Ketosis: Friend or Foe?

Fat and protein anyone?

Ketosis Everywhere

If you haven’t heard about ketosis or a ketogenic diet, do you even have internet or television? There are supplements to help force you into ketosis. Gurus provide you the latest testimonials of the wonders and virtues of ketosis. Ketosis is everywhere.

It is undeniable that ketosis will help you to lose weight. It can help you to maintain high levels of energy without having to eat three squares on a particular day. Given that obesity and poor health and/or early mortality are so clearly related, then it stands to reason that ketosis might be the silver bullet you’ve been seeking?

So What is Ketosis?

In the very simplest of terms, Ketosis is a state of metabolism wherein your body turns to fat and its own fat stores for energy. It occurs when your cells do not have ready access to glucose (sugar) for energy. Glucose and glycogen in your blood, liver, and muscles are quickly metabolized for energy. Your body will always choose this easy path, if available. If you eat enough carbohydrates every day, your body stores plenty. If you eat too much carbs every day, insulin starts telling your body to store excess as fat.

Ketosis is a natural state of metabolism that enables our survival in times of famine. This might be days on end without food, or it might just be 12 or 16 hours without eating. Or you might trick your body into long-term ketosis on purpose. Your body stores fat specifically so it can be burned later through ketosis. Ketosis is most certainly your pal, your buddy, but your BFF?

Ketosis Forever…

So, if ketosis is so damned wonderful, why do we even bother with carbohydrates? Well, let’s ponder that for a moment. What happened to Gronk’s body over his lifetime? He ate whatever veggies and fruit he could find each day, forming the base of his diet. Likely he ate animals when opportunities presented themselves. He particularly focused on fatty visceral tissues…guts! Mmm mmm. When seeds were available or nuts, then that’s what was eaten. Gronk was an opportunist and his body evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to take advantage of what was available. If he could have unlimited Cheetos, you can bet your ass he’d have availed himself of the opportunity.

eat only when you are hungry, and still to avoid highly refined carbohydrates

When Gronk found ripe fruits or a beehive for plundering, he gorged on sugars. His insulin spiked and he stored fat. Just like the bear fattens up for hibernation, Paleolithic man and woman packed on the pounds when they could…as a survival technique. When times were bad, their bodies naturally kicked into a state of ketosis and burned fat stores to keep them alive. We evolved as opportunists. Our bodies really do need a little bit of most kinds of foods. We need a little bit of body fat as well.

My Worry

There is a broadening awareness of the perils of high blood sugar and insulin levels. We are beginning to see that so many diseases and auto-immune conditions result when we unnaturally gorge on refined carbohydrates over a lifetime. As a species, we have gotten fatter, and we have gotten sicker. Whatever are we to do? Ketosis to the rescue! Ketosis is quite literally the opposite of adding fat to your body. It is the removal of fat from your body. That sounds great!

However, just as our bodies are not well adapted to years and years of gorging and fattening, they are also not adapted to years and years of forced ketosis. There is evidence  that long-term adherence to true pure ketogenic diets may have significant adverse effects on our bodies. We KNOW that long-term adherence to a high-carb, low-fat diet provides you with significant adverse effects. We also have enough data to be cautious about a long-term high fat diet. What now?

Ketosis Really is Your Pal

Ketosis is the yin to the yang of sugar metabolism. Most of us have abused our bodies on a high-carb diet for so long, that our sad little mitochondria aren’t really that good at burning fat anymore. More specifically, we lose mitochondrial density. One of the ways to help your body at a cellular level is to regain your ability to go ketogenic. By focusing on a ketogenic diet for a period of time, you will find your body weight falling and your lust for sweets and grains to falter.

Your body must be adept at moving in and out of ketosis. Once you retrain your body, it can adapt to the foods you feed it. Just like the bear or Gronk, your body needs a little confusion in its diet. This is one way we get back some of our mitochondrial density and our health improves. Your body needs ketosis desperately. We’ve worked our whole lives to get good at storing fat. Now you need to get really good at using that stored fat!

A Retrained Body

Carb up? Not according to Mark Sisson…

Once your body can enter ketosis and it is comfortable in ketosis, it will naturally go in and out of ketosis on a daily basis. You can eat a more “balanced” diet during the day once you’ve practiced a diet that is ketogenic for some weeks. Your body will naturally switch into ketosis while you sleep and drop out of it during the day. This is one way to cycle ketosis and it will help you with your hunger. The key is to eat only when you are hungry, and still to avoid highly refined carbohydrates for the most part. Eat a few servings of fruit, a core diet of vegetables, good proteins with every meal, and don’t worry about fat. Eat fat as much as you’d like. But only eat when you are hungry.

When I have an endurance activity like overnight backpacking or multi-day hunting trip, I take advantage of ketosis. Before the trip, I will move toward a high-fat diet and intermittent fasting for a few days. When I’m performing and working hard in the mountains, I use a mixture of foods like nuts, dark chocolate, and jerky to fuel my activities. I find that I have to remember to eat enough, as my body just is quite happy consuming my body fat. I don’t really experience much hunger at all, and I have as much energy as I could ask for. Navy SEALS do the same thing. Mark Sisson wrote a great book about this type of activity in Primal Endurance, a recommended must-read!

Please Beware

I’m not fond of the phrase “everything in moderation”. There are many foods that have no significant nutritional value. Often, people justify poor diet choices as they invoke this phrase. In my opinion, it is a bullshit cop-out to rationalize poor choices.

I believe in ketosis, but I do worry that a prolonged and wholly ketogenic diet is no more natural than one derived almost exclusively from grains and sugars. I don’t think we know the answer. Inuits and some other peoples have existed for very long stretches on high-fat diets, but overall, we are opportunists and so cycle with the seasons.

I think the Paleo folks have this about as right as anyone. They propose you eat lots of vegetables, a little bit of fruit, plenty of nuts and other good fat sources, and some protein. They will argue that legumes, grasses (grains), and dairy weren’t core to most Paleolithic diets. I really believe the focus on healthy vegetables, meats, and fats that are closer to natural will help you to move back and forth naturally between fat addition and fat consumption. While not strictly ketogenic in nature, you can see that this diet gives moderate periods of ketosis as well as glycogen metabolism. The point of the lifestyle is to mimic the rough eating patterns that helped develop us and our DNA.

General adherence to this lifestyle, with occasional bursts of outright ketosis and also binges of some healthier sweets have worked for me. I’ve lost a bunch of weight and added a little bit of muscle during that time. More than anything, ketosis has allowed me to eat less and perform at higher levels for longer periods of time.

Finally, just in case you missed it…please be careful with ketogenic diets. Just as with high-sugar/carb diets, running your body for too long on one fuel may not be wise. If you take the balanced approach that the paleo-folks do, you will find yourself eating a truly balanced diet. This diet features vegetables. It honors meat and fat, but only after you’ve eaten your veggies! Make ketosis your buddy, not your master.