Diet Adventures: The Fun of Ketosis

Within the past decade, Dr. Atkins and his infamous diet came into the main stream community. Essentially, the Atkins diet is a ketogenic diet, that is, the body chooses to run on ketones rather than glycogen. Allow me to further explain.

As explained in much of the ketogenic research, ketones are a typically unused energy source. Typically the human body runs on sugars. Well, specifically, it runs on carbohydrates (breads, sugars, grains) that are then broken down in the body into their smallest components, namely glucose/glycogen. The body likes to run on these and prefers them as quick, accessible energy sources. If it must, it will process the harder-to-break-down energy sources like fats. Fats are broken down into ketones.

When certain ethnic diets were analyzed, namely groups like northern Eskimos, it was observed that humans could run on ketones . Frequently their diets consisted of very few to no carbohydrates. Then how did their bodies run? After further analysis, it was discovered that, in the absence of glucose, the body could run on ketones.

After reading Dan Duchaine's book, BodyOpus, and talking ketogenic diets over with Lyle McDonald, who had previously worked with Duchaine and who was a coworker of mine at the time, I decided to try out a modified ketogenic diet. Basically, this diet consisted of going into ketosis throughout the week (eating no carb's at all throughout the week) then going through a strict carbing-up phase (or re consumption of carbohydrates) for another three days at the end of the week (actually made for an eight day "week"). The main purpose was to allow the loss of bodyfat while maintaining muscle tissue.

First of all, the diet worked like a champ. During the ketogenic phase, your body loses a great deal of water weight first. The reason for this is that, for every gram of carbohydrate consumed, your body uses water to process it. Without the carb's, no water retention. And, of course, on this diet I was restricting overall caloric intake just naturally, so I would lose overall body weight.

Then, when it was time to carb-up, my body would fill with sugars and water, allowing the muscle tissue to come back to life! I must say, each time this occurred, it was a dramatic and intoxicating insulin high! I felt like Superman!

As the weeks went on, the diet became easier and easier to do. The most complicated part was the carbing up phase due to it's specifics. I was to eat carb's every two hours (even throughout the night) progressing from simple carbohydrates (mmmmm....Frosted Flakes!) to more complex carbohydrates (apples, whole grains). But, like I mentioned before, the euphoric high was worth the tediousness of the carbing up phase.

I accomplished my weight loss goals (only something like 10-20 pounds of bodyfat) with virtually no muscle tissue loss. This is almost unheard of with more traditional diets. But I did have some issues with the ketogenic diets overall.

Certain things, like the possibility of gout, constipation, general slothful feeling, could not be ignored. But what concerned me the most was that no long term studied had covered the effects of ketones on the brain. It was obvious from the start of the diet that ketones effected the brain differently: when going into ketosis, I would get light headed, occasional tunnel vision, etc. And while in ketosis, I could feel neither highs nor lows, only a general neutral, as far as energy levels were concerned.

So, although these types of diets may certainly have their place, I feel, in my professional opinion, that they are definitely not for the faint of heart and that most normal, simple calorie restricting diets as discussed on my blog-site, work great for most people.