Burn Fat, Not Sugar, The Ketogenic Way
Joyce Abady, owner of The Juice Theory in Long Branch, walks us through her process of making fresh almond milk. Brian Johnston A ketogenic diet is not for everyone. That being said, I don’t view it as a “diet” because it is not – it is a lifestyle. The ketogenic lifestyle is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, which reduces inflammation in the body. I have been following the ketogenic diet (also known as keto) for almost a year now and find many health benefits for myself. I dropped that extra water weight and bloat, have increased energy and endurance in my runs, and never feel hungry. The diet is not an easy one to follow – that’s for sure. It is a very specific formula of 75% fat, 25% protein (which I derive from fish and eggs since I am pescatarian), and 10% carbs. The ketogenic diet is different from the Paleo diet because it does not freely allow for fruits since fruit does have a high percentage of sugar, albeit natural sugar. RELATED: START ON THE PATH TO GOOD HEALTH The interesting thing is that I used to rely on fruit for a snack whenever I was hungry, but after an hour or so, I found myself hungry again. What most people don’t realize is that some of the fruit in our supermarkets are specifically bred to have twice as much sugar so that people will want to eat them (”The Ketogenic Cookbook,” Maria Emmerich). Most of the fruit are also bred to be bigger and therefore typically 2-3 servings instead of 1. I was recently at a Whole Foods and saw a honeycrisp apple nearly the size of a cantaloupe! Do I never eat fruit on the ketogenic lifestyle? Sometimes I do eat an occasional apple, but there are fruits that are lowest in sugar such as avocado, coconut, olives and tomatoes. Once you have eliminated processed foods, sugar and w Continue reading >>
Water Fasting Ketosis Is Where The Fat Burn Heaven Begins
In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know about water fasting ketosis. I'll explain how water fasting can help you reach your absolute highest possible fat burn rates, which is easily the single biggest benefit of ketosis. You'll also see the science on how long it actually takes before you can enter ketosis during a water fast. You'll also learn about one of the most dangerous problems of water fasting ketosis. I'll also tell you why it is a very good idea to avoid one of the most common mistakes people make once they already reach ketosis during a water fast. Now that you know what you're getting yourself into, here's a quick overview of everything that's covered in this guide: The single biggest benefit of water fasting ketosis Simply put, ketosis is a state where you get to enjoy your absolutely highest possible fat burn rates. If you're on your regular diet, your body can draw energy from a couple of different sources (so not just from your body fat reserves). Those other, non-fat energy sources are the main reason why your fat burn rates stay on the low end, even if you start eating less food. But during a water fast, because you're eating no food at all, those other energy sources in your body will be completely wiped out after a while. Once that happens, your body will enter full ketosis, and in that state of full ketosis, your body will have no choice but to rely almost exclusively on your body fat reserves. With no other energy sources available, ketosis will trigger some pretty amazing fat burn rates in your body. Water fasting is one of the fastest ways to reach that state of super high fat burn. And a lot of people do a water fast just for this reason. There's only one problem with reaching ketosis through water fasting. PRO TIP: A different Continue reading >>
What's Up With The High-fat Diet Trend—and Does It Work?
If you're looking for the trendiest diet since Paleo, this might be it—only with more fat, way less protein, and virtually zero carbs. The ketogenic diet, which has reportedly been used by celebs like Kim Kardashian and NBA player Lebron James, is a high-fat, low-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that was originally developed to treat epilepsy in children (experts can't say for sure why it reduces the frequency of seizures, but it does seem to work). The whole diet is based on a process called ketosis, which is when your body is so depleted of carbs that your liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies, which can be used as energy, says Tracy A. Siegfried, M.D., medical director at The N.E.W. Program, a bariatric and metabolic weight-loss center in California. The ketones replace carbohydrates as your body’s main energy source, meaning you are running on (and burning) fat. To tell if your body is in a state of ketosis, you can measure your blood or urine for elevated levels of ketones (Ketostix, used to test keto-dieters ketone levels, are available at many pharmacies). If this sounds familiar, it's probably because ketosis is also the goal of the first stage of the Atkins diet. But unlike the keto diet, the Atkins diet aims to get you into a mild state of ketosis and allows for more carbohydrates. In other words, keto is more hardcore. So What the Heck Do You Eat? To get your body to reach ketosis, 80 to 90 percent of the calories you consume should come from fat, and the rest should come from a combo of protein and carbs, says Siegfried. Plus, your carb intake is limited to 10 to 35 grams per day. That's roughly the amount in a single apple, glass of milk, or piece of bread. In fact, it's pretty much impossible to eat fruit or milk-based products without su Continue reading >>
Burn Fat Fast: Starting A Ketogenic Diet For Weight Loss
Unless you’ve been living under a rock these last few years, there’s no doubt that you’ve seen the word keto plastered all over magazines, websites, and supplements. Short for ketogenic, this diet craze is sweeping over the nation and with good reason: there are a variety of studies that demonstrate a number of potential benefits including weight loss, cognitive boosting, and decreased risk of certain diseases. If you have tried every diet in the book without success, the ketogenic diet may be the one that brings you the success you’ve been wanting. Let’s take a look at what the ketogenic diet is and how you can begin to safely and effectively follow it for real results. Carbohydrate Abuse The Ketogenic Diet focuses on getting you into a state called Ketosis, which we will talk more about below. How do you achieve Ketosis? By focusing on fat, not carbohydrates. Here’s the breakdown: On your current diet, your body is using glucose primarily or exclusively from carbohydrates as a main source of fuel. You eat carbohydrates such as rice, bread, and baked goods then your body converts those carbohydrates into usable glucose. The problem with carbohydrates is that we, as a global population, tend to eat too many. Excess carbohydrate intake, especially from sugar, promotes excess fat storage and consequently weight gain. What’s more, higher glycemic, sugar-based carbohydrates are linked to diseases such as diabetes. In other words, carbohydrate-focused diets can be healthy when practiced correctly but they also present a number of health issues. This constant carbohydrate abuse has resulted in a shift away from our carb-happy lifestyles to focus on a macronutrient that has long been mistakenly identified as a direct cause of weight gain. We’re talking, of cour Continue reading >>
When You Are In Ketosis Are You Burning Fat Rather Than Muscle?
In recent years high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets have become a popular choice for rapid weight loss. While these types of diets do typically result in weight loss, the initial loss is attributed to the depletion of muscle and liver glycogen and the fluid that is stored with it. Only after several days of being in ketosis will the body resort to burning fat rather than muscle. Ketosis Under normal conditions, the body relies heavily on glycogen stored in the skeletal muscles and liver for energy. When you reduce carbohydrates in your diet, that glycogen becomes depleted. The theory behind many low-carb diets is that once that glycogen is gone, your body will begin to burn fat for energy. That is not entirely true. For the first few days of low glycogen levels, your body goes into starvation mode and will convert lean muscle into glycogen to use for fuel. That process can only be maintained for a few days before your body will need to start using fat stores for energy. Fat cannot be fully utilized in the body without carbohydrates being present. When your body starts to metabolize fat, a byproduct called a ketone is created. Ketones can be used for energy in extreme cases, but they are highly acidic and when they start to build up in the blood they become toxic. Concerns with Ketosis Ketosis may sound appealing because it means you're burning fat for energy. However, there are numerous health risks associated with ketosis. Over time ketosis can lead to organ failure, gout, kidney stones or kidney failure, nausea and bad breath. Avoiding the Dangerous Aspects of Ketosis It only takes about 100 grams of carbohydrates each day to avoid ketosis. That would be equivalent to a sandwich, 0.75 ounces of pretzels, an apple and a cup of orange juice. At that rate, your body wou Continue reading >>
How Ketosis Helps You Lose Weight Through Suppressed Appetite
One of the reasons The Bulletproof Diet with Bulletproof Coffee works so well for people looking to lose weight is that Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting helps your body to more easily enter a state called cyclical ketosis, which is great for a whole bunch of reasons. Ketosis is a cornerstone of becoming Bulletproof; listen to these recent Bulletproof Radio episodes with ketosis experts Jimmy Moore and Dominic D’Agostino to get the scoop on how and why it works. It’s what happens when your body switches to burning fat instead of sugar for energy, and it only happens when you eat almost no carbohydrates, or when you hack it using certain kinds of oils. Many people first stumble upon the idea of ketosis while looking for a weight loss strategy. That can be a major part of it for so many people out there who have tried just about every other diet out there but haven’t seen the results they’d hoped for. But when people experience the mental clarity and focus that ketosis brings, the game changes! This post walks you through one of the most important yet underrated mechanisms that makes ketosis so effective for people who have tried everything else to lose weight and failed to keep it off: appetite suppression. Ketosis works for weight loss in the short term, but that’s not why it’s so amazing. Short term weight loss is easy (I’ve lost at least 200 pounds of short term weight…because it always roared back on with a vengeance so I could lose it again!) When you look at keeping your weight off forever, ketosis provides a level of appetite suppression that is actually liberating. Ketosis helps you literally stop thinking about food all the time. Why Calorie Counting Is So Ineffective One of the reasons old-fashioned, calorie-restricted diets tend to fail is becau Continue reading >>
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How To Lose Stubborn Belly Fat Through Ketosis
Losing stubborn belly fat is one of the biggest challenges when getting in shape. Belly fat is not only aesthetically unappealing, it has health consequences. It can make you vulnerable to many conditions such as diabetes and heart problems. In this blog, we will share with you why belly fat is so ‘stubborn’ to burn, explain what exactly is Ketosis and how you can lose stubborn belly fat through Ketosis. We will also share a specific exercise and a diet plan to help burn this belly fat. What is Stubborn Belly fat and why it is bad for our health? While you may have fat all over different parts of your body, it isn’t the same. Stubborn belly fat is the soft layers of fat around the waistline that covers your abs. To be more precise, there are three types of fat: Triglycerides– A fat circulates in your blood Subcutaneous Fat– The layer of fat directly below the skin’s surface. This is the fat you can grab with your hands Visceral Fat– The dangerous fat. This is located beneath the muscles in your stomach Belly fat unfortunately does not just sit still. Some visceral fat is necessary, but too much can lead to health problems. You can estimate whether you are carrying too much belly fat by measuring your waist with tape. Anything over 80 cm (31.5 inches) in women and 94 cm (37 inches) can provoke health issues. Carrying excess visceral fat is associated with an increased risk for: Coronary heart disease Cancer Stroke Dementia Diabetes Depression Arthritis Obesity Sexual dysfunction Sleep disorders Why is Stubborn belly fat so “Stubborn”? To understand what makes belly fat so difficult to burn,let’s dive into the biology. Burning fat is a two-part process: Lipolysis is the process whereby fat cells release molecules of stored fat into the blood. Oxidation Continue reading >>
Escaping The Fat Trap
Once you’ve been heavy for some time, your high insulin levels can make it hard to succeed in losing weight. Trying diet after diet and failing on each and every one is depressing. But when you discover the perfectly natural bodily process called lipolysis, hope can replace despair. To a person longing to lose weight, Nirvana is the definition of lipolysis: the process of dissolving fat. When you burn fat, it breaks down into glycerol and other fatty acids. How does the process actually work? Are there any drawbacks? There are plenty of laypersons and even physicians who think there must be. Burning off one’s fat sounds like a faddish trick. These folks give a skeptical shrug and say, "I’m sure people lose some weight with the Atkins approach, but don’t they gain it right back again?" The interesting thing is that if you adhere to the four phases the Atkins approach—which includes finding your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE), meaning the amount of carbohydrates you can still consume and neither gain nor lose weight—you won’t regain the weight. The phase known as Lifetime Maintenance, though more indulgent, evolves naturally from the three weight-loss phases, thereby gradually teaching you a permanent way of eating that still moderates carbohydrate intake to the degree that is necessary for your individual metabolism. Many controlled carbohydrate regimens have been proposed over the years. They work with some degree of effectiveness for some people. However, many of them do not bring carbohydrate intake down to a level that will permit lipolysis. For people who suffer from metabolic obesity and have great difficulty losing, that is a grave weakness. Atkins, on the other hand, starts you off consuming 20 grams of carbohydrates. You then proceed at your Continue reading >>
How To Burn Stored Body Fat — A Ketosis Primer
“So, how do you tell your body to start burning stored body fat?” my friend and fellow mother asked. “Cut the carbs,” answered another mom. “I go into ketosis just about every afternoon.” “Ketosis? Isn’t that bad for you?” The short answer? No. I talk to a lot of people who want to lose weight. They try all sorts of things — exercise, calorie restriction, you name it. Sometimes, they lose the weight. Inevitably, they gain it back. That’s because what they’re doing is going on a diet — a temporary fix at best. What they need is a lifestyle change, a perspective shift, a new paradigm. Of course, you all know the paradigm I espouse — a conversion to eating real, traditional foods. Yet even a conversion to eating real food won’t necessarily help the pounds melt away. If you’re still eating 200 grams of carbohydrates a day — even if they’re “traditional” carbohydrates like sprouted or soaked grains, unrefined sweeteners, etc, you’re not going to lose weight without making some serious changes. If your body is regularly storing body fat (you gain a little bit of weight each year), then something is wrong with how your body metabolizes food. Let me introduce you to a new concept: the body fat setpoint. The body fat setpoint is the mass of body fat that your body attempts to defend against changes in either direction. It’s your body’s attempt to maintain homeostasis. This is why if you exercise more, you eat more. It’s also why if you restrict calories, your metabolism slows down to compensate. Why should you care about the body fat setpoint? From Stephan at Whole Health Source: We care because this has some very important implications for human obesity. With such a powerful system in place to keep body fat mass in a narrow range, Continue reading >>
The Definitive Guide To The Ketogenic Diet
If you want to lose weight or build muscle faster and think the ketogenic diet might help, you want to read this article. How did a diet meant for treating epileptic seizures turn into a popular weight loss fad? That’s the story of the ketogenic diet, which was introduced in 1921 by an endocrinologist named Dr. Henry Geyelin. Geyelin, presenting at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, explained that the ancient Greeks had discovered that fasting was an effective method of managing epileptic seizures. Hippocrates wrote about it and, like Geyelin, found that the seizures would return once eating resumed. Why? What was it about fasting that suppressed the seizures? Well, epileptic seizures are triggered by electrical abnormalities in the brain. The causes can vary, from genetics to brain injury, but more common is chronic inflammation throughout the body. Geyelin found that when people fast, two major changes occur in the blood: glucose levels fall and ketone levels rise. You’ve probably heard of glucose, also known as blood sugar, but not ketones, which are carbon-oxygen molecules produced by the liver that cells can use for energy instead of glucose. This finding fascinated Geyelin and he set out to determine if similar effects could be achieved without starvation. A decade of work proved they could, and the “ketogenic diet,” as it would be later called, was born. The purpose of the ketogenic diet is to maintain a state of ketosis, wherein the body’s primary energy source is ketones, not glucose. Early studies showed it was an extremely effective treatment for seizures, but in 1938, it was eclipsed by the anticonvulsant drug phenytoin. This medication became the standard treatment for epilepsy, effectively retiring the ketogenic diet from cli Continue reading >>
Is A Ketogenic Diet Really More Effective For Fat Loss?
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study last week to investigate claims that a ketogenic diet can facilitate greater fat loss than diets relatively higher in carbohydrate. Commonly known as “keto”, a ketogenic diet is a diet typically characterized by a 4:1 ratio of dietary fat to protein and carbohydrate and was originally used in the treatment of childhood epilepsy. It has been theorized that keto diets facilitate greater fat loss in humans as an absence of dietary carbohydrate forces the body to oxidize fat as its primary energy source. Taubes and colleagues set out to test this theory. Their study was conducted over eight weeks in a research facility known as a metabolic ward. Seventeen overweight or obese volunteers participated, with no opportunity to eat foods outside of the diets of the study. For the first four weeks, the subjects were fed a high-carbohydrate, high-sugar diet. Fifty percent of their total calories came from carbohydrate (338g per day), and 25% of their total calories came from sugar. The HCD diet totaled 2,739 calories per day. For the second four weeks, they were fed a very-low-carbohydrate, low-sugar ketogenic diet. Five percent of their total calories came from carbohydrate (36g per day), and 2% of their total calories came from sugar. 15% percent of the calories came from protein. The keto diet totaled 2,738 calories per day. Note that the caloric intakes were kept close to identical, meaning fat loss could only be attributed to the source of the food rather than its caloric content. The volunteers spent two days a week inside metabolic chambers, where their calorie expenditure was measured. Once every two weeks, their body composition was measured via a DEXA scan. The researchers also used doubly labeled water to m Continue reading >>
How To Increase Fat Burning During Ketosis
Ketosis is also known as the body's process for generating energy by producing ketones when insufficient carbohydrates are available in the diet. In other words, a low-carb diet is called ketogenic because it forces the body to use fat for energy. Ketosis is a very effective means of burning fat, but there are certain techniques for increasing fat-burning through exercise and nutrition. How many carbs should you eat per day? When is the best time to eat them? What kinds of carbs are best? And what natural supplements prevent muscle loss caused by extreme ketogenic diets? Follow a few basic rules to answer these questions and achieve your fat-burning goals. Video of the Day Take in 30 to 50 g of carbohydrates per day, depending on your individual metabolism. Typically, this carb-depletion phase lasts five days and is followed by two days of carb-loading. For example, having 100 to 200 g of carbs per day for two days. This carb-cycling strategy helps to prevent dieting plateaus in which the body stops burning fat in response to what it perceives as starvation. Stack your carbohydrates around your workouts. Carbs are needed for two reasons: muscle recovery and energy. One good strategy is to take in half of your carbs before your workout and the other half after. Some people choose to take all of them before or after. Either way, taking in your carbohydrates in the morning will allow the body to switch into ketosis during the day, burning more fat. Limit resistance training workouts to 60 minutes to control cortisol levels. The stress hormone cortisol, part of the fight-or-flight response, slows down fat-burning and metabolizes muscle tissue. After about an hour of training, muscle-building hormones plummet, and cortisol increases significantly. Sometimes, training harder Continue reading >>
Is A Low-carb Diet Effective For Burning Fat? Is Ketosis Dangerous?
“The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” ~William Gibson One hundred years from now, medical doctors, scientists, nutritionists, and the general public will be puzzled and astounded by how few of us were able to grasp the obvious – high-carb, low-fat diets simply do not achieve long-term fat loss. Athletes, bodybuilders, Hollywood and others have known for decades that a low-carb, high-protein diet achieves incredible fat metabolism and enables rapid muscle gains. Hundreds of scientific studies have – again and again – proven the same. Special interests have ridiculed and disparaged these approaches and prevented most of this knowledge, however, from being incorporated into conventional wisdom. While some diets do follow effective fat loss principles, many take them to extremes (Atkins, Dukan, the Ketogenic Diet, etc.), advocating weight loss at any cost. Avoiding fruits and vegetables while encouraging hot dogs and bacon binges – while it might actually help you lose weight in the short term – is not a healthy or sustainable strategy. The LeanBody System is unlike these diets in that you will achieve fat loss and muscle gains as a direct result of improving your overall health, not sacrificing it. So How Do Low-Carb Diets Work? Extreme low-carb diets push the body into ketosis, which means that the body primarily burns fat (instead of carbs) for energy and levels of ketones in the blood are elevated. Ketones are small carbon fragments created by the breakdown of fat stores after the body is depleted of stored glucose (known as glycogen). Humans can use ketones as energy for bodily functions and even as a replacement for glucose to provide fuel to the brain. Since the body relies on stored fat for energy, people lose weight – Continue reading >>
You Can Eat Fat And Lose Weight! Expert Says Controversial Ketogenic Diet Does Work - So What's The Secret To Doing It Safely?
Lose weight by eating more fat – it almost sounds too good to be true. But followers of the ketogenic food plan claim it not only works, it can revolutionise the way you eat. Although the keto diet – as it's known – has been hailed as being extremely effective for weight loss, it's not without its share of controversy. Those who subscribe to a keto-based food programme eat a diet that's significantly higher in fat – this is offset by a major reduction in carbohydrates which is understood to put the body into a metabolic state called ketosis. In essence, nutritional medical expert Fiona Tuck explained to Today Tonight Adelaide, the body burns fat to use as fuel. Right now the diet being touted as the hot new way to strip unwanted kilos with celebrities - including Guy Sebastian - crediting their success to following the high-fat food regime. But is the diet a safe way to sustainable weight loss? Fiona Tuck breaks it down. 'An extreme keto diet is made up of 75 per cent healthy fat, 20 per cent protein and just five per cent carbs, which means limited fruit and vegetables,' she said. While she said the food plan would work for quick weight loss, it's not one she thinks is beneficial long term. 'We have to be very careful not to take the body into an extreme case of acidosis (caused by an overproduction of acid in the blood) because that can actually be life threatening or fatal.' However Ms Tuck does believe the diet can be followed safely, if carb levels are increased to 50 or 100 grams. She also advocates for following a dietary plan that includes a wide range of fresh foods. 'You could not be getting enough of those brightly coloured fruits and vegetables which could put us at risk of nutritional deficiency,' she warned. For some the health benefits of followin Continue reading >>
When You Are In Ketosis Are You Burning Fat Rather Than Muscle?
Ketosis is when your body is preferentially burning ketones for fuel, instead of sugars. This state should not be confused with diabetic ketosis or keto-acidosis. Ketones are produced when your body is burning fat instead of glycogen. Glycogen, or sugar, is what is referred to as your body's "preferred" fuel, but your body will burn ketones when there is not enough glycogen to meet your metabolic demands. Consult your physician before beginning any dietary program. Video of the Day Burning muscle can occur, usually when your protein intake is not high enough, which can be a problem with some radical diets. The body needs 10 essential amino acids, and if you are not getting them in your diet, your body will scavenge muscle tissue for them. This can also occur when you are just not getting enough calories in general, and your body converts amino acids into glycogen for use. This process is known as de novo gluconeogenesis. The easiest way to avoid this is to simply eat more protein. Remaining in ketosis and avoiding muscle loss requires a balance of nutrient intake. If you take in too much protein, such as possibly more than 30 to 40 percent of your total caloric intake, the excess will probably be converted to glycogen, and your body will no longer be in ketosis. This occurs because it is easier for you to burn carbs than it is to burn ketones, and your body will expend as little energy as possible. So ensure your protein intake is sufficient, but do not get too much. The remainder of your caloric intake needs to come from fat. And if you are active, remember, you will need more protein than your sedentary counterparts, according to Dr. Peter Lemon of the University of Western Ontario. As soon as you consume any significant amount of non-fibrous carbohydrates, such as si Continue reading >>
