What exactly is Ketosis and would this type of diet be the right one for you?
A lot of people are confused by the term "Ketosis" and feel that it is not normal. Ketosis is what happens when your body burns fat and not sugar for energy as a result of following a Ketosis diet or because you have insufficient levels of glucose available for energy at the time. If ketones are not used they are excreted through the liver and the urine. Please do not confuse this type of diet with the condition called Ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis is a dangerous condition that you can have when being diagnosed with Type I diabetes because insulin is not available to get into the cells of the body. Ketoacidosis produces ketones far above the normal levels of metabolic ketosis.
When your body burns fat for energy it is not using glucose. To encourage the production of ketones you must have a low amount of insulin in your blood for this to work. People on this type of diet are consuming low amounts of carbohydrates, moderate protein and high fats. They usually keep their carbohydrates to around 20g per day (but this all depends on your body's BMR and BMI). The protein is also kept to a minimum because you can produce insulin from protein.
You would need to consume no fruit but you could consume small amounts of fruit low in sugar like berries. Also no starches so potatoes, bread, rice etc and no desserts or chocolate, anything with sugar. You also need to avoid grains and gluten and wheat. You can eat foods high in fat such as butter, coconut milk, coconut oil just to name a few. If you need to use sweeteners then the best type would be a Swerve sweetener.
When our body breaks down fat for energy, some of it is converted straightaway to ATP and ketones are also produced. The ketones are energy molecules in the blood. Our brain uses fat for fuel and actually prefers fat to glucose. When you have large amounts of ketones in your blood this means you are keto adapted. When you are in ketosis you will have more energy which lasts longer than if you burned sugar for energy. You can store ketones in your body for future use just like you can store glucose for future use. When you burn fat for fuel this causes less oxidative damage to your cells so your cells can produce much more energy than it can from glucose.
So who could benefit from this type of diet? People who cannot tolerate a lot of sugar such as diabetics and for people who are struggling to lose weight or have lost weight and are struggling with losing some extra pounds, this diet can give you mental clarity, reverse resistance of leptin and insulin and starve cancer cells. This type of diet can also help with joint pain, epilepsy, Parkinsons and Alzheimers. It can be very effective in reversing many types of health problems.
Here is an example of what you could eat for breakfast following a keto adapted diet -
Heat up some coconut oil, crack in 2 to 3 eggs and break up the yolks. When cooked enough, flip the eggs over to cook on the other side. Serve with some grated cheese and some whipped up heavy cream or sour cream.
