I know I have been throwing around the word “ketosis” a lot lately.

It’s also recently become a buzzword in the world of nutrition and fitness.

Look, I’m a science gal. When I see a trend in health, I watch it to see if it sticks. I look closely at the research. I try it on myself first. I run it through a test group of people. When it’s effective, that’s when I get excited.

I’ve been studying the ketogenic diet for over two years now. And I am excited!

Let me tell you why.

When you eat carbohydrates like sugar, grains, and fruit, it gets stored in your liver. This stored version of sugar is called glycogen.

When you lower your carb intake, these glycogen stores get reduced and the release of fatty acids from your fat stores begins (aka- you lose weight). Your liver gobbles up these fatty acids and converts them into ketones.

And your brain LOVES ketones!!

But research is proving that the brain is not the only organ that loves ketones. Your cells do, too. Especially the mitochondria of your cells.

Your mitochondria produce something called ATP. ATP is the energy currency of life. The more ATP you have, the more energy you will have to heal.

Although the ketogenic diet was originally discovered because the increased ketones stopped seizures, it’s the cancer world that has propelled this diet to the popularity it has today.

So what does this all mean for you? Why would you want to follow a ketogenic diet?

Here are the top three reasons I love the ketogenic diet.

1. FAT BURNING. Low levels of ketones in your blood signals that your body is now burning energy from fat, not sugar. Every disease known to man has existed in a sugar burning body. If you want to prevent disease, you need to live in a fat burning body.

2. ACCELERATES HEALING. Because the presence of ketones heals your mitochondria, research is showing that the increase in ATP speeds up healing. Every patient that I have coached to get into ketosis experiences their body healing at a significantly faster rate.

3. BOOSTS MENTAL CLARITY. The number one complaint I get from patients over 50 years old is loss of mental sharpness. Remember, your brain loves ketones. Knowing how to get your body to produce ketones will help keep your brain healthy and functioning at its best.

Now here’s the tricky part. Ask a diabetic patient about ketosis and they will scream. Diabetics do everything in their power to avoid ketosis.

The type of ketosis I explained above is nutritional ketosis, where your body is secreting low levels of ketones in your blood, ranging from .5-3.0. What diabetics are working to avoid is ketoacidosis which leads to blood ketones levels ranging from 5.0-10. This type of ketosis is dangerous for diabetics. Nutritional ketosis is incredibly healthy for non-diabetics.

 

Hope this helps to take some of the mystery out of ketosis. Reach out if you have any questions!