The Ketogenic Diet
As I have mentioned previously, I have been intrigued by the Ketogenic Diet for a long time. I have brought it up to Lisa on numerous occasions, wondering if we should give it a try. Our discussion usually ends after remembering the serious problems that can occur with eating meat that we have learned about in the past. But my nagging feeling about the Keto craze just wouldn’t go away.
I was introduced to Dave Asprey and the Bulletproof community through my daughters obsession with The Bucket List Family. OK, I have been quite enamored with The Bucket List Family myself for many reasons, including their obvious focus on health and exercise. Garrett Gee, the Dad of the Bucket List Family, was interviewed by Dave Asprey on his Bulletproof podcast and I listened to that interview. I enjoyed Dave’s style so I started to peruse his other podcast episodes. I found that the topics seemed to be completely in line with my recent focus and attention. So I started downloading and listening.
Well, in my usual obsessive way, I have listened to almost nothing else since this discovery. There are over 580 podcasts on his site and I have probably listened to about 1/3 of them. I have also purchased Dave Asprey’s latest book, Gamechangers, and have spent quite a bit of time on his website. I have been convinced that Mr. Asprey is approaching his quest for health and longevity in the correct way. He has an open mind to any idea that might have the potential to accomplish his goals, and he has the resources and energy to test just about anything that has promise, usually testing it on himself.
So now I know a heck of a lot about the Ketogenic Diet. The first thing to know, however, is that there are many variations of the Ketogenic Diet. Similar to being Vegan, it could be used to adopt a very unhealthy lifestyle.
What is a Ketogenic Diet?
Eat in such a way to keep your body in a state of Ketosis.
Being in Ketosis means your body is using Ketone bodies (derived from fat) as its main energy source instead of sugar.
You get your body into Ketosis by eating a High Fat, Low Carbohydrate, and Low to Moderate Protein diet.
The reason for High Fat is obvious. You need to eat healthy fats to have this energy source available.
The reason for Low Carbohydrates is obvious. If there is a ready supply of glucose or fructose available, your body will preferentially choose this energy source.
The reason for Low to Moderate Protein is because too much protein will lead to the liver undergoing Gluconeogenesis, which means that the liver will make glucose, which will then be available as an energy source.
What are some of the touted benefits of a Ketogenic Diet?
Burn Fat: Once your body has adapted to a state of Ketosis, primarily burning fats as fuel instead of glucose, you will start to tap into the readily available source of fat in your body as a fuel source - resulting in weight loss and specifically fat loss.
Reduce Hunger: Ketones suppress ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and increases cholecystkinin (CCK). This hormonal change makes you feel full, decreasing your appetite, allowing you to eat less and dip into your stored fat more.
Reduce Inflammation: The benefits of this deserve a separate post, but essentially this decreases our risk for all inflammatory diseases including Cancer, Heart Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. It is important that you are eating whole unprocessed foods for this benefit.
Improve Your Brain: Your brain works better when fueled by ketone bodies instead of glucose. Many studies show an improvement in memory and recall when in ketosis. Your brain is also mostly composed of fat, so having healthy fats available is important for brain growth and development, including myelin maintenance.
Increase Energy: Ketosis helps create more mitochondria, which are the power generators inside each of our cells.
Lower Blood Sugar: Ketosis stabilizes insulin levels and lowers blood sugar.
Anti-cancer effects: I have definitely been convinced of this. If I ever get cancer, I will immediately go on a strict Ketogenic Diet as part of my treatment regimen. Cancer just loves sugar so I would do my very best to deprive the cancer of sugar from my diet.
What do I like about the Bulletproof approach?
The Bulletproof Roadmap lists all kinds of food and basically gives them a scale from green to red. Eat all the green foods as much as you want. Avoid all the red foods as much as possible. Be careful with the foods in between on the color spectrum.
I feel like this is a good approach. You can follow this Keto diet but still occasionally partake in foods that are closer to red than green.
It promotes eating a lot of vegetables
It is focused on eating healthy fats as opposed to other high fat diets that basically allow anything as long as it is not a carbohydrate.
It promotes only grass fed beef and dairy products as well as free range animals and wild caught seafood.
It is very much against industrial meat or eating animals that were treated with antibiotics or hormones. You are what you eat ate.
The Bulletproof Diet advocates cyclical Ketosis - meaning you cycle out of Ketosis about once a week by having a carb-loading day.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ recommendation. I appreciate the approach that everybody is different, and therefore you have to figure out what works best for you and your personal biology.
The Ketogenic Diet is definitely a big fad right now. Does the science support its claims? Is Ketosis the optimal state of nutrition? I am still researching to get the answer to this question for my personal health, but I am close to giving it a try.