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.
