The Perks Of Fasting, With None Of The Work
“If there’s a downside, it is kind of crazy tasting,” said Geoff Woo, the founder of HVMN, a Silicon Valley company that makes nootropics, or performance-enhancing supplements. We were in a conference room in The Atlantic’s office building, and he was bracing me for my trial run of his latest product. It was a small, clear vial labeled “Ketone,” a new type of energy drink his company is releasing this week. Its nutrition label says it contains 120 calories, but no carbs, no fat, and no protein. Instead, it’s all ketones, the chemical that Woo and his company are calling a “fourth food group.” He hopes the drink will allow people to reap the benefits of occasional fasting—high ketone levels inside the body—without actually having to not eat. I unscrewed the top and, college-days muscle memory kicking in, chugged it like a shot of Captain Morgan. It tasted like cough syrup that had been poured into a garbage bag and left in the sun. “Augh!” I cried. “I compare it to a combination of a liquor shot with nail-polish remover,” Woo said. Woo’s coworker, Brianna Stubbs, went to fetch me a glass of water. “We’ve done a lot of work to make it better,” she said. Within an hour, the drink was supposed to help improve my athletic performance by changing how my body burned energy during exercise. Some people also say it helps them feel more energetic and focused on their work. About 25 minutes after I drank Ketone, Woo and Stubbs pricked my finger to see if it was working. My blood sugar, which had verged on diabetic levels from some pineapple I had eaten that morning, was down to near-normal levels. Meanwhile, my ketones, which had been practically nonexistent before imbibing—measuring just 0.2 millimolar—had soared to 4.9. “It would have 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 >>
Juice Fasting For Ketosis
Ketosis — when your body burns primarily fat for fuels — requires a very low dietary carbohydrate intake. A juice fast requires you to consume practically nothing but carbohydrates. A ketogenic diet, such as Atkins or other forms of low-carbohydrate diets, remains completely incompatible with any juice-based diet. If you wish to lose fat, you must select one or the other. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any dietary program. Video of the Day Your body can run on several types of fuel: amino acids, sugar and fat. When your body burns primarily fat, or free-floating fatty acids called ketones, you are in dietary ketosis. To achieve this, you must severely restrict your intake of all non-fibrous carbohydrates. Exercise will allow you to further deplete your glycogen reserves; over time, your body will shift from running on sugar to running primarily on ketones. Sugar and Ketosis If you consume sugar while in ketosis, you will shift back into burning glycogen or sugar. It will take time to achieve ketosis again. The volume of carbohydrates that you consume will have the most bearing on this; however, consuming carbohydrates and fat together is even worse. This is because your body will generate a great deal of insulin in response and you will continue to run on glycogen while your body stores the fat you just ate. While juice contains no fat, it usually contains fructose. The juice may be predominantly fructose, depending on its type. Fructose is ordinarily a good energy source, largely due to its limited ability to cause a large spike in insulin levels; however, it is far less than ideal if you wish to remain in ketosis. Unlike many other types of sugars, fructose is broken down primarily in the liver. While your body is metabolizing fructose, your a Continue reading >>
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 >>
Studies In The Ketosis Of Fasting*
Abstract A series of experiments was performed during the induction of starvation ketosis and in the acute reversal of the ketotic state. In contrast to the predictions of two widely held theories of ketogenesis, control of acetoacetate production by the liver appeared to be unrelated to changes in fatty acid mobilization from the periphery, fatty acid oxidation, fatty acid synthesis, or the acetyl coenzyme A concentration in the liver. Ketosis of fasting was shown to be reversible within 5 minutes by the injection of glucose or insulin. This effect was due to a prompt cessation of acetoacetate production by the liver. The possibility is raised that the ketosis of fasting is due to a direct activation of acetoacetate-synthesizing enzymes secondary to a starvation-induced depression of insulin secretion by the pancreas. Full text Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version. Get a printable copy (PDF file) of the complete article (2.2M), or click on a page image below to browse page by page. Links to PubMed are also available for Selected References. These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article. Continue reading >>
Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting: Lose Fat, Build Muscle, Stay Focused & Feel Great
If you want to lose fat and improve your health as fast as possible, without feeling mentally slow, it’s hard to beat Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting. Here’s an overview of the protocol, which I lay out in more detail in my new NYT bestseller The Bulletproof Diet. Plain intermittent fasting has become popular in biohacker circles because it shows tremendous promise for fat loss, preventing cancer, building muscle, and increasing resilience. The most popular site that covers plain intermittent fasting is Leangains.com. It’s totally worth a visit. The basic idea behind plain intermittent fasting is to eat all of your daily food in a shortened period (8 hours in the case of Lean Gains) and fast the rest of the time. For reasons we will get into below, this tells your body to simultaneously build muscle and burn fat. It really works. The problem is not everyone does well with fasting. If you’re a busy entrepreneur or even a student who needs to be in a high performance state all day, dealing with hunger can be a distraction. It’s much worse for those with an impaired metabolism (i.e. the people who need to lose weight). If you have more than 30 pounds of extra fat or if you’re facing diabetes, it can be hard to skip meals and still get things done. As explained in The Bulletproof Diet book, Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting is an easy biohack that changes that and makes it possible to lose fat and build muscle faster than plain intermittent fasting… without feeling hungry or tired. Introducing Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting Bulletproof Fasting is the same as intermittent fasting, except you consume a cup of Bulletproof Coffee in the morning. The healthy fats from grass-fed butter and Brain Octane Oil give you a stable current of energy that sustains you thro Continue reading >>
Ketosis
Not to be confused with Ketoacidosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state in which some of the body's energy supply comes from ketone bodies in the blood, in contrast to a state of glycolysis in which blood glucose provides energy. Ketosis is a result of metabolizing fat to provide energy. Ketosis is a nutritional process characterised by serum concentrations of ketone bodies over 0.5 mM, with low and stable levels of insulin and blood glucose.[1][2] It is almost always generalized with hyperketonemia, that is, an elevated level of ketone bodies in the blood throughout the body. Ketone bodies are formed by ketogenesis when liver glycogen stores are depleted (or from metabolising medium-chain triglycerides[3]). The main ketone bodies used for energy are acetoacetate and β-hydroxybutyrate,[4] and the levels of ketone bodies are regulated mainly by insulin and glucagon.[5] Most cells in the body can use both glucose and ketone bodies for fuel, and during ketosis, free fatty acids and glucose synthesis (gluconeogenesis) fuel the remainder. Longer-term ketosis may result from fasting or staying on a low-carbohydrate diet (ketogenic diet), and deliberately induced ketosis serves as a medical intervention for various conditions, such as intractable epilepsy, and the various types of diabetes.[6] In glycolysis, higher levels of insulin promote storage of body fat and block release of fat from adipose tissues, while in ketosis, fat reserves are readily released and consumed.[5][7] For this reason, ketosis is sometimes referred to as the body's "fat burning" mode.[8] Ketosis and ketoacidosis are similar, but ketoacidosis is an acute life-threatening state requiring prompt medical intervention while ketosis can be physiological. However, there are situations (such as treatment-resistant Continue reading >>
Intermittent Fasting On A Keto Diet
Intermittent Fasting, or “IF”, is a relatively new craze that is used as a supplement to your diet. It revolves around the timing of your food intake, and can have some benefits in the long run. There are quite a few people misinformed on fasting, so we’ll clear that up and explain how intermittent fasting can be useful. On your ketogenic journey, it’s important to know that your success is not only dictated by eating enough fat and protein and restricting carbs. When you eat, how often you eat, and how much you eat have a substantial impact on your health and function as well. If your results have plateaued or you are thinking of starting a ketogenic diet, this article will provide you with a way to lose more fat and improve energy levels called intermittent fasting. If you need to learn how to calculate your macros, visit our Keto Calculator. Fasting isn’t required to lose weight on a ketogenic diet. If it doesn’t work for you, then do not force yourself to fast. Restricting yourself unrealistically is pointless – it’s not worth it if it makes you unhappy. There are 2 basic terms we need to understand here first: feeding and fasting. Your body is in a feeding state when you are eating your food, and you are in a fasting state when you are between your meals. The Approach Skipped meals. This is when you skip over a meal to induce extra time of fasting. Usually people choose breakfast, but others prefer to skip lunch. Eating windows. Usually this condenses your entire macronutrient intake between a 4 and 7 hour window. The rest of the time you are in a fasting state. 24-48 hour cleanse. This is where you go into extended fasting periods, and do not eat for 1-2 days. I don’t recommend that you go straight for a 1-2 day fast, but begin by restricting you Continue reading >>
Complete Guide To Intermittent Fasting
Before I gave up grains, sugar and other foods which I used to believe were healthy (or at least not harmful), I had breakfast every single day. At least that's what all kinds of TV ads were claiming, promoting whole grains and cereals and other "healthy" breakfast options often loaded with sugar. Just the thought of skipping a meal made me feel guilty. Doing a full day fast seemed unnecessary and impossible to follow. But all this has just been part of the big high-carb, low-fat campaign. Myth #1: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As you will learn in this post, nothing can be further from the truth. I rarely eat breakfast - that's the meal I skip almost every day. Myth #2: You have to eat regularly, ideally 5 small meals a day. Once you get keto-adapted and not depended on glucose, this will change. Since your insulin levels will not spike, you won't have the need to eat regularly or in small portions (apart from diabetics which I discuss later in this post). Myth #3: You need to eat most of your carbs for breakfast because that's when your body uses them most effectively. You should try to eat your carbs throughout the day and not just in one meal. Furthermore, since our body is in fat-burning state in the morning, eating carbs in the second half of the day is more beneficial for weight loss. Myth #4: Never exercise on an empty stomach. It's bad for your performance and you'll lose muscles instead of body fat. As described below, for most people Intermittent Fasting is ideal for maximising the benefits of exercise for several reasons. What is Intermittent Fasting (IF)? Compared to calorie restriction, IF is not restricted in calories - it simply limits your eating windows to just a few hours a day. In effect, you usually fast for 14-20 hours or even up Continue reading >>
Ketogenic Dieting And Intermittent Fasting – It Really Works!
I’ve been combining ketogenic dieting and intermittent fasting for quite some time now. Two weeks ago a colleague of mine, who is trying to lose weight herself, put me up to a challenge. Starting on Friday the 15th of January, we both had until Friday the 19th of February to lose as much weight as possible and whoever has lost the most by then wins $50. The rules are: Weight loss must be safe, ie. healthy eating, low calories and moderate exercise. No going days on end without food and trying to exercise for hours every day. If neither of us lose at least 5kg by the end date, neither of us win. Important afternote: I ended the challenge losing a whopping 7.2kg (15.8 lb) of FAT (a total loss of over 10kg when counting the initial 3kg of water weight lost before starting the competition). I did this entirely through ketosis fasting. Read on if you want to lose weight as fast and easily as I did! My Secret Weapon As I have a trip to Japan coming up shortly after the end date and had wanted to lose a lot of weight before then anyway (I gained 5kg in 3 weeks last time I was in Japan!), I accepted the challenge. We’re now 2 weeks and 1 day into the challenge and I’d like to share my results, as well as some weight loss tips I’ve learnt in these short 2 weeks. Ketogenic Dieting and Intermittent Fasting really works! Of all the people in the world, it was my gastro-enterologist who introduced me to “the 5-2 diet“. For those who don’t know what the 5-2 diet is, it’s basically a form of intermittent fasting where you eat normally for 5 days, and eat 1/4 of your usual target daily energy expenditure on 2 days. Using the TDEE calculator I just linked, I found that for weight maintenance (neither losing nor gaining weight) I would need to consume (note: consume. Not Continue reading >>
How To Get Into Ketosis Fast | (7 Keto Hacks) To Enter Ketosis Quickly
How To Get Into Ketosis Fast The biggest question I get is how to get into ketosis fast? When I first started my ketogenic lifestyle two years ago, I was just trying to lose weight “period”. I didn’t understand being in a state of nutritional ketosis let alone being fat adapted. For those reasons, I failed miserably trying different types of the ketogenic diet like CKD (Cyclic Keto Diet). It was painful eating low carb during the week because all I could think about was refeeding on the weekend. Was it because I was doing it wrong? Or maybe I shouldn’t be doing it at all…Hmmm It seemed like every Monday and Tuesday I was experiencing keto flu all over again…lol… It was horrible repeating that week after week. Basically, if I was reaching ketosis by the end of the week, I was kicking myself out of it come the weekend! But like I said, I didn’t understand what ketosis was at the beginning stages so I had to learn the hard way. So I’m grateful you found this as I want to inspire you to give your all… Sorry about the rant… Let’s get down to the Dirty! When you’re in a state of ketosis your liver oxidizes fat into energy molecules that the brain then utilizes as fuel. To be in ketosis you have to be producing 0.5 mmol/L – 5.0 mmol/L of ketones which you can test using a glucometer. Below I’m going to give you some tips that have helped people that I’ve worked with get into ketosis fast. Get to Bed Early Sleep is the most important factor on a ketogenic diet because this is when the body produces the most ketones. Basically, you body repairs at night from releasing growth hormones. Here are a few reasons to get to sleep on time… 1: You don’t want high cortisol levels at night because it can cause an inflammatory state and spike your glucose Continue reading >>
How To Get Into Ketosis In Less Than 3 Days
Do you need to get into ketosis super fast? Don't think you can handle the deprivation and hunger of a water fast? The good news is that you don't have to. You can rev up your metabolism, escape hunger, and be on your way to fat burning in one or two days! All it takes is a ketogenic diet that is lower in carbs than standard keto. This will cut your cravings to the bone and switch you from a glucose burning metabolism to burning fat faster than anything else! Ketogenic diets work by reducing basal insulin levels, lowering blood triglycerides, and setting up conditions that will move you into the state of nutritional ketosis. Getting into ketosis is important because when the body produces ketones, your hunger level goes down, your energy goes up, and you experience a state of well-being. All of these benefits will make it easier for you to stick to your low-carb diet plan. On a typical keto diet, it takes 3 to 5 days to enter into the state of ketosis. But how quickly you do that depends on how many carbohydrates you were eating per day before you started restricting them. In addition, if you're looking for the urine testing strips to change colors right now, that only occurs once ketosis is well under way. Most low-carb diets start you off at 20 to 30 net carbs. Atkins 20 and the Reddit version of Keto begin at 20 net carbs, and the Protein Power Lifeplan begins at 30. These amounts are low enough to get the job done within a few days. If you're coming from a carb-heavy diet, it might take a little longer to switch metabolic pathways than if you're merely switching from a low-calorie plan to Atkins, Keto, or LCHF. However, there is a much quicker method that you can use right now instead of these standard Keto diets. The quick-start method I'm going to share with you i Continue reading >>
Ketosis
There is a lot of confusion about the term ketosis among medical professionals as well as laypeople. It is important to understand when and why nutritional ketosis occurs, and why it should not be confused with the metabolic disorder we call ketoacidosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state where the liver produces small organic molecules called ketone bodies. Most cells in the body can use ketone bodies as a source of energy. When there is a limited supply of external energy sources, such as during prolonged fasting or carbohydrate restriction, ketone bodies can provide energy for most organs. In this situation, ketosis can be regarded as a reasonable, adaptive physiologic response that is essential for life, enabling us to survive periods of famine. Nutritional ketosis should not be confused with ketoacidosis, a metabolic condition where the blood becomes acidic as a result of the accumulation of ketone bodies. Ketoacidosis can have serious consequences and may need urgent medical treatment. The most common forms are diabetic ketoacidosis and alcoholic ketoacidosis. What Is Ketosis? The human body can be regarded as a biologic machine. Machines need energy to operate. Some use gasoline, others use electricity, and some use other power resources. Glucose is the primary fuel for most cells and organs in the body. To obtain energy, cells must take up glucose from the blood. Once glucose enters the cells, a series of metabolic reactions break it down into carbon dioxide and water, releasing energy in the process. The body has an ability to store excess glucose in the form of glycogen. In this way, energy can be stored for later use. Glycogen consists of long chains of glucose molecules and is primarily found in the liver and skeletal muscle. Liver glycogen stores are used to mai Continue reading >>
7 Tips To Get Into Ketosis
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 (1, 2). Emerging research suggests that ketosis may also be helpful for type 2 diabetes and neurological disorders, among other conditions (3, 4). 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. 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 (5, 6). 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 day for two weeks to guarantee that ketosis is achieved. After this point, s Continue reading >>
Autophagy: The Real Way To Cleanse Your Body
For the last time, forget juice cleanses and detox diets. They’re fluffy nonsense words. While there’s probably nothing wrong with drinking your weight in liquid kale, it won’t flush out toxins any faster than if you were eating, you know, actual food. The good news: There's a little-known way your body does cleanse itself, and it’s a process that you can control. All you need to do is practice a little self-cannibalism. What? Yes, you can actually train your body to eat itself—and believe it or not, you want it to. It's a natural process called autophagy (literally “self-eating”), and it’s the body’s system of cleaning house: Your cells create membranes that hunt out scraps of dead, diseased, or worn-out cells; gobble them up; strip ’em for parts; and use the resulting molecules for energy or to make new cell parts. “Think of it as our body’s innate recycling program,” says Colin Champ, M.D., a board-certified radiation oncologist, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and author of Misguided Medicine. “Autophagy makes us more efficient machines to get rid of faulty parts, stop cancerous growths, and stop metabolic dysfunction like obesity and diabetes.” There’s also evidence that the process plays a hand in controlling inflammation and immunity. When scientists engineer rats that are incapable of autophagy, they’re fatter, sleepier, and have higher cholesterol and impaired brains. To sum it up, autophagy is key to slowing the aging process. And you can learn how to do it better. 3 Ways to Self-Destruct "So how do I eat myself?” is a question you probably haven’t asked before, but we’re about to tell you. First of all, autophagy is a response to stress, so you’re actually going to want to put your Continue reading >>
