What’s the buzz about the Ketogenic Diet?
Several years ago, my friend posted her before and after photos in her feed. She lost 42 lbs in 4 months! A whopping 42-lb-weight loss! And because I, too, want that, I sent her a message and she replied back with a 4 letter word. KETO.
I have heard about Ketosis but never knew of the Ketogenic Diet. I have always thought that ketones in your blood were bad because that’s what we measure when the blood glucose is really high.
If your sugar is high, you produce more ketones which can lead to ketoacidosis, which can be life-threatening.
But my friend’s photo was constantly nagging my subconscious, so I know I have to do something. I have to do my own research. It might work. This might work on me.
What is Ketogenic Diet?
Ketogenic diet , ‘Keto’, Low Carb Diet, as others will call it, is a high fat, moderate protein and low carbohydrate diet. This is basically cutting your carbs and upping your fat intake. This will enable your body to use fat as the source of energy rather than the glucose.
When we talk about our body physiology, if we have high intake of carbohydrates, our body will break this down into simple sugars called glucose. This will be the primary source of energy and more glucose will then lead on the production of more insulin.
Insulin, produced in the pancreas, is the hormone that lowers your blood sugar and also promotes fat storage. Since glucose is being used by the body as the source of fuel, fats are not being utilised and then being stored.
In Keto diet, since there is a very low intake of carbohydrate, the body will burn fats and ketones are the by product when your liver metabolises fats.
The known benefits of keto diet are weight loss, improved metabolism and reduced cravings or appetite.
Tracking your Macros
You’ve heard everybody talks about ‘macros’ when you talk about keto diet. This is a short term for ‘macronutrients’ and they are responsible for the caloric count of your food. Oftentimes, you can find it in the ‘Nutritional Facts’ section of most foods.
In ketogenic diet, it is important to track macros instead of counting calories. In standard Keto, these are the following macros:
- 75% fat
- 20% protein
- 5% net carbohydrates
Ketosis vs Ketoacidosis
They both refer to ketones. Ketogenic state happens when your body burns fats instead of glucose. Sounds promising, right?
Normally, your body will use glucose as the source of energy, as fuel. But when you limit your carbohydrate (basically glucose!) intake, your body does not have any choice but to use fats.
Your amazing liver will break down fats into chemicals called ‘ketones’ and will be released to your bloodstream. This, folks, will result in weight loss!
Ketoacidosis, on the other hand, is the body’s compensatory mechanism because the brain thinks that the body is starving. This can be seen in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (Juvenile) where the insulin level in the body is low.
I am now thinking of the analogy used by my professor when I was in university. He said that you can compare the cell to a house and the visitor to glucose. The visitor needs to go inside the house and before he can do that, he needs a key. This key is the insulin. (Uh huh you remember good teachers as you grow older…let me rephrase, as you grow wiser). So, if there is no key, the visitors will all be outside the house.
This is what’s happening with Type 1 Diabetes, glucose accumulates outside the cell because of low insulin level. When there is an increased level of glucose, there will be ketone production.
As I have mentioned, high levels of glucose and ketones can be life threatening and need urgent medical attention.
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