Most dieters only lose water weight because they do not tap into their fat reserve. You store two types of fuel in your body: fat storage and your glycogen (sugar) reserve.
Glycogen is stored sugar, glycogen as a series of glucose molecules or sugar molecules attached together. You have about 1,700 calories. It is used up pretty fast. You have a lot of fat storage. The average person who is not over weight has about 77,000 calories worth of energy in fat.
Your body cannot tap into fat if there are too many carbs or sugar in the system. Your body will always go first for sugar as fuel if it is present.
You may ask, is a Ketogenic diet, which means you are eating more fat, is that dangerous for your heart? The answer is no. It is not the fat that plugs up your arteries it is the sugar. Ketogenic diets are not dangerous if you do them correctly.
Second question, “Well, the more fat that you eat, the more fat you are going to burn.” That’s another myth because you could be burning the dietary fat and not your own fat.
Now, the whole concept of the Ketogenic diet is that you are having very low carbs, moderate protein, and higher fat. What we want zero sugar, unlimited vegetables. In fact, we need more vegetables because if you do this, ketones are acidic, and the ketones can potentially raise your pH, and you can end up with either gout, a type of arthritis, or kidney stones. The way to prevent that is to consume a lot of vegetables, and also lemon. Lemon actually prevents kidney stones.
The other key is to do not consumer sugar with fat. Why? Because it will increase insulin even more. We do not want to add the sugar to this eating plan at all.
The other point is you want to do this gradually. If you are increasing fats too quickly, it is going to overwhelm the gallbladder, and you are going to have right shoulder pain, and bloating, and things like that. That’s why I recommend that if you were going to do this, I’d recommend the gallbladder formula because that gives you the enzymes and the bile to help handle this fat in the transition. (Here is the link to the Gallbladder Formula https://shop.drberg.com/gallbladder-formula)
Adapting. It does take time to adapt to your body to fat burning. All these cells must change their enzyme structure, their machinery to handle this new fuel source because we are limited in the glucose, and we are increasing the fat, and it does take sometimes between 2 to 6 weeks to make this transition. The process, we are going to do this nice and gradually so your body can go right into it, and you will feel really good.
How much fat that you really need? Here is a list of fats that you can potentially consume. We did our calculations from an average of 1800 calories per day – and then 70% of that would be fat, then we measured the gram per meal.
On average, consume 20-40 grams of fat per meal.
FOOD AMT FAT CAL Per Meal
1. Heavy Cream 1 TBS 5g 51 6 TBS
2. Egg 1 egg 5g 74 3-4
3. Beef (80%) 3 oz 16g 213 3-6 oz
4. Coconut Oil 1 TBS 14g 120 2 TBS
5. Brie Cheese 3 oz 28g 300 3 oz
6. Almond Butter 1 TBS 10g 100 3 TBS
7. Olive Oil 1 TBS 14g 119 2 TBS
8. Bacon 1 slice 3g 43 3-6 Slices
9. Pecans 10 nuts 20g 196 15 Nuts
10. Macadamia Nuts 10 nuts 21g 204 15 Nuts
11. Peanut Butter 1 TBS 8g 94 3-4 TBS
12. Almonds 10 nuts 6g 70 3-4 TBS
13. Avocado 1 whole 30g 322 1
14. Ice cream (No Sugar) 1 cup 22g 200 1 cup
Heavy cream, one tablespoon is five grams of fat. An average person needs between 20 and 40 grams of fat per meal on a Ketogenic diet. 40 grams for someone who is really large who has been doing it in a while. 20 grams is someone smaller, and they are just starting out. We are going to calculate this midrange at 30 grams just to give you an average.
Heavy cream. You can make all sorts of things with heavy cream, i.e. whipping cream. Eat five grams, which is six tablespoons per meal right after the meal as your fat. The fats could allow you to go longer so you are not as hungry, and it is not going to increase insulin. It is exactly what we want.
You may only be doing two meals. If you are concerned about calories, do two meals, especially if you are not working out. You will find that once you adapt, you can burn your body fat as a fuel source, and you can go a long period of time without any hunger.
Now, egg is five grams of fat. One egg is five grams. You need three to four eggs per meal. Sometimes, people do two or three. That is fine because you can combine these other foods. If you can, get pasture-raised organic eggs.
Now, let us get to the beef. We got three ounces is 16 grams, about three to six ounces of beef. Try to find beef that is 80 to 85% lean, not 90% lean. I like the 80%, but it is hard to find it. If you can, get buy grass-fed, organic beef.
Then, we get coconut oil. One tablespoon is 14 grams. Double that, and have two tablespoons. Now, you can put that on your vegetables. You can make little treats. There is all sorts of recipes you can make, but that is the amount of fat that you would need per meal.
Brie cheese. Have three ounces, which is 28 grams. Brie cheese is very high in fat. Three ounces for a meal would give enough fat, but this also has the protein, so you could kill two birds with one stone. I do a lot of cheese.
German cheese. Just less than half of this is three ounces. A piece that is a little bit bigger than the palm of your hand, but half should be three ounces.
Almond butter, one tablespoon is ten grams. That would be three tablespoons of almond butter that you would consume. You can do that right after a meal. That would be your fat.
Olive oil. One tablespoon is 14 grams, do two tablespoons of olive oil. That is about 30 grams of fat. Put it on your salad. Some is going to end up in the bottom of your bowl. You may want to add another fat from the list.
Pecans. Ten pecans is 20 grams. If you do 15 pecans at the end of the meal or macadamia nuts, that would give you enough fat.
Ice cream. There are certain ice creams that have no sugar. You can make ice cream or get it from the store. One cup would you give 22 grams of fat.
Dr. Berg is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan, and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media. He has taught students nutrition as an adjunct professor at Howard University.
Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.
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Adding carbs will stop weight loss, but it will also knock you out of ketosis (fat-burning). Do not increase your carbs above 50 grams. Instead, if you are getting too skinny on Keto keep the carbs no higher than 50 grams per day, keep protein under 8oz. per meal, and try to consume large amount of salad or vegetables.
This tip is recommended for people who have done the keto (Ketogenic) diet for a while and are plateaued, stuck, slow and doing one meal a day. It is for those people who are trying to lose weight and have been doing lots of past dieting and created a slow metabolism – you need to extend your fast longer and longer. If you are fasting and your body is burning fat with no hunger, why eat? Your body IS eating its own fat and when you eat you shut down this process.
This video is not meant for the new person starting keto. This video is for the person who has done keto for a while and they are plateaued.
If you are new to keto, please watch this video, How To Start Keto Correctly – For Beginners
Common Mistakes With Intermittent Fasting That Stop Weight Loss.Common Mistakes With Intermittent Fasting That Stop Weight Loss.
1. You have been doing the Standard American Dietfor years and you jump into fasting without giving your body at least 3 days to be fat adapted.
Why is this an issue? Because you are fasting with a blood sugar issue and if you go straight to one meal a day, you will have severe hunger with blood sugar problems, dizziness, light-headedness, grouchiness, extreme irritability, brain fog and cravings for sweets.
If you have those symptoms try one of the following: add another meal, more fat, add some bone broth for the electrolytes to try to speed up the healing of the insulin dysfunction.
Hunger is one of the best indications.If you can go from one meal to the next and you can fast and you feel good and you have energy, you might have a little hunger and you do not have the other issues mentioned above, then it is working.
Do not change it if it is working.Some people think now that I am losing weight I can pretty much eat what I want so then they go off the program.
The next thing you know they are ten pounds overweight and they wonder what happened? Go back to the original formula and keep it consistent.
2. You are eating too many carbs without realizing it.You did not realize that fruits, rice and sweet potato are carbohydrates.
A little bit a carbs will knock you out of ketosis (fat-burning) for 2 to 3 days. It takes a while to get into ketosis and it just takes a little bit of carbs to knock you out of ketosis.
If you are doing this a couple of times a week it could be the reason why you are not seeing any results.
3. You are on the 5 – 2 plan.You are eating whatever you want for five days and for two days you bring your calories down to 500 per day.
The problem is that there is not enough time to adapt to the state of ketosis (fat-burning). You will be struggling and you are not going to be comfortable and you will cheat. You will say, this is not right for me and give up.
4. You are Fasting but when you are eating you are not eating enough to provide enough nutrients.
If you are eating too few calories, usually you are not getting enough nutrients. You have to increase the density of the nutrients in your food or enhance it with other supplements. At first nothing will happen but weeks later, when you have used up your body’s stored nutrients, you will notice your hair is falling out, your teeth are loose and you have bleeding gums, etc. Make sure your food is nutrient dense.
Eat a lot of vegetables.If you are doing two meals a day, eat two big salads or a bunch of vegetables. Why? First, because they will keep any waste and fat that is being burned going through the liver.
Second, you want the vitamins and minerals from the vegetables or else you are going to actually start building up unwanted acids maybe even uric acid crystals.
5. Consuming low quality ingredients.If you are fasting and when you do eat you are consuming a powered soy protein isolate mixture, or other low quality ingredients you will not look healthy.
6. You are not consuming enough potassium, B vitamins and trace minerals to fulfil your body’s requirements.
When you are fasting all sorts of genes kick in, anti-aging genes, genes that help reduce inflammation and genes that help regrow brain tissue.
If you do not have a reserve of nutrients and you are eating you are eating regular foods, you may end up being deficient and run into issues such as heart palpitations and hair falling out.
7. If you are vegan and doing keto make sure you take B12, DHA, zinc and ironbecause you are not going to get these are less you consume animal products.
8. You are doing intermittent fasting and when you eat you are doing keto but you are eating low fat.If you keep your fat and carbs low, the only thing that can go up is protein. Too much protein can create problems as well.
Dr. Berg is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan, and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals.He has taught students nutrition as an adjunct professor at Howard University.
Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.
I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise. I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements. To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available. Please let me know you are interested in the Post by clicking Like, Commenting or sending me a message or email about the Post.
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You are on the Ketogenic plan and you lose a lot of weight at first, but it is slowing down. So Frustrating. You think about quitting but you will loose all the benefits – looking better, feeling better in your clothes, no cravings, no hunger and more energy.
On the TV show, The Biggest Loser, these people worked out about eight hours a day, they reduced their calories and they eventually lost the weight.
Do they gain the weight back? Yes, almost all of them do. Why? Because losing weight is not a normal for the body. It is anti-survival. Your body has evolved to store the energy as fat and hold on to it in times of famine.
You know this is true because it is much easier to gain weight than it is to lose weight.
When you go on a low-calorie diet, your metabolism will adjust and it will start slowing down. It will eventually create a set point – a weight that it’s almost impossible to bust through.
For example, you are on the Keto program and you get to 180 or 170 pounds and you just can’t seem to get below no matter what you do. What stops you from busting through that Plateau or set point? It is high levels of insulin.
Too much insulin prevents fat burning. Usually what comes along with it is insulin resistance. It is the combination of insulin resistance and excessive insulin that is behind this set point.
The big question is – does Keto slow your metabolism like other diets?
Myth 1: The human brain burns 600 kcal per day glucose to meet its energy needs.
Myth 2: No one can follow a ketogenic diet long term.
The need for dietary carbohydrates is often a topic of misunderstanding and misinformation. Although some specific tissues in the body do have certain glucose requirements, these requirements are easily met by gluconeogenic sources within the body without the need for dietary carbohydrate intake. The fatigue, stress, impaired cognition and reduced performance that are often used to argue for the need for carbohydrate are more aptly attributable to improper implementation of a well-formulated ketogenic diet (WFKD), inadequate electrolyte replacement, and/or insufficient time for keto-adaptation. When used correctly, a ketogenic diet can be a safe and sustainable therapeutic tool as well as a means to help promote wellness and performance.
The specific topic that we want to address here is how both the brain and body can function as well – or even better – on a diet with little or no dietary carbohydrate compared to the typically promoted low fat, high carbohydrate ‘healthy diet.’
Published science has shown that ketones that are produced from either dietary fats or triglycerides stored in our adipose (fat) tissue reserves are an excellent fuel for the brain. Further, we now know that these ketones produced by the liver also have multiple beneficial effects on the heart, kidneys, and other organs that appear to translate into improved longevity.
Additionally, new research has highlighted that skeletal muscles, even those of competitive athletes, are not solely dependent on high dietary carbohydrate intake for glycogen replenishment and performance.
Ketones are a cleaner-burning fuel (i.e., producing fewer free-radicals) than glucose when used by the brain and other organs. The primary ketone beta-hydroxybutyrate (BOHB) can also function as a signal to activate genes that regulate our defenses against oxidative stress and inflammation.
The shifting they body’s energy source from carbohydrates to fats, which we have named ‘keto-adaptation,’ starts within days but takes a considerable period of time to fully develop. The result is maintenance of normal blood glucose and muscle glycogen levels that can be sustained without the need for dietary carbohydrate intake.
Physiologic Role of Carbohydrates
The presumed requirement for glucose by the brain is a conditional need that is based on the fuel sources dictated by one’s choice of diet. A ketone-suppressing diet (i.e., any diet supplying >30% of energy from the combined intakes of carbohydrate and protein) essentially forces the brain to rely on glucose for fuel.
It is true that some cells within the body do require glucose. But in all of these cases where glucose is broken down to lactate, the body can recycle that lactate back to glucose.
Evidence That the Brain Can Function on Ketones
The simplest experiment that demonstrates the brain’s ability to function on ketones is the observation that humans can tolerate total fasting with normal mental function for durations of 30-60 days. Elegantly done studies that measured glucose and ketone levels in arterial blood going into the brain compared to these fuels in the jugular vein coming out of the brain, indicated that ketones are in fact able to supply the great majority of the brain’s energy.
See the original Virta post for the studies.
What these studies demonstrated is clear evidence of normal brain function in the virtual absence of glucose when sufficient ketones are available. This offers us the unique perspective that when consuming a carbohydrate-rich diet the predominate source of fuel for the brain is glucose; not because it is needed but because the other natural and highly effective brain energy source has been shut off.Butunder conditions of consistent nutritional ketosis, the brain adapts to the presence of ketones by enhancing their uptake and oxidation, thus protecting cognitive and CNS (central nervous system) function.
Essentials of Keto-Adaptation – Glucose Conservation and Salvage
Just because one doesn’t consume dietary carbohydrate does not mean the body is completely lacking in glucose. Whether fasting or on a meat-and-fat-only ketogenic diet, blood glucose values remain in the normal range both at rest and during exercise. This occurs because the body is quite capable of synthesizing all of the glucose it needs from various gluconeogenic precursors, while at the same time strictly limiting its rate of carbohydrate oxidation.
There are at least five sources of these glucose precursors:
breakdown of muscle to supply amino acids for gluconeogenesis;
breakdown of dietary protein to supply amino acids for gluconeogenesis,
glycerol released from the hydrolysis of adipose tissue triglyceride or dietary triglyceride;
recycling lactate and pyruvate from glycolysis; and
acetone produced by the spontaneous breakdown of acetoacetate to acetone that can be used for gluconeogenesis.
The conditions for and the amounts provided by these various sources of gluconeogenesis are shown in the following table.
What this table clearly demonstrates is that whether during a total fast or a ketogenic diet without carbohydrate containing foods, new or recycled gluconeogenic substrates provide for the generation of anywhere from 100-200 g/d of glucose. Add to this up to 50 g/d of dietary carbohydrate as part of a WFKD, and it becomes clear why nutritional ketosis is well tolerated under a variety of challenging conditions.
Lessons from Low Carbohydrate Athletes
Dr. Volek’s group recruited 20 competitive ultra-runners, 10 of whom followed a traditional high carbohydrate diet and the other 10 had been following a ketogenic diet for at least 6 months.
After baseline testing, these runners were asked to do a 3-hour run at race-pace on a treadmill. Surprisingly, both groups had similar muscle glycogen levels before the run, and they also both mobilized similar amounts (about 80%) of their glycogen during 3 hours on the treadmill.
But almost 90% of ketogenic runner’s net energy use was from fat. This is an astonishing example of being able to maintain normal muscle glycogen while consuming very little carbohydrate.
Please refer to the original Virta post for 2 more in depth studies.
Why Some Experts Still Claim that We Need Dietary Carbohydrates
There are some other arguments used to support the idea that we need to consume carbohydrates above levels that facilitate nutritional ketosis.
Thyroid dysfunction:The blood level of the active thyroid hormone T3 typically falls by 30-40% in the first few weeks of a WFKD, but this is not accompanied by any signs or symptoms of clinical hypothyroidism. This change is due to a marked reduction in thyroid hormone resistance during nutritional ketosis, which can be eased with adequate electrolytes intake. Therefore, this is a healthy response and not a sign of endocrine dysfunction.
Sleep patterns are disturbed by a ketogenic diet. In our study we found that global sleep quality, sleep disturbances, and daytime dysfunction parameters all were significantly improved. In addition, the proportion of patients reporting poor sleep was significantly reduced after 1 year.
We need more dietary fiber than is possible on a ketogenic diet.What we point out in our blog post on fiber is that the production of BOHB can provide many-fold more SCFAs to the brain than a very high fiber diet combined with an optimized microbiome. Thus, the moderate level of fiber that one can achieve with a real-food WFKD should be more than adequate to maintain health.
I invite you to Follow my Blog, Facebook or be added to my email distribution list. My focus is to maximize my physical performance and mental clarity, body composition, and most importantly overall health with a wholesome diet and exercise.
I will bring you compelling articles on Ketogenic and GAPS diets, the Super Slow High-Intensity Exercise Program and supplements.
To follow my Blog, please click the Follow button to receive an email when the next posting is available. Hint: You may have to click the Accept and Close button before follow is available.
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I went looking for recent information on nutritional ketosis. What I found was easy to understand videos presented by one of the leading experts on the Ketogenic diet.
Expert Qualifications:Dr. Stephen Phinney is the Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Virta Health, the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery.
Dr. Phinney is a physician-scientist with 40 years of experience divided between academic internal medicine and industry. He has studied nutritional biochemistry as well as low carbohydrate research and its benefits for physical performance and insulin sensitivity.
His career has emphasized the interaction between diet and exercise and their effects on obesity, body composition, physical performance, and cellular membrane structure.
His extensive experience in the design of clinical nutrition trials in both academic and industrial settings has led to more than 87 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on clinical nutrition and biochemistry.
He is the author of four books, including The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living and The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance, two foundational books on low carb nutrition science and nutritional ketosis that he co-authored with Jeff Volek, Ph.D, RD. Dr. Phinney also previously served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Dr. Phinney received his medical degree from Stanford University, holds a Doctorate in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed post-doctoral research at Harvard University.
The Video Series:
Dr. Stephen Phinney put together a three-part video series on ketogenic diets and nutritional ketosis. You’ll learn the nutrition science behind ketosis and what the research shows regarding its safety and benefits (including if and when you should obtain medical supervision), and how to troubleshoot your eating plan to optimize your ketogenic diet.
PART ONE: Dr. Stephen Phinney on Nutritional Ketosis and Ketogenic Diets
Stephen Phinney, MD, Ph.D, explains the science of nutritional ketosis, a natural metabolic state in which your body is fueled mainly by fats and ketones, instead of carbohydrates (glucose).
The healthy blood ketosis range is .1 to 3, which is not close to Keto-acidosis range of 10-20 millimolar.
PART TWO: Dr. Stephen Phinney on the Safety and Benefits of a Ketogenic Diet
Stephen Phinney, MD, Ph.D, explains the benefits of a ketogenic diet and the research on the safety of this dietary approach.
PART THREE: Dr. Stephen Phinney on Problem Solving a Ketogenic Diet
Are your ketones consistently low? Have a headache? Having trouble figuring out your macros? Stephen Phinney, MD, Ph.D, explains 5 common mistakes people make on a ketogenic diet—and how to fix them.
This is not a high protein diet.
Protein for the well-formulated Ketogenic diet is in the 15 to 20 per cent range whereas the standard American diet is in the 45 to 55 per cent range.
Typical menu for a man of Dr. Phinney size, lean and 6 foot tall.
Weight loss in Keto-adaption phase vs. maintenance phase.
The Ketogenic recommends a daily intake of 20 to 50 grams of Carbohydrates (high fiber vegetables). This is not a high protein diet. It recommends 15 to 20 per cent of the daily calorie intake should be protein. The best proteins are from free-range animals in the form of eggs, poultry, beef, pork and mercury-free fish. Health fats like avocado, cold-pressed olive oil and coconut oil, and nuts and seeds are eaten until you are satisfied.
If you are in the Keto-adaption fat loss phase, reduce the fat in your daily intake. In the pie chart above, the purple is your body fat, the green is fat coming from your daily intake. In this phase, the fat that is burned is from your body fat!
To learn more please read the book the Dr. Phinney co-authored with Dr. Volek.
New Atkins for a New You: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great Paperback – Mar 2 2010
Disclaimer: The content of this email or Post is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of recommendations is at the choice and risk of the reader.
It will be the same posting that I email, but you can search the Blog using key words. In the Blog I discuss the Ketogenic and GAPS (for gut health) diets, supplements and Super-slow High Resistance Training.
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As always, I am interested in your thoughts on these topics.
The healthy blood ketosis range is .1 to 3, which is not close to Keto-acidosis range of 10-20 millimolar.
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