Nutritional Ketosis

Nutritional Ketosis, Part I – The State Of Being A Superman

If you regularly follow articles on health and nutrition, you have undoubtedly heard about ketosis. In the last several years, the interest around ketogenic diets has been rising constantly, with more and more studies done and data available to critically assess their effectiveness. When people hear the word “diet”, the first objective they associate it with is losing weight. But ketogenic diets are more than just methods of weight-control. They have profound therapeutic effects on certain medical conditions and, generally, represent an evolutionary advantage that has allowed our species to survive and thrive. Unfortunately, with typical dietary choices of today – driven largely by clever marketing messages and hidden agendas of large food corporations trying to convince you that eating their stuff is the best thing you can do and you should really ignore any potential health implications – ketosis has become a forgotten skill. Which, in the era of overwhelming proliferation of metabolic disorders and other debilitating diseases, puts those who do not consider following at least some form of a ketogenic diet at higher risk. This article is an attempt to change the current state of affairs. Ketosis is a vitally important metabolic state – and knowing when and how to use it is something that you definitely want to do if you care about your physical and cognitive performance. So, let’s take a closer look at what ketosis is and why you might be interested in it. Your body constantly requires energy. Every single little process in every cell needs fuel– even when you seem to be doing absolutely nothing. You need energy not only to move your body by contracting your muscles, but also for cell division, maintaining heartbeat, digestion and, most importantly – b Continue reading >>

How The Vegan Ketogenic Diet Works

The vegan ketogenic diet is a variation on the standard ketogenic diet. It works in the same way, the only difference being we obtain our carbs, protein and fats from non-animal sources. The goal of this diet is to force the body to change it’s primary fuel source from carbs and glucose to fats and ‘ketones’. The ketogenic diet all but eliminates carbs from the diet, and comes with many benefits including weight loss, lower blood sugar, stable energy levels and more! The purpose of this article is to explain exactly what happens to your body when you start following the rules of vegan keto. And so without further ado, let’s begin! How Exactly Does a Low Carb Ketogenic Diet Work? Carbohydrates are one of the main types of nutrients your body uses for energy, along with fats and protein. On a normal, western, carb heavy diet your body uses carbohydrates as its primary fuel source, followed by excess protein, and finally stored body fat. Normally, the liver synthesizes carbs and converts it to glucose for fuel. The left-over glucose gets stored in the liver as glycogen (glycogen makes up 10% of liver mass) and a small amount in the muscles for easy access. When you are fasting or drastically reduce your intake of carbohydrates as you would with a ketogenic diet, there isn’t enough glucose being produced to fuel your body, so the liver synthesizes fat, converting it to ketone bodies that you can use for fuel. This state is called Ketosis and it’s a normal metabolic state wherein the body is being fuelled by fat, not glucose (blood sugar). What Happens When You Enter Ketosis Two things happen when you reduce your carb intake: First, your blood sugar levels drop (or stabilize if you tend to overindulge in carbs). Second, your body starts turning stored fat into ke Continue reading >>

How To Test Your Blood With A Home Ketone Meter

testing is used by people with diabetes and by people on a ketogenic diet. You can test your urine or your blood for ketones. But because urine testing is not as accurate, the American Diabetes Association recommends blood ketone testing with a ketone meter as the preferable method. If you have diabetes, you should discuss home blood ketone testing with your doctor to learn whether it is recommended in your case and when you should perform the testing. Ketone testing is particularly important during periods of illness. Blood Ketone Meters for Testing at Home You will need a blood ketone meter and a kit that include the lancet pen and ketone test strips. These meters also will read blood glucose test strips, and both will download their results to your computer. Other brands and models may be available, including: Precision Xtra: This meter from Abbott Diabetes Care can store up to 450 measurements and will display your blood glucose averages over different time periods. You need to enter a code to switch from glucose testing to ketone testing. Users seem happier with the Precision brand, and researchers find it to be the more accurate. The strips require 1.5 microliters of blood. It also features a backlit display. Nova Max Plus: This meter from Nova Biomedical is often provided free with the purchase of two boxes of test strips. You don't have to enter a code to switch it from blood glucose to ketone testing; it does that automatically when you insert a ketone test strip. If you are using it primarily for blood glucose, it will remind you to test for ketones if your blood sugar level is 250 mg/dL or higher. The test strips for the Nova Max are less expensive but also flimsier and give more error messages, requiring retesting. The strips require less blood than the Prec Continue reading >>

Ketosis – Key To Human Babies’ Big Brains?

Prof Noakes is on trial for ‘advising’ a mom to wean her baby onto low carb, high fat foods. Could babies’ innate ketosis – a state more often associated with low-carb, high-fat diets – be an arrow in Prof Noakes’ defence’s quiver? By Tamzyn Murphy Campbell BSc, BSc Med(Hons) Human Nutrition and Dietetics, RD Did you know that human newborns and exclusively breastfed babies are in ketosis? 1 I am a dietitian, with two years of intensive postgraduate training in nutrition, and I didn’t realise this until just over a month ago. The fact that human babies are naturally in ketosis is an inconvenient truth because it implies that ketosis (which also occurs when fasting or eating a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet) is not only a natural metabolic state for human infants, but that it’s probably beneficial too. Nature seldom does something without a reason, so it’s likely that ketosis may confer some kind of evolutionary advantage to human infants. Research suggests that it may be one of the main factors behind the development of the large human brain. 2 “Nature seldom does something without a reason, so it’s likely that ketosis may confer some kind of evolutionary advantage to human infants. Research suggests that it may be one of the main factors behind the development of the large human brain. ” A word on ketones and ketosis Ketosis is a metabolic state where your body uses fat as fuel in preference to carbohydrates – as occurs when fasting or eating a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. The body makes ketones from fat, when dietary glucose (from carbohydrates and sugar) is low. Ketones can be used as fuel to produce the energy your body and brain needs to function. The human brain only has two options for fuel: glucose or ketones. The other body orga Continue reading >>

Can I Reach Nutritional Ketosis Through Diet Alone?

Can I Reach Nutritional Ketosis Through Diet Alone? Can I Reach Nutritional Ketosis Through Diet Alone? In short, yes, I absolutely think so! And Im living proof of it. But I know you like to know the reasons behind my reasons Give your body the choice and it will first go for glucose and sugar to fuel itself, then fatty acids (ketone bodies) second. If you keep fuelling your body with carbs (in the form of pastry, bread, pasta, grains etc.) then your body will rarely get to burn fat and you will remain overweight. But, when you reduce the amount of carbs you give your body to a minimal level, your body has no choice but to look for alternative fat sources and those include the fatty acids that have built up in your cells. Once you start burning these off, you really become a fat burning machine! Having spikes of insulin in your bloodstream and lots of fat in your diet is one sure fire way to never lose the weight youre after. What we really want is for our bodies to start burning fat for fuel instead of sugar. The production of endogenous ketones is what makes this a reality. Many people now measure their blood ketones through urine, breath and/or blood. Nutritional ketosis is a range of .5 to 3.0 mmol/L. Most people who eat the Standard American Diet (SAD) will measure in at a .2 or .3. Getting to .5 and up only requires fewer carbohydrates (and those chosen to be from quality sources), a moderate amount of protein and a good amount of healthy fats. Thats when the body will start to burn fat for fuel. Personally, I usually measure at .8 mmol/L and have a body fat percentage of 17%. This is a tough one to answer for everyone. We all work so differently and one defined amount of carbs is not going to have the same effect on each of us. It also looks different for someo Continue reading >>

Ketogenic Nutrition

“Nutritional ketosis is an amazing tool for reversing disease processes including inflammation, diabetes type 2, autoimmunity, and even cancer growth. It is a serious medical tool which can be used to improve health while allowing the patient to be their own manager.” Dr. Toni Bark, M.D. If you haven’t heard of the ketogenic lifestyle, you probably will very soon. This diet is the most beneficial not just for weight loss, but for health and disease prevention and reversal as well. So, what is the ketogenic – or “keto” – diet? It’s fairly simple. Most people fuel their bodies with carbohydrates, sugar and (usually) too much animal protein. With keto, that fuel comes from fatty acids and ketones. 75-85% of caloric content comes from good fats. Basically, once you achieve ketosis by depleting your body of available glycogen and using macros that consist of low or no carb, average protein and high fats. This trains your body to burn fat instead of carbs. All of our cells, excluding red blood cells, have a furnace called mitochondria which can use glucose or fats to produce energy for the cell. Glucose molecules contain twice the amount of oxygen as ketones or fatty acids, they also create half the amount of energy. Therefore, using fats for energy allows more energy production with greatly reduced oxidative byproducts. For endurance athletes, ketosis allows you to have great amounts of available stored energy in the form of free fatty acids for muscle and ketones for the brain. There is no “hitting the wall” after reaching the 2000 calories of stored glycogen. No matter how many carbs one eats prior to a race, only 2000 calories of glycogen can be stored. But, in ketosis, the average slim athlete has 40,000 calories of stored fats for burning. The benefi Continue reading >>

A Comprehensive Beginner's Guide

What is a Keto Diet? A keto diet is well known for being a low carb diet, where the body produces ketones in the liver to be used as energy. It’s referred to as many different names – ketogenic diet, low carb diet, low carb high fat (LCHF), etc. When you eat something high in carbs, your body will produce glucose and insulin. Glucose is the easiest molecule for your body to convert and use as energy so that it will be chosen over any other energy source. Insulin is produced to process the glucose in your bloodstream by taking it around the body. Since the glucose is being used as a primary energy, your fats are not needed and are therefore stored. Typically on a normal, higher carbohydrate diet, the body will use glucose as the main form of energy. By lowering the intake of carbs, the body is induced into a state known as ketosis. Ketosis is a natural process the body initiates to help us survive when food intake is low. During this state, we produce ketones, which are produced from the breakdown of fats in the liver. The end goal of a properly maintained keto diet is to force your body into this metabolic state. We don’t do this through starvation of calories but starvation of carbohydrates. Our bodies are incredibly adaptive to what you put into it – when you overload it with fats and take away carbohydrates, it will begin to burn ketones as the primary energy source. Optimal ketone levels offer many health, weight loss, physical and mental performance benefits. Make keto simple and easy by checking out our 30 Day Meal Plan. Get meal plans, shopping lists, and much more with our Keto Academy Program. Looking for Something Specific? There are numerous benefits that come with being on keto: from weight loss and increased energy levels to therapeutic medical appl Continue reading >>

Nutritional Ketosis: The Why?

Making the transitionfrom macronutrient carb loaderto fat loaderusing basic principles of nutritional ketosis has had the most profound effects on the pain and symptoms caused by chronic illness andautoimmune disease. Unlike 99% of the population who seem to constantly seek various out diets and quick fixes strictly for weight loss, my recent dietary transitionsare based solely on improving my medical conditions. I could care less about the numbers on the scale, what my body fat percentage is, how much muscle I can build, how ripped I can get, or what my abs look like. Im so far beyond any and all of that. Im merely just (proactively) looking for anything and everything I can do to feel BETTER and live optimally despite my body breaking down before my eyes this past year. Ive recently chosen to change my nutritionallifestyle completely. Ive flipped my entire way of eating upside down (and inside out and through and through). After recently learning about my autoimmune disease (still currently in limbo figuring out what I have), I immediately began doing research on things I might implement into my lifewhile I wait fora real AI diagnoses. My full time job has been toalleviate all of the growing pain, symptoms, and issues Ive been having. I had done everything I could externally, but now it was time to think about things internally. You hear people all of the time talk about using FOOD as healing power, this is one avenue I hadnt yet thought about but it makes a lot of sense when you really think about it. Just about everything I read and watched for autoimmune disease protocols involved a structured and LONGfood elimination process. The idea behind removing foods is to narrow down specific things you ingestthatcause your body inflammation, gut irritation, adverse reacti Continue reading >>

Nutritional Ketosis And Mitohormesis: Potential Implications For Mitochondrial Function And Human Health

Nutritional Ketosis and Mitohormesis: Potential Implications for Mitochondrial Function and Human Health 1Department of Human Sciences, College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA 2Department of Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Jeff S. Volek ; [email protected] Received 21 September 2017; Accepted 27 December 2017; Published 11 February 2018 Copyright 2018 Vincent J. Miller et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Impaired mitochondrial function often results in excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and is involved in the etiology of many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. Moderate levels of mitochondrial ROS, however, can protect against chronic disease by inducing upregulation of mitochondrial capacity and endogenous antioxidant defense. This phenomenon, referred to as mitohormesis, is induced through increased reliance on mitochondrial respiration, which can occur through diet or exercise. Nutritional ketosis is a safe and physiological metabolic state induced through a ketogenic diet low in carbohydrate and moderate in protein. Such a diet increases reliance on mitochondrial respiration and may, therefore, induce mitohormesis. Furthermore, the ketone -hydroxybutyrate (BHB), which is elevated during nutritional ketosis to levels no greater than those resulting from fasting, acts as a signaling molecule in addition to its traditionally known role as an energy Continue reading >>

What Are The Optimal Ketone Levels For A Ketogenic Diet?

If you’ve just started a ketogenic diet, then you’ll know that it can be really tough to figure out if you’re doing keto right. Am I eating too many carbs? Too much protein? Should I still be feeling tired? When is the fat burning supposed to start? It’s confusing, and one of the most confusing aspects is what your optimal ketone levels are supposed to be. Unlike most other diets, the ketogenic diet is designed to put your body into a state of ketosis in order to get your body to start burning ketones instead of the glucose that it usually burns when you eat a high carb standard American diet (SAD). But to know whether you’re in ketosis and whether your body has enough ketones circulating for you to use as energy instead of glucose, you have to measure your actual ketone levels and then determine whether they’re high enough for you to be reaping the benefits of the ketogenic diet. If you’ve tried searching for this information already, then you’ll know that there’s some controversy depending on which expert you follow. So in this article, we’ll tell you exactly what the different experts are suggesting are the optimal ketone levels as well as give you recommendations for what ketone levels you should be aiming for depending on your goals with a ketogenic diet. A Few Quick Notes Before We Start… If you’re looking for signs other than testing your actual body ketone levels as to whether you’re in ketosis or not, then please check out this article instead that provides you with signs you’re in ketosis. If you’re a type 1 diabetic, then this article is not for you and the optimal ketone levels suggested below are not applicable to you. Please check out the tons of other ketone level articles on the web to ensure your ketone levels do not reach 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 >>

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes with Nutritional Ketosis

6 Things That Happen To Your Body When You Go On A Ketogenic Diet

By now, you've probably heard of the ketogenic diet, or a low-carb, high-fat diet. It’s a popular diet trend among athletes and average folk alike. (Who doesn't love the idea of eating more steak and bacon?) But what actually happens to your body when you go on the ketogenic diet? To understand how the ketogenic diet works, you have to understand ketosis, the process by which your body is starved of glucose for fuel and must look to fat sources instead. Typically, you fuel your body by giving it glucose in the form of carbs, which can be found in flour, grains, vegetables, legumes, dairy products, and fruits. We usually introduce a steady stream of this type of fuel into our bodies with each meal or snack, explains Pamela Nisevich Bede MS, RD, CSSD, LD. These carbohydrates are usually the body’s first choice when looking for an instant fix. “When a carb is available, the body will naturally turn to this to make energy instead of dietary fat or stored body fat. However, when we remove carbohydrates from our diet, our bodies begin to break down fat and turn to a fuel source in the form of ketones, which is more efficient but generally underutilized,” explains Bede. Rob Gronkowski's Diet: This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. End of dialog window. Ketones are a substance produced by the liver when the body breaks down fat for energy, which are then released into the blood. Your body's cells use ketones to power everyday activities. When there’s a buildup of ketones in the blood and you’re switching gears into an ketogenic state, your body changes in some incredible ways. 1) Your insulin levels drop. On a normal diet, after eating glucose-containing foods, your insulin levels will be higher. But when you’r Continue reading >>

Lose Weight By Achieving Optimal Ketosis

Do you want to lose weight? Here’s number 16 of my 18 best tips. All of the published tips can be found on the How to Lose Weight page. Before we get started, here’s a short recap of the tips so far: The first and most crucial piece of advice was to choose a low-carb diet. The next were eating when hungry, eating real food, eating only when hungry, measuring progress wisely, being persistent, avoiding fruit, beer and artificial sweeteners, review your medications, stressing less and sleeping more, eating less dairy and nut products, stocking up on vitamins and minerals, using intermittent fasting and finally, exercising smart. This is number sixteen: 16. Get into optimal ketosis Warning: Not recommended for type 1 diabetics, see below. We’ve now arrived at tip number 16. If you’re still having trouble losing weight, despite following the 15 pieces of advice listed above, it might be a good idea to bring out the heavy artillery: optimal ketosis. Many people stalling at weight plateaus while on a low carb diet have found optimal ketosis helpful. It’s what can melt the fat off once again. So how does this work? A quick run-through: The first tip was to eat low carb. This is because a low-carb diet lowers your levels of the fat-storing hormone insulin, allowing your fat deposits to shrink and release their stored energy. This tends to cause you to want to consume less calories than you expend – without hunger – and lose weight. Several of the tips mentioned above are about fine-tuning your diet to better this effect. Video course Do you know exactly how to eat a low-carb and high fat diet (LCHF)? This is required for ketosis. If not the easiest way is watching this high quality 11-minute video course on how to eat LCHF, and the most important things to think a Continue reading >>

How To Get Into Ketosis The Right Way

You may have heard about keto or low-carb diets in recent years because of their popularity with a wide range of people. Celebrities use it for weight management, high-level executives experiment with it to improve mental clarity, and athletes try it to enhance performance in events like the Tour de France. Originally used to treat patients with neurologic disorders and for brain health , ketogenic diets are one of the oldest therapeutic diets around.The benefits of ketogenic diets and low-carbohydrate diets extend past patients with neurologic issues as theyve also shown impressive benefits for a variety of metabolic issues including weight loss . As a result, this has piqued the interest of people looking for an effective and sustainable diet.One of the most crucial parts for long-term success with these types of diets is getting into ketosis (the fat-burning zone) the right way .These are some key points to remember along the way The most important of which is to eat the right food.Download our Master Keto Food List with 100+ keto foods mapped out for you! Macros are short for macronutrients, the nutrients that your body can use for energy.Macros consist of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins.Macronutrients make up the calories we consume 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories, while protein and carbohydrates each contain 4 calories per gram. In order to achieve nutritional ketosis through dieting, you must be within a specific macronutrient range. Even for a non-ketogenic, low-carbohydrate diet, having an idea of your macronutrient range is beneficial because excess protein can be converted to glucose. Fortunately for many individuals, as the low-carbohydrate diet becomes more of a lifestyle, theyre able to rely less on strict macronutrient counting and can go more off in Continue reading >>

Diabetes & Ketogenic Diet: Can You Manage Your Diabetes On A Ketogenic Diet?

In this article we will cover what a Ketogenic diet is and if you can manage your diabetes while on this diet. Ketogenic diet for diabetics is a highly controversial topic, but we will break down everything here for you! As a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE), I have to tell you from the start I will have a biased view here. Sorry, but I feel that I need to be completely honest right up front! I will however, present all the evidence that is available currently on the subject. As a CDE, I have been taught to follow the American Diabetes Association Dietary Guidelines for Americans which is low in carbohydrates, high in fiber, with fresh vegetables, fruits and whole grains. The Ketogenic Diet this article will be discussing is much lower in carbohydrates, in order to promote the state of nutritional ketosis, or the fat burning state for weight loss. What is a Ketogenic Diet? The Ketogenic Diet is a low carbohydrate diet, consisting initially of less than 20 carbohydrates per day. Not per meal, yes, you heard me correctly, per day. It is not for the faint of heart and yes I am writing from experience. Of course I have tried it! Hasn’t everybody in America at some point who has wanted to lose weight? Does it work you ask? Of course it does! The problem is how long can you keep it up? Your body uses the carbohydrates you eat for energy, so if we restrict how many carbohydrates we eat, the body has to get its fuel source from fat. A byproduct of this fat burning state are ketones which are produced; this is called nutritional ketosis. You can determine if you are in this fat burning state by purchasing urine ketone testing strips from your local pharmacy. The Ketogenic Diet with Diabetes Some precautions must be made clear; this diet is not appropriate for people with any Continue reading >>