Chapter 1

Understanding the basics of Ketosis

What is Ketosis?

This is a condition that occurs when the carbohydrates are not easily accessible in the body and the body turns to fat to make use of the required energy. This would make the liver in the body to break down fats into some substances known as fatty acids and these acids would also be broken down into another energy-rich substance in the body called ketone and can also be referred to as ketone bodies Acetate, Acetoacetate and Beta-hydroxybutryate (BHB). It is the presence of the ketone in the body that is refers to as ketosis.

Nature has made your body to be highly intelligent by knowing exactly what it wants, what are the necessary things needed to get what are needed and what the body needed essentially is energy. It is the energy that would keep cells of your body from being starved and died.

Your body has so many metabolic pathways that convert the food eaten into energy. The primary metabolic pathway is the one that make use of glucose from the carbohydrates eaten as fuel. In as much you eat enough carbohydrates, your body would store them as energy, and fat, but if you fail to provide your body the needed carbohydrates, the body will have no choice than to turn to another substance to get the required energy for sustenance.

Getting into Ketosis

Reaching ketosis is primarily depends on different individual. The time would largely depends on you get carbs in your first few days. It is possible for those that reduce their carbs to less than 20 gram per day to reach ketosis in a few days. Meanwhile, there are some other people that get into ketosis within 3 to 4 days and some can take more a week.

How to induce Ketosis

The best and accurate way to induce ketosis into your body is to seriously reduce the amount of carbohydrates intake. Not only that, the protein intake must also be reduced as well. Low carbohydrate diets will not induce ketosis into your body because it is easy for the body to convert excess protein into glucose, thereby not switching to burning fat as its fuel. Ketosis can only be induced by taking high-fat diet that contains moderate amounts of protein and small amounts of carbohydrates and this is what commonly known as Ketogenic diet.

There have been many speculations on the exact percentage of each macronutrient that the body needed to start into getting ketosis. But these percentages are varying from individual to individual. Meanwhile, the following percentages of macronutrient ratio are what are needed generally.

5-10 Percentages of Calories from Carbohydrates

15-30 Percentages of Calories from Protein

60-75 Percentages of Calories from fat

The above percentage ratio is different from what could be gotten from standard low-carbohydrate diet, which allows protein to provide more calories.

The Institute of Medicine currently recommends;

10-35 Percentages of Calories from Protein

20-35 Percentages of Calories from Fat

45-65 Percentages of Calories from Carbohydrates

The moment you are in ketosis, your standard to diet would be moderate protein, low carbohydrate and high fat plan. Going contrary to the above plan could get you out of ketosis any time.

Wrong Conceptions about Ketosis

It is wrong when ketosis has been be related to been starved by those who are not well informed about it and saying that it is not healthy and bad for the body.

What happen during Starvation?

In this situation your body will take energy that is stored in the muscles to fuel the body, thereby making the muscle mass to lean. This is the reason why Atkins diet was criticized for its extremely low carb intake of less than 20 grams daily.

What happens during the Ketosis?

In this situation the carbohydrates consumption is limited between 20-50 grams daily. You are advised to eat a modest and not a high amount of protein. In this way if you are in ketosis you will receive the required nutrition and fiber from the vegetables and still within low carbohydrate consumption. The main objective of the ketosis is allowing your body to perform and function properly both mentally and physically when there is an absence of carbohydrates intake.

Difference between Ketosis and Ketoacidosis

There is a great misconception about ketosis and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

Diabetic ketoacidosis is a condition that happens when you have extremely amount of ketones in the body, and this can turn to blood acidic. Diabetics can have DKA if they fail to take enough insulin, starvation, alcohols and been dehydrated. It is a deadly state if left uncared.

Symptoms of DKA

Breathlessness

Excessive urination

Thirst

Vomiting

Hyperglycemia

Bad Breath

Health benefits of Ketosis

Do you that apart from the fact that ketosis promotes a healthy weight; it is also great for physical and mental function.

Energy and Brain Health

Glucose is the preferred form of energy for your body, but large of your brain can also acts as ketone and acts as fuel for mental performance when you are on low carb ketogenic diet. Along the line the body will make of the protein to provide glucose to the brain through a process known as gluconeogenesis during the ketosis.

Ketosis has also been employed to control seizures in children with epilepsy as reported by the US National Library of Medicine and National institute of Health. Ketosis would prevents neurotoxicity from too much of carbs and also help people with type I and II diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer's problems.

Athletic Performance

If you happen to be an athlete, ketosis is good and great for your body. Your body makes use of what you recently eaten and what is glycogen stored to power you through during workout. Meanwhile, if the glycogen stored has been used up and you still require more fuel; your body would turn to protein or fat for more energy. Though, this process is not good for your body, unless your body is adapted to been in ketosis.

How to measure Ketones

It is possible to measure the level of ketones in the body thereby knowing if you in ketosis and this can be performed from your home. When the ketones has been made it won’t be all used by the body, the remains would spill into different areas of the body. The only three places where the ketone bodies can be adequately measured are in your breath, blood, urine and feelings.

In the Urine:

Get a urine strip, read and follow the instructions on the package. The main thing is that around 45- 60 seconds you will a change in color that signifies the presence of ketones in the urine. This method is cheap, but not always reliable reason been that other conditions in the body such as electrolytes and level of hydration can also affect the reading. This method is recommended if you are just starting ketogenic diet.

In the blood:

This is the best and accurate way to measure ketone in the body. What you will be making use in this method is blood glucose meter to measure the levels of ketones BHB. The only thing about this method is that it is not cheap

On the Breath:

This method is best use to supplement the confirmation of ketone levels gotten from both the one for the blood and the urine methods. The tool needed is breathing meter. The advantage of this method is that the meter purchased once can be used several times.

Feelings:

In this method you don’t need any special tool to know the ketone levels in your body. There are some conditions that you will experience such as feeling relaxed, mentally sharp, more energy throughout the day, bad breath, smelly urine and less appetite. Another set of signs that shows that you are no longer in ketosis are that you will feel fatigue and more appetite for food.

Indicators that you have reached ketosis

There are some indications you will experience that are signs of ketosis in the body; and are:

You will have little or no craving for fruits

Less appetite

Always thirsty

Smelling urine

Constipation and Diarrhea

Awful smell in the mouth

Insomnia

Metallic taste in the mouth

Being more energetic

Negative side effect of Ketosis

Frequent Urination

It is normal for your body during the stages of the ketogenic diet that you will experience frequent urination. The extra glycogen in the liver and muscles are burning up in your body. The breaking down of the glycogen releases more water into the system. The moment your carb diet consumption and glycogen in the body drops, kidneys would release the excess water.

Drowsiness and Dizziness

Due to the fact that you would be avoiding water, it is normal to lose minerals such as salt, magnesium and potassium. If you are having lower levels of these in your body it would make you tired, dizzy or lightheaded. Other conditions that may appear are skin itchiness, muscle cramps and headaches.

You can avoid all these conditions is by staying very hydrated and ahead of mineral loss and can be gotten by more salt intake, and eating green leafy vegetables, avocados and dairy that are good in potassium.

Diarrhea

Due to the changes in the diet, diarrhea would rear its ugly head out for some few days. If you found yourself in such situation replace the card diet you removing with more saturated fats like, coconut oil, butter, or MCT based oil (Medium-chain triglyceride).

Flu symptoms

It is common to experience side effect called the ketosis flu and what you are likely to face are;

Headaches, Irritability, Lack of motivation, Brain...