most commonly an SSRI drug (decreases the degradation of serotonin thus increasing its levels). When serotonin is affected it affects areas where serotonin is used (digestive tract, blood vessels, brain etc..) causing the physical symptoms. Now the mechanism applied above is not the only one used by physicians but what is most likely assumed. Here are common physical symptoms experienced by the depressed: Headaches. These are fairly common in people with depression. If you already had migraine headaches, they may become worse if you're depressed. Chest pain. Obviously, it's very important to get chest pain checked out by an expert right away. It can be a sign of serious heart problems. But chest pain is also associated with depression. Exhaustion and fatigue. No matter how much you sleep, you may still feel tired or worn out. Getting out of the bed in the morning may seem very hard, even impossible. Sleeping problems. Many people with depression can't sleep well anymore. They wake up too early or can't fall asleep when they go to bed. Others sleep much more than normal. Change in appetite or weight. Some people with depression lose their appetite and lose weight. Others find they crave certain foods - like carbohydrates - and put on weight. Continue reading >>
What Does Fasting Actually Accomplish? I Want To Know How It Burns Fat Or How It Affects The Metabolism, That Sort Of Thing.
On the first day of fasting, the body burns stored sugar for energy. Those reserves will not last very long, since we only store about 100 g of glucose as glycogen in the liver, which will be depleted in the first 18 to 24 hours. The body will start using muscle tissue in order to make glucose from amino acids. This will also end shortly because it would be a bad idea for the body to eat up all the muscles in order to survive (the heart is a muscle!) Glycerol will then be produced from adipose tissue, but not sufficiently to meet the body’s needs. Note that the brain absolutely needs to receive glucose continuously to function. On the third day, the body will maximize the breakdown of fats and the liver will start producing ketones to supply the energy for the central nervous system. This is a natural survival mechanism called ketosis or protein sparing. Weight Loss can be impressive, but different from one person to another. During this process, blood levels of cholesterol and uric acid tend to increase. This is because the body it stirring up stored toxic waste materials and expelling them into the bloodstream to be eliminated from the body. This can provoke symptoms like headache, fatigue, nausea and dizziness, similar to a hangover. Some people will experience skin rashes, muscle pain and joint aches. This is all part of the process of detoxification. While this is happening, the organs receive more oxygen, the tissues purify themselves, blood vessels soften and begin to let go of cholesterol plaque, the blood pressure drops and the intestinal walls loosen up and let go of mucoid plaque. While the digestive system is able to rest, the rest of the body can heal. Calcification is reduced, inflammation disappears and pain finally leaves the body. you can watch a vide Continue reading >>
Ketosis
Tweet Ketosis is a state the body may find itself in either as a result of raised blood glucose levels or as a part of low carb dieting. Low levels of ketosis is perfectly normal. However, high levels of ketosis in the short term can be serious and the long term effects of regular moderate ketosis are only partially known at the moment. What is ketosis? Ketosis is a state the body goes into if it needs to break down body fat for energy. The state is marked by raised levels of ketones in the blood which can be used by the body as fuel. Ketones which are not used for fuel are excreted out of the body via the kidneys and the urine. Is ketosis the same as ketoacidosis? There is often confusion as to the difference between ketosis and ketoacidosis. Ketosis is the state whereby the body is producing ketones. In ketosis, the level of ketones in the blood can be anything between normal to very high. Diabetic ketoacidosis, also known as DKA, only describes the state in which the level of ketones is either high or very high. In ketoacidosis, the amount of ketones in the blood is sufficient to turn the blood acidic, which is a dangerous medical state. When does ketosis occur? Ketosis will take place when the body needs energy and there is not sufficient glucose available for the body. This can typically happen when the body is lacking insulin and blood glucose levels become high. Other causes can be the result of being on a low carb diet. A low level of carbohydrate will lead to low levels of insulin, and therefore the body will produce ketones which do not rely on insulin to get into and fuel the body’s cells. A further cause of ketosis, less relevant to people with diabetes, is a result of excessive alcohol consumption. Is ketosis dangerous? The NHS describes ketosis as a pote Continue reading >>
Does Ketosis (from A Fat-rich Diet) Affect Body Temperature?
One finds a minor increase in metabolism early in ketosis, especially so when consuming MCTs. MCTs are converted into ketone bodies in their first pass through the liver. Humans do not store those well and metabolize them fairly quickly. Something similar happens with consumed ethanol. Ask yourself why metabolism decreases after dieting. How does the hypothalamus detect food shortage? It can’t do so from circulating ketone bodies or free fatty acids. Those are maintained from fat stores even when one is starving. It does that through glucose and insulin levels. On a strict ketogenic diet, I was found to have both low TSH and low T4. Normally, if T4 is low, TSH is raised to restore the required metabolism. Low T4 results in decreased basal metabolism. My condition was called central hypothyroidism and commonly seen only in patients who have suffered major disease or trauma. It reversed on restoration of a more normal diet. A true ketogenic diet is rather extreme in that it requires restriction of protein as well as carbs. Roughly half of ingested protein becomes glucose on its first pass through the liver. Continue reading >>
How Does Stress Affect The Body?
Like many other things in life , it depends upon the intensity and duration of stress and the status of person (perception of stress and reaction towards it). If someone takes stress positively, stress might be a good thing, we call it “eustress”. On the other hand, if we allow stress to impact negatively, we call it “distress”. I am assuming that you are curious to know about the effects of distress on the body. Stress causes wide range of biological changes in body, increased production of cortisol (aka stress hormone) being one of the major effect. Cortisol in turn leads to various changes which helps to cope up the stress, but when chronically elevated, it causes lots of harm. Especially chronic psychological stress affects almost all organ system of body negatively. To name few, it causes memory impairment (see How does stress affect memory?) , decreases threshold for physical illness, deteriorates cardiovascular status, causes psychological problems such as depression and anxiety creating a vicious loop, increases the risk for metabolic diseases (e.g., diabetes), and so.on. The following picture summarizes those effects comprehensively - Now we have some idea about the negative impacts of stress, next answer we need is of the question, “How can I decrease stress?”. Continue reading >>
