Low carb diets have numerous advantages when compared with most other types weight loss programs. You don’t have to attend meetings, buy special diet foods or count calories. You don’t have to give up rich, creamy sauces or juicy steaks and pork chops in order to burn excess body fat. You never even have to have to fight hunger with will power. One frequently misunderstood aspect of low carbing is ketosis, the metabolic by-product of accelerated fat-burning.
Our metabolisms have evolved to use two different energy sources. The cells can be fuelled by glucose, derived mainly from starches and sugars. Alternatively, they can run on fatty acids, obtained either from the diet or from the body’s own fat deposits. Clearly, if we want to lose excess weight, we would prefer our cells to burn stored fat.
When we restrict carbohydrates, there is insufficient glucose in circulation to fuel the cells. The body maintains its energy balance by producing the hormone glucagon. This hormone triggers fat deposits to release their stored energy in the form of free fatty acids. In the process of converting stored fat to usable fuel, molecules called ketones are produced.
Ketones are a natural product of our metabolism which are generated whenever fat is used for energy, whether or not we are trying to lose weight. At night, while we are asleep, our bodies burn up all the glucose we consumed at our last meal or bedtime snack. In order to maintain basic functions, they rely on stored fatty acids. When these fats are released into the bloodstream, they are accompanied by ketones.
Because stored fat is continually converted into energy in the absence of glucose from carbohydrates, a low carb diet naturally leads to the production of more ketones. When levels of ketones rise to the point where they can be measured in the blood, we are said to be in ketosis.
Some types of ketones are immediately used for energy. In the absence of carbohydrates, the brain and central nervous system will run largely on ketone bodies converted from dietary fat. The heart and kidneys actually prefer ketones to glucose.
There is one sort of ketone molecule that the body cannot use for energy. When it is excreted through the lungs, it can be the cause of the ‘acetone breath’ sometimes associated with low carb eating. Most low carb diet plans advise drinking plenty of liquids so that the majority of excess acetone will be flushed out of the body in the urine.
Several studies have shown that people on ketogenic diets experience reduced appetite. Because fatty acids are continually being released into circulation, the body’s energy needs are met and hunger signals are inhibited. Falling blood sugar is the physical source of food cravings. When the metabolism has switched from glucose burning to fat burning mode, blood sugar levels stay constant.
Ketogenic low carb programs ensure that the weight dieters lose comes from body fat and not from muscle tissue. They promote the release of stored fatty acids and ketones to be burned as fuel. They also encourage people to eat a relatively high protein diet. As a result, the body never needs to break down muscle to meet its energy requirements, as it would on a typical low calorie diet.
There is nothing unnatural or dangerous about being in ketosis as a result of limiting carbohydrates. It is a simply a result of switching from a fat-storing metabolism to a fat-burning metabolism. A low carb ketogenic diet program is a healthy way to lose excess pounds and inches.
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