The ketogenic diet is a low carb, moderate protein, and high fat diet which puts the body into a metabolic state known as ketosis.
When your body is in a state of ketosis, the liver produces ketones which become the main energy source for the body.
The ketogenic diet is also referred to as keto (key-toe) diet, low carb diet, and low carb high fat (LCHF).
What Is a Ketogenic Diet?
As already mentioned the ketogenic diet is a low-carb, moderate protein, and high fat diet.
However, what does that mean? Do you sit around drink lard and chewing on jerky all day?
Not at all. In fact, there are so many awesome keto recipes that you'll find yourself wondering what's the difference between the ketogenic diet and just eating normally.
Essentially, with keto, you're cutting out the carbs. That means you're losing breads, pasta and rice in the traditional sense. There are subsitutions to all of these that absolutely rock.
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For example, check out these keto breads. They look amazing!
When you're able to drastically reduce the amount of carbs you bring into your body and replace it with fat, it helps to put your body into a state of ketosis.
But why is it important to reduce the carbs?
Fat Burner vs Sugar Burner
Because it completely reverses how your body functions (in a good way) along with changing how you view nutrition.
It's based around the premise that your body was designed to run more efficiently as a fat burner than a sugar burner.
When you eat something that is high in carbs (that yummy donut), your body will produce glucose and insulin.
• Glucose is the easiest molecule for your body to convert and use as energy so that is why it's the preferred energy source for your body.
• Insulin is produced to process the glucose in your bloodstream by transporting it around your body.
This sounds pretty efficient, right? The problem with this is that when glucose is used as a primary energy source, fats are not needed for energy and therefore are stored.
With the average person's diet, glucose is the main energy source.
This initially doesn't seem like a problem until you realize that the body can't store that much glucose. This becomes an issue for you because the extra glucose gets converted into fat which is then stored.
Because your body uses glucose as it's main energy source the glucose that is converted into fat doesn't get used.
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When your body runs out of glucose it tells your brain you need more so you end up reaching for a quick snack like a candy bar or some chips.
You can begin to see how this cycle leads to building up a body that you don't really want.
So what's the alternative?
Become a fat burner instead of a sugar burner.
When you lower your intake of carbs, the body begins to look for an alternative energy source and your body enters a metabolic state known as ketosis.
Ketosis is a natural process and makes perfect sense when you think about the human body.
You've probably heard of the fact that you can go weeks without food but only a couple of days without water.
The reason for this is ketosis. Most people, for better or for worse, have enough fat stored on them to fuel their body for a while.
When your body is in a state of ketosis, it produces ketones. Ketones occur from the breakdown of fat in the liver.
You might be thinking why isn't the body constantly breakdown fats in the liver? Well, when your body is producing insulin, the insulin prevents the fat cells from entering the bloodstream so they stay stored in the body.
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When you lower your carb intake, glucose levels, along with blood sugar levels, drop which in turn lowers insulin levels.
This allows the fat cells to release the water they are storing (it's why you first see a drop in water weight) and then the fat cells are able to enter the bloodstream and head to the liver.
This is the end goal of the keto diet. You don't enter ketosis by starving your body. You enter ketosis by starving your body of carbohydrates.
When your body is producing optimal ketone levels you begin to notice many healh, weight loss, physical and mental performance benefits.
All of these benefits are why we help people with the ketogenic diet in our Keto Bootstrap program.
Benefits of a Ketogenic Diet
When people say that the keto diet changed their life they are not exaggerating.
When you decide to switch over to the ketogenic diet, you quickly realize that it is more than just a diet.
It's a completely new lifestyle that offers numerous benefits.
Weight Loss
Most people look into a specific diet to lose weight and the keto diet is one of the most effective ways to lose weight in a healthy manner.
Because the ketogenic diet is using body fat as an energy source, your body will begin to burn the unwanted fat causing obvious weight loss benefits.
On keto, your insulin (the fat storing hormone) levels drop which allows your fat cells to travel to the liver and get converted into ketones.
Your body effectively becomes a fat burning machine.
Control Blood Sugar
Unfortunately, many people suffer from diabetes which is caused by your body's inability to handle insulin.
Keto naturally lowers blood sugar levels due to not eating as many carbs so your body can't produce glucose.
Keto has been shown to have huge benefits for people that are pre-diabetic or have Type II diabetes.
Because the ketogenic diet helps you to maintain more consistent blood sugar levels you find that you have more control of your everyday life while on keto.
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Mental Focus
This is one of those benefits that has to be experienced.
You can't understand how cloudy carbs make your thinking until you can ween yourself off of them.
When on the ketogenic diet you experience increased mental performance.
In fact, many people partake in keto simply for this reason.
The reason why you experience an increase in mental performance is that ketones are a great fuel source for your brain.
The increase in fatty acids has a huge impact in brain function.
Increase in Energy
You've already learned that keto helps your body turn fat into an energy source.
But, did you know that this helps to increase your energy levels?
Because your body can only store so much glucose, when it runs out it means your body has run out of fuel (energy) and it needs more.
Carbs also cause spikes in blood sugar levels and when those levels drop you experience a crash.
Keto helps to provide your body with a more reliable energy source allowing you to feel more energized throughout the day.
Better Appetite Control
When eating a diet that is heavy in carbs you can often find yourself hungry a lot sooner than you expected after eating a meal.
Because fats are more naturally satisfying they end up leaving our bodies in a satiated state for much longer.
That means no more random cravings along with feeling like you're going to collapse if you don't get something in you immediately.
Epilepsy
Keto has been used to treat epilepsy since the early 1900s. It's still one of the most widely used treatments for children suffering from uncontrolled epilepsy today.
A big benefit of the ketogenic diet for people that suffer from epilepsy is that it allows them to take fewer medications which is always a good thing.
Cholesterol & Blood Pressure
The ketogenic diet has been shown to improve triglyceride levels and cholesterol levels.
The benefit?
Less toxic buildup in the arteries allowing blood to flow throughout your body as it should.
Low carb, high fat diets show a dramatic increase in HDL (good cholesterol) and a decrease in LDL (bad cholesterol).
Studies have shown that low-carb diets show better improvement in blood pressure over other diets.
Because some blood pressure issues are associated with excess weight, the keto diet is an obvious warrior against these issues due to its natural weight loss.
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