Ketogenic Diet - A quick guide

The whole premise of a ketogenic diet is to get the body into a state of ketosis. What this means is rather than burning sugar for fuel, your body starts using fat (or fatty acid) and also producing ketone bodies which are used by the brain as fuel. There are numerous benefits from this, which include:

• Higher energy levels once the body has switched to using fat as a fuel source. This is because the average person has enough fat stores to last a few days but only limited stores of glycogen (aka sugar). I can't tell you how much more energetic I am. Afternoon snooze brain has now vanished!
• Better sugar control. This is particularly important for diabetics, but most others will benefit too. (For those of you who know about diabetes and are managing your sugar levels, my current HbA1c is at 5.2 mmol/L, which is considered non-diabetic!)
• Lack of hunger. I no longer feel hungry when I skip lunch or miss a meal. This was almost impossible in the past given my reliance on carbohydrates. Further, there doesn't seem to be a dip in energy levels.

I structured my diet based on two books and following the various advice given by these thought leaders:

• Diabetes Solution by Dr.Bernstein  (truly inspirational M.D. who is a diabetic himself. This book saved me 2 years ago, otherwise I would have had some form of diabetes complication. Again for those of you who are familiar, my HbA1c then was around 10-11 mmol/L)
• The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek
• A blog from Phil Maffetone. This guy is a legend and way ahead of his time. His blog is not pretty but contains truck load of valuable information. If you are not familiar with him, get his book called "The Big Book of Health and Fitness".

The Basics

This diet or as I view it lifestyle is not for everyone. However if you feel like you are ready for a transformation, then read on. 

1. A very very very low carbohydrate consumption. I average 25 grams per day primarily from the green leafy vegetables, seeds, coconut cream and double cream. There are many no-no foods and most internet sites list them accurately. Just do a search. 
2. Moderate protein. Most people tend to over consume protein. There are many sites and sources touting the "paleo diet" which promote healthy eating, yet do not mention anything about protein amounts. The thing about protein is that the liver happily converts the excess to glucose through a process called gluconegenesis. This in turn stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin, resulting fat storage. I currently average around 80-90g of protein (100g of Chicken breast contains 21g of protein)
3. High fat. Consume good fats such as coconut oil, ghee, fish oil etc, but not seed and processed oils such as canola, sunflower, rice bran etc. These contain high levels of Omega 6 which disrupts our bodies natural fat burning pathway. I average 250g of fat a day, mainly from coconut oil and ghee.

I am still surprised by many dietitians saying that we need to consume more carbohydrates etc. I know I got into discussion with one, and when I asked her what is the reason to consumer "whole grains", she said for the energy. To which I responded isn't it easier to consume fat since you get twice the energy and none of the side effects of insulin.

Also you will find very quickly that is impossible to eat "junk" or processed food without blowing out the carbohydrate tolerance. Hence I find this diet or lifestyle as I view it one of the healthiest. 

Again plenty of resources on the Internet if you want to give this diet a go. I do recommend the books above and Phil's website as a start.  Once you adopt this lifestyle, you will wonder what took you so long to adopt it. I have many friends that I have thought this too and now swear by it.

Happy eating!