Keep Yourself In Ketosis
When talking about a Grain Brain lifestyle, and the very similar ketogenic diet, it’s frequently mentioned that we are aiming to keep our bodies in ketosis. However, if you’re new to my work, it may be that you’re not exactly sure what ketosis is, or why we should be worrying about getting our body into this state. Allow me to explain. Ketones are a special type of fat that can stimulate the pathways that enhance the growth of new neural networks in the brain. A ketogenic diet is one that is high in fats, and this diet has been a tool of researchers for years, used notably in a 2005 study on Parkinson’s patients finding an improvement in symptoms after just 28 days. The improvements were on par with those made possible via medication and brain surgery. Other research has shown the ketogenic diet to be remarkably effective in treating some forms of epilepsy, and even brain tumors. Ketones do more than just that though. They increase glutathione, a powerful, brain-protective antioxidant. Ketones facilitate the production of mitochondria, one of the most important actors in the coordinated production that is the human body. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Our bodies are said to enter ketosis at the point when blood sugar levels are low and liver glycogen are no longer available to produce glucose as a fuel for cellular energy production. At this point, not only is the body doing the natural thing, and burning off fat, it’s also powering up the brain with a super efficient fuel. We can jump start ourselves into ketosis with a brief fast, allowing our body to quickly burn through the carbs that are in our system, and turn to fat for fuel. A ketogenic diet is one that derives around 80% or more of of its calories from fat, and the rest from carbs and prote Continue reading >>
Why Am I Getting Low Ketone Readings On A Ketogenic Diet?
75 Comments Even having finished and printed The Keto Reset, the quest for deeper understanding continues. I keep researching, thinking, revisiting, and discussing the science and practice of ketosis. My writing partner, Brad Kearns, and I maintain a running dialogue on all things keto. The latest conversation revolved around two very common questions or “problems” that keep coming up in the ketogenic community. Why do some people on a keto diet blow high numbers of ketones while others eating the same way blow low numbers? and this one… Is ketosis glycogen-sparing or glycogen-inhibiting? I won’t offer definitive answers fit to etch into stone. I will offer my exploration of the research, some educated speculation, and actionable advice you can ruminate on. And by all means get back to me with your take on the questions and my explorations, please. Dialogue is essential to understanding. Why do some people on ketogenic diets produce low ketone readings when they test? One theory is that some keto-adapted people are so adapted to producing and burning ketones that they don’t leave any extra to spill into the urine and breath. They make only as many as they can use and their cells gobble up almost every ketone they produce. Under this argument, low ketone numbers on a ketogenic diet are a reliable sign of full ketone adaptation. This sounds plausible, but I haven’t seen any empirical evidence that it’s the case. Another theory is that the keto-adapted have built so much fat-burning metabolic machinery in their muscles that they can burn free fatty acids directly and don’t require much additional fuel from ketones. They make enough ketones to fuel the brain, since our brain can’t run on fatty acids directly, but your muscles no longer require as many. Man Continue reading >>
Eating Fat To Lose Weight? The Ketogenic Diet Is High-fat And Low-carb
But he didn’t start dropping the pounds until a friend who had lost a lot of weight suggested he try a ketogenic diet. Gross switched to the high-fat, ultra-low-carb diet and lost 70 pounds in seven months. And he’s kept at it for five years. Though online searches about ketogenic diets started spiking last year, the diet was created in the 1920s as a way to treat epilepsy. When you’re on a keto diet and you’re in what’s called ketosis, a metabolic process forces the body to burn stored fat because there’s not enough glucose for energy. Fans of the keto diet say they have more energy and better focus. The diet, however, is restrictive and can be difficult to maintain. A group of local nutrition experts say the diet is safe, but they were split over whether they would recommend it for everyone. Burning fat How does the diet work? Our bodies break down carbohydrates when we eat. Those carbs are turned into glucose that fuels our cells, giving us energy. Eating keto A difficult start Continue reading >>
The Low-carb, High-fat Diet That's Sweeping The Nation
It took a while, but by now most of us know that fat is not the enemy, that there are certain kinds of fat that can actually help your heart, and that it need not be obliterated from your diet if you’re trying to lose weight. In fact, for some people, fat is actually the superhero of their diet—and chowing down on olive oil, butter, and heavy cream is the key to watching the scale dive lower and lower, without feeling hungry or deprived. But can a diet heavy on the heavy cream turn out to be not unsafe—and maybe even good for you? We consulted top-shelf, unbiased sources that specialize in diet and nutrition, and were surprised to find that the answer is a resounding yes. First, the basics about the diet. It’s called a ketogenic diet, one that’s heavy on fat, moderate in protein, and extremely light in carbohydrates (typically less than 50g a day). The way it works involves a neat little trick of your body’s own biology, says Charles Passler, a nutritionist in New York City, who works with many of the top models you see sashaying down the runways at fashion week. (Bella Hadid is among his clients, as are many of the Victoria’s Secret models, including Adriana Lima.) The body typically burns carbohydrates—aka glucose—for fuel. But if you give your body little to no carbohydrates, it will go into ketosis. This is a state in which fat stores in the body are broken down into ketones, which then fuel the muscles and brain. If that sounds a bit odd, it’s not, says Passler. “The human body is designed to be able to handle times of food scarcity,” says Passler. “The trouble is, we currently have access to food 24/7, but our physiology hasn’t caught up with that yet. Say you have breakfast at 8 a.m., and then it's 1 p.m. and you think you're starving, Continue reading >>
Keto Diet Food List, Including The Best Vs. Worst Keto Foods
Unlike many fad diets that come and go with very limited rates of long-term success, the ketogenic diet or keto diet has been practiced for more than nine decades (since the 1920s) and is based upon a solid understanding of physiology and nutrition science. The keto diet works for such a high percentage of people because it targets several key, underlying causes of weight gain — including hormonal imbalances, especially insulin resistance coupled with high blood sugar levels, and the cycle of restricting and “binging” on empty calories due to hunger that so many dieters struggle with. Yet that’s not a problem with what’s on the keto diet food list. Rather than relying on counting calories, limiting portion sizes, resorting to extreme exercise or requiring lots of willpower (even in the face of drastically low energy levels), the ketogenic diet takes an entirely different approach to weight loss and health improvements. It works because it changes the very “fuel source” that the body uses to stay energized — namely, from burning glucose (or sugar) to dietary fat, courtesy of keto recipes and the keto diet food list items, including high-fat, low-carb foods. What Can You Eat On a Ketogenic Diet? Here are some examples of high-fat low-carb foods on the keto diet food list you can expect to eat lots of if you’re following the ketogenic diet: High amounts of healthy fats (up to 80 percent of your total calories!), such as olive oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, palm oil, and some nuts and seeds. Fats are a critical part of every ketogenic recipe because fat is what provides energy and prevents hunger, weakness and fatigue. All sorts of non-starchy vegetables. What vegetables can you eat on a ketogenic diet without worrying about increasing your carb intak Continue reading >>
Ketosis And The Hcg Diet
Ketosis The HCG diet is a ketogenic diet, meaning that it brings the body into a state where it burns fat in order to supply its energy needs. Ketones are used by the muscles, the brain and other parts of the body as energy, and they are derived from fat when fat is metabolized. When carbohydrate levels are low, the body must break down fat stores to provide sufficient energy. Carbohydrates are converted the most easily into energy by the body, and when we eat excess carbohydrates they are stored as fat. When dietary carbohydrate levels are low, such as with the HCG diet or low carb diets like the Atkins diet, fat is metabolized for energy. When the body is in ketosis it is constantly burning fat for energy and any diet with a net consumption of less than 100 grams of carbohydrates per day is considered to be ketogenic. The HCG diet usually results in a metabolic state of ketosis The HCG diet has about 60 to 80 grams of carbohydrates per day on average, and as a result it causes the body to enter into a state of ketosis. Ketosis will begin during the first week of the HCG diet, and you can test for ketosis by using urine strips that can be purchased at a local pharmacy. The strips test for ketones in the urine, but testing for ketosis is not necessary as a part of the diet. The strips also show the quantity of ketones in the urine, but the level of ketones in the urine are not considered to be a good indicator of the level of ketosis, so this can mostly be ignored unless otherwise advised by a medical professional. Ketosis is not harmful for the body Some people think that ketosis is somehow dangerous or bad for the body because of some misconceptions about ketogenic diets. The truth is that ketogenic diets have been used for several decades without major medical proble Continue reading >>
Why Keto And Not Low Carb – Pitfalls Of Low-carb Nutrition
Intro Update 2017: This post has been deprecated (not in line with my current thoughts. Read more on the ‘about’ page) While reading Jimmy Moore and Dr. Westman’s Keto Clarity, I started pondering on this. Most of us know that reducing carbohydrate intake (especially simple sugars) is very beneficial to one’s health, but if you are following a low-carb diet and you are not in ketosis, there may be some issues. If you consume, say, 100-150g of carbs a day, much of it will be used by the brain [1], while the remainder will be insufficient to supply for the energy demands of the rest of the cells throughout your body. In this situation, you’re not producing ketones (because of the higher carbohydrate intake) to supply for the energy demands of the brain and most of the cells. No wonder the fatigue and light-headedness you’d experience. Low-Carb vs. Keto When you eat low-carbohydrate but you do not go low enough to become ketotic, you’re still a sugar burner (and a very inefficient one) and you’re likely to fall of the wagon because you do not experience the benefits of ketosis. When you’re doing low-carb and you are not ketotic, some of your body’s cells will use fatty acids for energy indeed, but your brain cannot use them directly as they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier. Cravings and hunger are most likely to occur under this protocol as your cells will scream at you to give them sugar. The foggy mind may be persistent. Note that this type of scenario can happen when you are very-low-carb and eat high-protein. You’ll not be able to enter ketosis due to gluconeogenesis (GNG) – synthesis of glucose mostly from protein substrates. This will also occur when you’re just starting out a ketogenic diet because your body needs time to accommodate to Continue reading >>
7 Tips To Get Into Ketosis
And convert fat into energy. By Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE Ketosis is a normal metabolic process that provides several health benefits. During ketosis, your body converts fat into compounds known as ketones and begins using them as its main source of energy. Studies have found that diets that promote ketosis are highly beneficial for weight loss, due in part to their appetite-suppressing effects. Emerging research suggests that ketosis may also be helpful for type 2 diabetes and neurological disorders, among other conditions. That being said, achieving a state of ketosis can take some work and planning. It’s not just as simple as cutting carbs. Here are 7 effective tips to get into ketosis. 1. Minimize Your Carb Consumption Eating a very low-carb diet is by far the most important factor in achieving ketosis. Normally, your cells use glucose, or sugar, as their main source of fuel. However, most of your cells can also use other fuel sources. This includes fatty acids, as well as ketones, which are also known as ketone bodies. Your body stores glucose in your liver and muscles in the form of glycogen. When carb intake is very low, glycogen stores are reduced and levels of the hormone insulin decline. This allows fatty acids to be released from fat stores in your body. Your liver converts some of these fatty acids into the ketone bodies acetone, acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate. These ketones can be used as fuel by portions of the brain. The level of carb restriction needed to induce ketosis is somewhat individualized. Some people need to limit net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) to 20 grams per day, while others can achieve ketosis while eating twice this amount or more. For this reason, the Atkins diet specifies that carbs be restricted to 20 or fewer grams per Continue reading >>
10 Signs That You Might Be In Ketosis
Republished with permission from Authority Nutrition. Original article here. CHECK OUT SOME OF MY OTHER FAVORITE LOW CARB KETO RESOURCES: 10 Signs that you Might be in Ketosis The ketogenic diet is a popular, effective way to lose weight and improve health. When followed correctly, this low-carb, high-fat diet will raise blood ketone levels. These provide a new fuel source for your cells, and cause most of the unique health benefits of this diet (1, 2, 3). On a ketogenic diet, your body undergoes many biological adaptions, including a reduction in insulin and increased fat breakdown. When this happens, your liver starts producing large amounts of ketones to supply energy for your brain. However, it can often be hard to know whether you’re “in ketosis” or not. Here are 10 common signs and symptoms of ketosis, both positive and negative. 1. Bad Breath People often report bad breath once they reach full ketosis. It’s actually a common side effect. Many people on ketogenic diets and similar diets, such as the Atkins diet, report that their breath takes on a fruity smell. This is caused by elevated ketone levels. The specific culprit is acetone, a ketone that exits the body in your urine and breath (4). While this breath may be less than ideal for your social life, it can be a positive sign for your diet. Many ketogenic dieters brush their teeth several times per day, or use sugar-free gum to solve the issue. If you’re using gum or other alternatives like sugar-free drinks, check the label for carbs. These may raise your blood sugar levels and reduce ketone levels. The bad breath usually goes away after some time on the diet. It is not a permanent thing. Bottom Line: The ketone acetone is partly expelled via your breath, which can cause bad or fruity-smelling breat Continue reading >>
Not Losing Weight On A Low-carb Ketogenic Diet? Don’t Give Up And Read Further
The ketogenic diet is not only known to be one of the most effective weight loss tools, but has proven to have many health benefits. Ketosis is a state at which your body produces ketones in the liver, shifting the body's metabolism away from glucose and towards fat utilization. Unless you can check your blood ketones, using Ketostix is an easy way to detect urinary ketones. It's not the most accurate method, but may be good enough to find out whether you are in ketosis. In some cases, weight loss may be difficult even on a low-carb ketogenic diet and there may be a few possible reasons for weight stalling, which I have listed in this post. If you want to know more about the ketogenic diet and how it can help you lose weight, have a look at my Practical Guide to Keto Diet which is freely available on my website also as PDF. 3 free diet plans to help you kickstart your diet, lose weight and get healthy Recipes, giveaways and exclusive deals delivered directly to your inbox A chance to win the KetoDiet app every week Top Reasons You Are Not Losing Weight on a Keto Diet 1. Carbs are Too High Your carbohydrate intake may be too high. Try to decrease your daily carbs limit. Also try to include coconut oil in your diet. Coconut oil consists of MCTs (Medium chain triglycerides), which are easily digestible, less likely to be stored by your body and are used for immediate energy. MCTs are converted in the liver into ketones, which helps you enter ketosis. If you want to know more about carbs, check out this post. For more about ketones, have a look at this post. 2. Protein is Too High or Too Low Your protein intake may be too high/ low. Protein is the most sating macronutrient and you should include high-quality animal protein in your diet. If you don't eat enough protein, you Continue reading >>
Is The Ketogenic Diet Right For You? Nutritionists Weigh In
You may be hearing a lot about the ketogenic diet as a way to slim down while noshing on butter and heavy cream. This way of eating is suddenly hot among venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, who believe it will help them live longer and healthier, CNBC reports. Some praise the high-fat/ultra low-carb plan for helping them to lose weight and have energy all day long. Other advocates say it finally helped them to get control of their body. How does it work and could it help you? We asked Bonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietitian nutritionist and author of “Read It Before You Eat It”; and Keri Glassman, nutritionist, registered dietitian and TODAY Tastemaker. To start with, both said they would never advise the ketogenic diet for weight loss. “Cutting out carbs is usually an invitation to overeat them at another point,” Taub-Dix said. “For a diet where you’re looking to lose weight, look good and feel good… I would not recommend a diet like this.” “For safe and effective weight loss, the carb reduction is too extreme,” Glassman added. RELATED: Read inspiring stories of ordinary people slimming down in TODAY's My Weight-Loss Journey Here’s what you need to know: What is the ketogenic diet? It’s a diet fine-tuned in the 1920s to help treat epilepsy. It does help to control seizures in some children, but it’s not recommended for adults “mostly because the restricted food choices make it hard to follow,” the Epilepsy Foundation says. The diet has just recently begun to be touted as a weight loss plan, Glassman noted. She described it as eating “mostly fat with a teeny bit of protein and carbs.” How does it work? Your body normally relies on carbohydrates for energy. It breaks them down into glucose, which is your main source of fuel. If that� Continue reading >>
Vegan Keto Diet Plan – Lose Weight While Saving The Planet
The ketogenic diet can be a wonderful thing…. It helps people all over the world lose weight, control diabetes, reduce seizures and more. But here’s the thing… The keto diet is typically full of animal products such as meat and eggs! Understandably this leaves many vegan’s asking the question “How can a vegan adopt a ketogenic diet when it’s usually full of meat and butter?” Well we’re here to tell you it doesn’t matter if you’re vegan or vegetarian, you can ABSOLUTELY achieve ketosis and reap the benefits that come with it. And to prove it we’ve developed a comprehensive 7 day vegan keto diet plan which we’re going to provide you today absolutely free. But first we need to tell you something… It’s Important to Do it Right We personally utilize this diet here at Vegan at Heart but the reality is… Both the Vegan and Ketogenic diets restrict certain foods from being eaten and combining them has the potential to result in nutritional deficiency – if not done correctly. This depends on the individuals age, nutrient requirements, health status, knowledge and lifestyle. While we believe that the vegan ketogenic diet can be adopted in a healthy way and provide many benefits, if you are doing this for medical reasons or have any doubts we recommend you consult a medical professional before embarking on this journey. Now that’s out of the way, before we get into the diet plan let’s clarify the rules we must follow to enter ketosis as a vegan. How to Follow a Vegan Ketogenic Diet The main steps involved with a vegan ketogenic diet are: Avoid all animal products such as meat, fish, poultry and dairy Restrict net carbs to 30g – 50g net carbs per day (based on caloric requirements) Consume at least 0.4g – 0.6g of plant based protein per pound Continue reading >>
Here's Exactly How I Lost 50 Pounds Doing The Keto Diet
Of all the places to seek life-changing nutrition advice, I never thought the barber shop would be where I found it. But one day last January, after a couple years of saying to myself, "today's the day I make a change," my barber schooled me on something called keto. Normally, I take things he says with a grain of salt unless they're about hair or owning a business, but this guy could literally be on the cover of Men's Health. He's 6 feet tall, conventionally attractive, and his arms are about five pull-ups away from tearing through his t-shirt. If anyone else had implied that I was looking rough, I would've walked out in a fit of rage, but I decided to hear him out. I should clarify that I was out of shape, but my case wasn't that severe. I hadn't exercised in a few years and basically ate whatever I wanted and however much of it, but I was only about 30 to 40 pounds overweight. My barber went on to explain that this diet, paired with an appropriate exercise routine, allowed him to completely transform his body in less than a year, and all he ate was fatty foods. Once he showed me his "before" picture, I was sold. It was time to actually make a change. Short for ketogenic, keto is a high-fat, moderate protein, low-carb diet that forces your metabolism into what's called a state of ketosis. There's a much more scientific explanation to that, but it basically means that instead of burning carbohydrates (mainly glucose, or sugars), your body switches to burning fat as a primary source for energy. Keto isn't necessarily about counting calories, though the basic idea of eating less in order to lose weight still applies. This is more of a calculated way to rewire your metabolism so that it burns fat more efficiently over time, using very specific levels of each macronutrient Continue reading >>
The Beginners Guide To Ketosis: Investigating Low-carb, High-fat Eating
The only hard and fast rule of health is that health is personal and what works well for one person may not work for someone else. Aside from that rule, there are “frameworks” that seem to benefit large groups of people. One more level down from that are alternative strategies that benefit smaller groups. Ketosis is likely one of those alternative strategies that works well for certain, smaller groups of people. So, right off the bat I want you to understand that Ketosis might not be for everyone. I’m going to lay out the case for potential benefits of Ketosis. If it sounds interesting and beneficial to you, then consider trying it. (see our free cheat sheet to help you). What is Ketosis Ketosis occurs when liver glycogen gets depleted and the body burns fatty acids for fuel. The primary driver of this state is a very low carbohydrate intake. Often, it also requires a low protein, higher fat intake. You can also achieve a state of ketosis by not eating altogether. The creation of ketones is a byproduct of this metabolic state. Ketones are a source of fuel, just as glucose is a source of fuel. Ketones tend to have some added benefits, though. What role does Ketosis play in human health? Ketosis allows our bodies to function in the absence of carbohydrates, both physically and mentally. Instead of burning carbohydrates, or converting protein to glucose, the body burns ketones. This is pretty much a survival mechanism. It allows your body to function in a state of caloric deprivation. This is why ketosis often gets bad press (as it’s linked to “starvation”). Being a survival mechanism doesn’t make it invalid as a strategy, though. There can still be potential benefits to be had. Let’s cover a few of them… Ketosis and Accelerated Fat Loss Being in ketosis Continue reading >>
Why You’re Not In Ketosis
As the COO of Diet Doctor and low-carb enthusiast for years, you would have thought I’d nailed ketosis years ago. I haven’t, and here’s why. Am I still in ketosis? To get into ketosis, the most important thing is to eat maximum 20 grams of digestible carbs per day. When I went low carb in 2012, I followed that advice to the letter – replacing all high-carb foods like potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, legumes, fruit, juice, soda, and candy, with eggs, dairy, meat, vegetables, fats and berries – counting every carb I consumed. I felt great – effortless weight loss, no stomach issues, tons of energy and inspiration. But over time, something changed – I no longer felt as great as I used to. Until recently, I had no idea why. The journey to find out started with a simple question: Am I still in ketosis? The moment of truth At a Diet Doctor dinner a while ago, our CTO, Johan, gently challenged me. “Bjarte, you’re eating quite a lot of protein. Have you measured your ketones lately?”. “No”, I said, feeling slightly defensive, “I’ve never measured my ketones. Should I?”. It was wake-up time. Johan and I grabbed two blood-ketone meters from a dusty drawer, pricked a finger each, and touched the ketone strips. His results came out first – 3.0 mmol/L – optimal ketosis. He looked happy. It was my turn. The ketone meter made a weird beeping sound and the screen started blinking – 0.0 mmol/L – no ketosis whatsoever. What?! I’d been eating strict low carb for years, how could I not be in ketosis? I felt slightly embarrassed, but mainly relieved. Was this the reason I no longer felt great? Experiment 1: Eating less than 60 grams of protein a day Several of my colleagues agreed with Johan – I was eating too much protein. To test that hypothesis, I s Continue reading >>
