Hi, I'm writing this blog about a subject that I simply have to share because it has been transforming for my wife and I... the Keto Diet.
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My wife had not made any plans to start dieting this year, although we both needed to lose weight in that we both have gained over 20 to 25 pounds since retiring back in 2013.
What happened was - at church the couple that sits behind us was sharing with us about how his wife had lost 8 pounds in about 9 to 10 days on the KETO Diet.
Well, needless to say it sparked a conversation about what was is the KETO Diet and how does it work. Without getting into every nook and cranny about the mechanics of how it works in this blog, they basically explained that the KETO Diet puts your body into ketosis. Below is a brief description and a FREE Guide to get started:
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Brief Description of What Is A Ketogenic Diet
The ketogenic diet is a low carb, moderate protein, and high fat diet which puts the body into a metabolic state known as ketosis.
When your body is in a state of ketosis, the liver produced ketones which become the main energy source for the body.
The ketogenic diet is also referred to as keto (key-toe) diet, low carb diet, and low carb high fat (LCHF).
So why is it so awesome and why is it taking the world by storm?
Because it completely reverses how your body functions (in a good way) along with changing how you view nutrition.
It's based around the premise that your body was designed to run more efficiently as a fat burner than a sugar burn.
KETO DIET FREE GUIDE
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My wife and I were so inspired and impressed by our friend's quick results in weight loss and their explaining the simplicity of what you could and could not eat - in that it would not severely alter the way we eat and enjoy food the we normally eat anyway.
Well, to make a long story short - we purchased a few suggested starter food items and prepared our meals as suggested and to our GREAT AND AMAZING SURPRISE within 8 days my wife lost 9 pounds and I lost 11 pounds.
That was 4 months ago and since then we've both lost over 20 pounds and several inches in our waist, hips, and neck - (a complete makeover). This is really exciting stuff having friends and family commenting on how good we look - and the obvious loss in weight is directly attributable to that. In fact, we constantly seat at the table and are amazed - "just how good we are eating". Quite often, we look at each other and say, "I can't believe we're eating this good on a diet".
We are now hearing all over our church of other people that have either seen my wife and I or heard from someone else about what the KETO diet has done for us - and they have gotten on it and are getting similar results.
I could so much more but as I promised, I didn't want to make this a long blog but I just had to share this to my friends, family and followers of this blog.
So, I hope this will help someone and encourage you if you needed just that little nudge to get started on losing a few pounds this year.
FREE Keto Guide Here!
Charlie
P.S. when you have some time come back and check out my Four Percent blog posts at:
Ketogenic diets force the body to enter into a state called ketosis. The body generally makes use of carbohydrate as its primary source of energy. This owes to the fact that carbohydrates are the easiest for the body to absorb.
However, should the body run out of carbohydrates, it reverts to making use of fats and protein for its energy production. Essentially, the body has a sort of energy hierarchy which it follows.
Firstly, the body is programmed to use carbohydrate as energy fuel when it is available. Secondly, it will revert to using fats as an alternative in the absence of adequate supply of carbohydrate.
Lastly, the body will turn to proteins for its energy provision in when there is an extreme depletion of its carbohydrate and fat stores. However, breaking down proteins for energy provision leads to a general loss of lean muscle mass.
The ketogenic diet does not fully depend on the calories in, calories out model. This is because the composition of those calories matters due to the hormonal response of the body to different macronutrients.
However, there are two schools of thought in the keto community. While one believes that the amount of calories and fat consumption does not matter, the other contends that calories and fat does matter.
When using a ketogenic diet, you are trying to find a balance point. While calories matter, the composition of those calories also counts. In a ketogenic diet, the most important factor of the composition of those calories is the balance of fat, protein and carbohydrates and how each affects insulin levels.
This balance is very important because any rise in insulin will stop lipolysis. Therefore, you need to eat foods that will create the smallest rise in insulin. This will help to keep your body in the state of burning stored body fat for fuel - lipolysis.
The body can normally go into a ketosis state by itself. This is often the case when you are in a fasting state such as when you are sleeping. In this state, the body tends to burn fats for energy while the body carries out it repairs and growth while you sleep.
Carbohydrates generally make up most of the calories in a regular meal. Also, the body is inclined to make use of the carbohydrate as energy as it is more easily absorbable. The proteins and fats in the diet are thus more likely to be stored.
However, in a ketogenic diet, most of the calories come from fats rather than carbohydrates. Since ketogenic diets have low amount of carbohydrates, they are immediately used up. The low keto diet carbohydrate level causes an apparent shortage of energy fuel for the body.
As a result of this seeming shortage, the body resorts to its stored fat content. It makes a shift from a carbohydrate-consumer to a fat-burner. The body however does not make use of the fats in the recently ingested meal but rather stores them up for the next round of ketosis.
As the body gets more familiar to burning fat for energy, fats in an ingested meal become used up with little left for storage.
This is why the ketogenic diet uses a high amount of fat consumption so that the body can have enough for energy production and also still be able to store some fat. The body needs to be able to store some fat otherwise it will start breaking down its protein stores in muscles during the ketosis period.
In fasting periods - such as during ketosis, in between meals and during sleep - the body still needs a constant supply of energy. You have these periods in your normal day and therefore you need to consume enough amounts of fat for your body to use as energy.
If there are no adequate amounts of stored fat, the proteins contained in your muscle become the next option for the body to use as energy. It is therefore important to eat enough to avoid this scenario from taking place.
The main goal of a ketogenic diet is to mimic the state of starvation in the body. Ketogenic diets deprive the body of its preferred immediate and easily convertible carbohydrates by restricting and severely cutting back on carbohydrate intake. This situation forces it into a fat burning mode for energy production.