Hi! Our official blog launch will be the announcement of a campaign for the Ketogenic community but for now I wanted to cover a basic intro to what Keto is. It’s commonly used as a weight loss tool but it is much more than that.
If you’re interested in beginning a ketogenic diet please speak with your medical practitioners first and do lots of research! Example why: keto diet is NOT recommended for people with Type 1 Diabetes so make sure your body is able to handle anything new you’re thinking of introducing to it.
I will include a lot of links and articles here and continue to do so but knowledge is power and I implore you to learn as much as you can.
Without further ado, here’s some Q&A basics from my personal experience:
(Last Updated: 04/26/16)
What’s Keto?
Keto is short for Ketogenic diet, which is based upon the principle of keeping your body in a constant state of ketosis.
What’s Ketosis?
Your body runs on the energy you give it through the food you eat (duh). Your body will either run on sugar energy or fat energy. If you burn through your body’s sugar energy supply, it will switch to burning fat instead. When your body burns fat for energy, you’re in ketosis. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.
There are plenty of studies that show that the body runs cleaner on fat than it does on sugar (glucose/gycogen). It also reportedly helps and sometimes eliminates the issues that come with having excess sugar in your system (weight gain, diabetes, allergies, development of other illness such as autoimmune diseases). Many people lose weight this way (frequently it’s rapidly) and use this diet as a weight loss tool, but there are a plethora of other health benefits reported too.
So what’s going on in my body?
Your body is utilizing fat and converting it into energy to make your body run. Your body doesn’t have enough sugar (glucose) to utilize it as its energy source. Excess sugar is not being stored (as fat) and running through your system/blood as much as it would if you were consuming more foods that break down into glucose (sugar, carbs). Your body is also making ketones.
Yeah, it looks something like this.
So I tried low carb for (4 days) (1 day) (3 minutes) and I wanted to destroy everyone in my path and also eat New York’s entire supply of pizza what’s up with that?
Your body craves carbs because it’s used to running on sugar and is spazzing out that you’re not giving it what it wants. This where most people quit. Don’t! This doesn’t last forever. Once your body switches to ketosis your sugar cravings will be gone. Seriously. As long as you stay in ketosis. So don’t cheat. Or else you’ll kick yourself out of ketosis and go back to burning sugar and that will really suck.
Heads up! There will be a detox period that I’m not sure why isn’t more widely discussed. I will do a post on this because it’s a very important topic! Many people also quit on this diet because they begin to feel ill in many different ways. This is your body detoxing and transitioning. Keep going. It is not going to last forever but you have to push through it. And make sure you’re getting enough electrolytes. Once its over, you will feel like sunshine and puppies and melted Velveeta cheese. This isn’t unique to this particular diet. Anytime you clean out your system you will have a period of Herxheimer Reaction. Read up on it!
So who should consider this diet?
Many groups of awesome people have found success and remission from their dietary/body issues and/or illnesses by utilizing a ketogenic diet. Here are some of the issues reported to be resolved:
- Weight loss, inability to lose weight, weight gain, inability to gain weight
- Allergy symptoms and inflammatory symptoms that are caused by grains and/or sugar consumption
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Skin ailments such as Rosacea, Eczema, Acne, cysts, darkening of elbows and neck (Acanthosis nigricans)
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), Celiac Disease, Gastrointestinal diseases and distress
- Over abundance of yeast (feeds off sugar) in the system such as Candida (in the digestive tract), Yeast infections, Fungal infections
- Bodybuilding, Muscle growth
- Sugar addiction / Carb addiction
- Pre-Diabetes, Insulin Resistance
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Metabolic disorders, Thyroid issues
- Autoimmune disorders such as Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia
- Neurological Disorders such as Epilepsy (especially in children), Schizophrenia and Alzheimers
- Cancer, polyps
- Infertility, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), Reproductive system issues
Isn’t fat bad for you? Doesn’t eating fat make you fat? Clog your arteries? Do bad things to you that make you regret last Friday night and question your life choices?
Nope. This is also a destroyed myth. Just like sugar, fat is not stored as fat in your body unless you eat more fat calories than you are able to burn off. Fat is essential to the human body and nourishes and fuels every cell. And it takes longer to break down in your system than sugar. Which is why you feel satiated longer when you eat fat.
Wait so what you’re telling me is %^@$ lettuce. Bacon life all day everyday?
Nah you still have to eat your vegetables. In fact they should make up a significant part of what you’re eating no matter what diet you choose. This is a common myth that can be very harmful and makes the keto community look bad. Human bodies were made to run on plants, too. Fiber, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, magical deliciousness—all these things are derived from eating a variety of vegetables. Just make sure you’re always consuming fats.
So if you don’t eat meat you can’t do this—
Nope. I’m a vegetarian. There are keto vegans as well. If anything being keto allows you to focus MORE on consuming nutritious foods and vegetables and consuming a more colorful diet because you are eliminating starches and grains which would otherwise make up a bulk of your meal. I eat tons of different foods and I always feel satisfied. I don’t remember the last time I felt hungry.
So what do I have to do?
Keep your total daily carb/sugar intake under 40g. Some do and suggest lower depending on individual needs/metabolism. I do 20.
Get 70% of your calories from fat, 25% from protein and 5% from carbs/sugar. Keep your protein intake moderate unless you’re bodybuilding. Don’t go crazy. Too much protein will also spike your insulin and kick you out of ketosis.
Eat lots of greens, fibrous, low-carb vegetables, a moderate amount of low-carb nuts, beans and seeds and most importantly, good fats derived from sources such as (low-carb) dairy, meat, fish and healthy oils. You’ll know you’re eating enough fat because you’ll feel full and satisfied and not hungry. Done.
What else do I have to do?
Stay up on your electrolytes. Magnesium. Sodium(salt). Potassium. Make sure you have them every day. They are depleted more often on this diet. And drink tons of water. Try to chill out on the caffeine. Yeah, it messes with your metabolism too.
All of this is obviously more complicated than the short answers I gave above, but we will dive into it all through future posts. Also, please look through the resources tab and check out the other sites listed there!
Here are some sites that do a great and thorough job at explaining all this as well:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/the-fat-fueled-brain-unnatural-or-advantageous/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/01/31/high-fat-low-carb-diet-benefits.aspx
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/keto_in_a_nutshell
http://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2014/06/24/Practical-Guide-to-Keto-Paleo-Diet-for-Health-and-Long-Term-Weight-Loss
http://ultimatepaleoguide.com/ultimate-beginners-guide-keto-diet/
http://josepharcita.blogspot.com/2011/03/guide-to-ketosis.html
http://paleoleap.com/paleo-guide-to-ketosis/
And if Godzilla can do it so can you (train cars have zero carbs).
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