W
hen your body is in a ketogenic state, it burns
fat for fuel instead of relying on glucose from
carbohydrate or stored glycogen. The therapeutic
effects of the ketogenic diet have been known for
centuries and it was used to treat epileptic seizures
and Type 1 diabetes before insulin was discovered.
Now, a growing range of enlightened doctors and
nutritional therapists are using it to reverse Type 2
diabetes.
In 1863, William Banting’s book was the first diet
book to be published and it promoted a ketogenic
approach. In the 60s, The Drinking Man’s Diet book
sold over 2.4 million copies (ketogenic diet com-
bined with low carb alcoholic drinks - vodka, gin,
whisky and brandy are ok). Then came the Atkins
diet, first published in 1972, which was a runaway
hit for 20 years.
WHY KETO IS BACK IN VOGUE, THE RISE OF THE
BIOHACKER AND THE JOE ROGAN EFFECT
Over the last five years, it’s been pretty trendy to
call yourself a ‘Biohacker’ - they are motivated,
geeky individuals who love experimenting with
diet, training and supplements to help improve
performance - we are talking Tim Ferriss, Dave As-
prey (butter and MCTs in coffee), Ben Greenfield
(endurance events fuelled on fat) and Joe Rogan,
the UFC commentator.
These guys have looked at and experimented with
the ketogenic diet and, as a result, have identified
numerous performance benefits:
WHAT IS THE KETOGENIC DIET?
The ketogenic diet is an ultra low carb style of eating that has been used for
centuries and has regained popularity over recent years.
Words: Tom Bell Pictures: Callum MedcraftWORDS: GAVIN ALLINSON
When you look at that list, everybody
would want at least one of those bene-
fits, so why isn’t everybody following the
ketogenic diet? We’ll cover some of the
reasons, but first we need to look at how
we get into the state of ketosis (having el-
evated blood ketone levels).KETOGENIC DIET AND FASTING
Fasting is a natural state. Our ancestors
would have gone for long periods be-
tween meals, particularly before we start-
ed farming. Under these circumstances the
body needed to function without the ener-
gy provided by carbohydrates.In times of low food availability our body
breaks down muscle protein to create glu-
cose (we don’t want to lose muscle) and this
is a reason why low fat diets can end up
causing as much as 50% of the weight loss
to be lean muscle. The other way the body
produces energy is by breaking down fat
and converting that fat into an alternative
energy source: ketones.WHAT ARE KETONES?
They were first discovered in 1921 and there
are three types that the body produces:- Acetone (can give your breath a fruity smell)
- Acetoacetate
- Beta-Hydroxy Butyrate (BHB)
When your body is running on ketones it
is analogous to a hybrid car running on a
dual fuel supply. Typically, in the modern
age, with so many of our meals based
around carbohydrates, we very rarely get
into a position where our body is produc-
ing ketones naturally. So, our engine never
really becomes efficient at using fat as a
fuel source.HOW WE GET INTO A STATE OF KETO-
SIS AND START PRODUCING KETONES
Essentially, the ketogenic diet relies on re-
striction of dietary carbohydrate to 20-30g
of carbs in total a day - that’s only 4 to 6
teaspoons of sugar, or a handful of rice, or
half a sweet potato.When we do restrict carbs, over a period
of a few days the body exhausts any gly-
cogen (stored carbohydrate in the muscle
and the liver) with the average body hav-
ing about 2000 kcals of glycogen stored.
Once that is gone, we start utilising dietary
fat for fuel, and also body fat, if we are eat-
ing fewer calories than we need.If you are trying to lose body fat remem-
ber that you still need to be eating less
than your daily requirements, even if you
are following a keto plan; it is not a mag-
ic bullet. You can still put on weight on a
ketogenic diet if you eat too much. OftenBenefits of a
Ketogenic Diet
APPETITE SUPPRESSION
STABLE ENERGY LEVELS
FAT LOSS
INCREASED STRENGTH
IMPROVED MOOD
ENHANCED FOCUS
BETTER SLEEP
MUSCLE PRESERVATION
CLEARER SKIN
IMPROVED LONGEVITY