What is Ketogenic Diet?
The ketogenic approach to health has been getting an increasing amount of traction in the past few years. This low carbohydrate and high fat diet helps shift the body to use fat rather then sugar for energy. Fat burning is just one of the many benefits of ketosis that improves overall health and makes it an effective tool for weight loss.
In the early 1920s the ketogenic diet was the main treatment for epilepsy and was incredibly effective. Nowadays this approach has regained popularity in the light of new science, showing its efficacy in not only in treating epilepsy but improving many conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, polycystic ovary syndrome, and even cancer. It has also been shown to help increase overall health and well-being and improve mental and physical performance.
The ketogenic diet promotes and maintains ketosis.
Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body uses fat rather than glucose from carbohydrates as its primary source of energy.
To achieve ketosis, you stop supplying your body with carbs and sugar. This depletes your stored glucose — also known as glycogen — and your blood sugar and insulin levels decrease. Your body starts to look for an alternate source of fuel (fat), releases it and burns it for energy.
Hence, weight loss on keto.
Because of the decrease of glucose and increase in the metabolism of fat, ketosis has a ton of benefits — its unique ability to induce weight loss is just one of them. Many people use ketosis as a treatment for epilepsy, diabetes and even cancer.
When your body burns fat, it produces ketones. Without ketones, you’re not in ketosis. Therefore, the ketogenic diet’s sole purpose is to aid and promote ketone production.
What are Ketones?
Ketones are the metabolic fuel produced when your body shifts into fat-burning mode.
Glucose and ketones are the only energy sources used by the brain. Think of ketones as the auxiliary power source of your body.
Before the advent of agriculture, when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, they fasted regularly. When food was scarce, they didn’t have a choice but to wait for an opportune time to hunt for food and cook it.
They had a very low intake of carbs and protein and thus were unintentionally running on ketones. Converting stored fat into energy is hardwired for our survival and a natural part of human existence.
Benefits of Ketones
The benefits of ketones come from your body burning fat for fuel and the lowered glucose and insulin in your blood.
Benefits include:
- Body fat burning
- Mental clarity and increased cognition
- Improved physical energy
- No feeling of deprivation because you experience less hunger
- Steady blood sugar levels from little to no intake of refined carbs
- Skin improvements in those with acne
- Improved triglyceride and cholesterol ratios
- Hormone regulation — women who go on keto report less severe symptoms of PMS
Aside from the therapeutic benefits of ketones, many people fall in love with keto because of the way it makes them feel both mentally and physically.
MORE INFORMATION
Ketone bodies mimic the life span extending properties of caloric restriction (2017)
Diet ‘reverses diabetes in just 10 weeks’, claims new study (2017)
Ketogenic Diet & Metabolic Syndrome (Abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure) (2015)
Ketone bodies protect against oxidative stress in neocortical neurons (2007)
“Ketones are an efficient and effective fuel for human physiology without increasing the production of damaging free radicals. Ketosis allows a person to experience nonfluctuating energy throughout the day as well as enhanced brain function and possibly resistance to malignancy. “