Ketosis

Ketones, also known as “ketone bodies,” are byproducts of the body breaking down fat for energy that occurs when carbohydrate intake is low.

The ketogenic diet is a diet based on a large consumption of fat (about 70%-80% of your daily caloric intake) instead of carbohydrates. By reducing the amount of carbohydrates to 20-50 grams per day, it forces the body to burn fatty acids instead of glucose. When glucose levels are low or absent, fat is metabolized and ketone bodies are created as an alternative energy source. When reducing the amount of carbohydrates the liver turns the fat into fatty acids and these turn to ketone bodies. Once created, the liver dumps the ketone bodies into the blood stream and they are taken up by skeletal and heart muscle cells at rates of availability. In addition, the brain begins to use ketones as an alternate fuel when blood levels are high enough to cross the blood brain barrier. The ketone bodies move to the brain instead of glucose as a source of energy and from here we get the clarity and the brain fog goes away. A higher level of ketone bodies in the blood can cause a condition called Ketosis.

When the body goes into a state of ketosis amazing things happen to it. The body gets unlimited supply of energy, and you can increase your physical and mental endurance. This is what helped me heal fast from my stroke. I got my energy back very fast and I felt light and I stopped feeling pain due to the reduction of inflammation in my body.  Since ketosis also reduces hunger it makes loosing weight easy. In addition, parameters that contribute to cardiovascular disease improve, such as elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure, etc. There is no heartburn. The skin looks a million times better - My acne, rosacea and psoriasis  went away. For me the most important factor of ketosis was the improvement of my mental cognitivity and mood. Today I am always happy and smiling. I love it.

There are also other benefits such as prevention of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, cancer, epilepsy, autism, and other mental disorders that I cannot testify to, but I trust that if I healed, I bet the ketones are beneficial for these conditions as well.

I can testify that my sleep improved following the ketogenic diet and being in a constant sate of ketosis. I used to get up every single night to go to the bathroom. No more. I sleep 7-8 hours every single night without waking up. I get up refreshed and ready to go to a new day.

For me there is no such thing as not being in ketosis. You can measure your level of ketosis with the Ketone Strips. On the container there is a scale that shows what level of ketosis are you, but for me, it doesn't matter. Sometimes it is higher and sometimes it is lower. The main idea is to be or not to be! As long as I know that ketones are in my system, nothing else matters. It is like being pregnant. You are or you aren't. And you want to be. That's all.

You can buy ketone drinks, shakes and powders. I don't trust that. I need my body to produce the ketones so I know that I am in my best performance.

Here is a list of foods that should be avoided in order to achieve a state of ketosis. These foods, when consumed turn into glucose and cause the body to store the excess of glucose as fat - no ketones are created when these foods are consumed.