Hey!
I’ve been experimenting a lot lately with diet. If you are anything like me when it come to diet, you enjoy trying new things. I enjoy having the challenge of pushing away crappy food. And if there is an option to eat crap food, I’ll eat it. Unless I am dedicated to something new and different. And this is my most recent experiment…
The Ketogenic diet:
Quick and dirty –
- Diet consisting of ~70% fat, 20-25% protein, <5% carbohydrate
- Your body produces ketones when carbohydrate (glucose) is limited
- Ketones (byproduct of fat) become your body’s response to spare glucose
- Ketones are produced in liver and become your body’s alternative fuel source everywhere except red blood cells and central nervous system
- CAN NOT replace glucose in anaerobic metabolism
- CAN replace glucose in aerobic metabolism
- High protein diets are not ketogenic
- Benefits :
- Satiety (blood glucose curbed and insulin sensitivity)
- Fat as fuel source
- Ketones are muscle sparing
- Easy way to diet
- Criticism
- Ketogenic diets promises a ‘higher metabolic advantage'(has been equated to a higher than average protein diet)
- Restriction of entire groups of food – Calorie restricitive but can also add in weight loss.
- Science doesn’t yet back up the weight loss/fat loss promises.
Diseases that greatly benefit from ketogenic diet:
The ketogenic diet and Epilepsy
The ketogenic diet and Alzheimer’s
Interested in trying out the diet? Here is a keto calculator!
Check it out. Let me know what you think. I have been rocking the diet for about a month (with a slip-up around Halloween, thanks Obama). Anecdotally, it’s pretty intense at first in terms of restricting certain foods – but it also does a lot to keep me on track. After the first week, the carb cravings stopped, the workouts normalized and my body felt pretty good. There were moments of fatigue and overexertion – moreso than normal during a workout, but overall, it feels great to have that sense of control over my food again. And really, how can you be upset when you lather butter all over your bacon, steak and beef? Really, it’s kind of insane. But fun.
Peace like Geese
Stella Fitness 