What is the ketogenic diet?

Welcome to the challenge that is going to change your life!

The ketogenic diet has been known as many different names. From people trying to throw their own personal spin or marketing around it. Names like

Ketogenic Diet

Keto Diet

Low Carb High Fat (LCHF)

Nutritional Ketosis

Fat Burning Diet

Carb Nite

Primal Keto

Wahls Protocol

And now the 47-day Ketogenic Diet Challenge! The list can go on and on and it with mixes and matches. But when it comes down to it, the ketogenic diet is a nutrition lifestyle plan that revolves around getting fat as the majority of your calories each and every day.

I dont like the fact that diet is associated with Keto, because this is not a diet. You will not starve ever on this challenge or as a lifestyle. As opposed to the way you feel and treat your body when you go on an actual diet.

SUGAR TO FAT BURNER

This is the primary reason to go ketogenic.

For years I preached be a fat burning machine by doing interval and strength training and eating over 50% of your calories from carbs. You cant burn fat if insulin is present in the body.

Insulin is driven by blood sugar. Blood sugar is driven by carbs. Insulin drives fat stores up. There is a whole host of other things happening, but that is the cliff notes version.

Carbs>Increase Blood Sugar>Releases Insulin>Drives Body Fat Storage Up

So what we are trying to do with the ketogenic diet:

1. Control the blood sugars: we do that we control insulin; therefore we control hunger levels.

2. Then we want to deplete the glycogen levels, which is stored carbs. Located in muscle and liver. The body is smart and we can never completely deplete these levels down 100%. So a little bit will still be left for emergency.

3. Then the body will start to use fat as fuel and it will tap into your own fat stores to use that as fuel. And you can never deplete your fat stores and you would never want to because some fat is essential and too little body fat is not healthy in the long run.

WHAT IS A KETONE?

Ketones are the energy by-product when your body converts from sugar to fat burner.

A molecule of glucose (which is what your body turns carbs into when they get digested) has the ability to produce 38 ATP.

And from a molecule of fatty acid its able to produce 146 ATP.

ATP basically provides you with your energy and intensity level. If your exercise isnt INTENSE[footnoteRef:1] enough, no changes coming. But as you can see ketones has the ability to produce about 4 times more energy. More on that when we get to exercise. [1: To watch my video on intensity in exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRzjOhWUyaw ]

WHAT HAPPENS DURING KETO ADAPTION?

Being Keto adapted means you are using ketones or fat as your fuel source.

So you literally start using fat as your fuel source, and burning your own bodys stores as well. But you have to eat! You have to consume enough calories to fuel the fat burning process.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

This is going to be the big issue. Every person is different. A lot of it will depend on your nutrition going in. If you are consuming carbs all day long right now, its going to take a little longer, and the initial days are not going to be all that great.

So with that said some people take as little as a week and some can take up to 6 weeks. But thats why Ive created this challenge to basically guide you step by step into getting into Nutritional Ketosis! Im going to be giving you the tools you need to get into NK ASAP.

Because once you are in that is when the benefits start. More on those soon.

The first stage is the toughest, this is when your body is still running on glucose and the ketone production isnt great enough to be running off of fat yet. Most important thing to do at this time is eat fat and a lot of it. Once you do become keto-adapted then you can back down a bit, but if you dont consume the fat during this first stage your going to be hungry and feel a little off. And more fat is really the only thing you can eat more of and not hurt your keto-adaption process.

THIS IS NOT A LOW CARB DIET

To get Keto adapted you need to adjust your macronutrients.

>>>>Protein>>>>>Fat>>>>>>Carbs

This is not a low carb diet. If youve done low carb before and it didnt work then you probably werent in ketosisyour fat was probably way too low and protein way too high.

Of the macronutrients to adjust----- carbs is the most important to adjust and lower sustainably. Because carbs spike blood sugar which spikes insulin. Too much of that and you cant get into ketosis. You cant run off of ketones and glucose, the body will pick glucose over ketones every time, but thats our fault not our bodies. Carbs have never been more present and readily available then right now!

The other thing that needs to change is fat consumption. What I tell people who eat a standard American diet or non-veggie carbs with every meal or snack is you need to think about fat now like you used to think about carbs, and vice versa. So carbs are going way down and a lot will be completely eliminated because this is a whole food plan. And fat is going to go way up!!

Before fat comes your protein. This is not a high protein diet, either. The body can covert too much protein over into glucose through gluconeogenesis. So it is a moderate protein diet. There is a section below that goes over gluconeogenesis in greater detail.

I consume anywhere between 60-90 grams of protein per day, thats it! Im usually anywhere between 172-180 pounds. And sometimes I go as low as 50 grams of protein! I used to do that in a meal!

Protein can take you out of ketosis if you eat too much. I used to preach for years at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight or more. Thinking the body needs protein to build lean muscle tissue and to get stronger. Pound for pound Im the strongest Ive ever been in my life.

Now on to fat!

Fat is big. It is tasty and yummy. Low fat is dull, bland, and boring- it needs a lot of spicing up for it to taste good.

Fortunately or unfortunately, whichever way you perceive it. You have been lied to about fat for over 50 years now.

Being ketogenic with fat means at least 50% up to 90% of your total calories coming from fat.

Ratios are going to vary depending on each person. Which is why Im here to help. Some can handle more carbs, some can handle more protein, and some need less fat. Dont worry Im going to help you out with exactly what you need to eat, recipes, and a whole lot more info.. SO buckle Up and enjoy the ride on the Keto train!

Gluconeogenesis: More Information

Just some more information about gluconeogenesis. Its such a big word, and its cool to say but its really nothing more then some of our bodys cells having the ability to convert non-glucose particles into glucose to be used as fuel by the body.

It occurs in the cells of our livers and kidneys. The liver to a bigger extent then the kidneys since the liver is the major authority of controlling and regulating our glucose levels in our blood.

The major things that can be used to convert into glucose are: 1. Pyruvate 2. Lactate 3. Glycerol 4. Amino Acids (protein).

Lactate is created when we exercise with great intensity, so weight training, intervals or other high volume type activities that produce lactic acid. This is one of the reasons WHY you should never test your ketone levels after this type of exercise, because the body will convert that lactate into glucose to help fuel the ATP in our cells that is needed for certain types of exercise. More on testing ketones later. Lactate doesnt transform directly into glucose; it must be transformed into pyruvate, which then undergoes gluconeogenesis (GNG), which then turns into glucose.

Amino Acids we get from protein type foods. Just like Lactate they cannot transform directly into glucose; they must also be converted to pyruvate and then through GNG turned into glucose. Oxaloacetate molecules can also help to transform amino acids into glucose.

Why does our body need GNG?

Its because we can only store a certain amount of sugar inside our body. In our blood, fluid found in cells (cytoplasma) and fluid found in our tissue we can store about 20 grams of sugar (or carbs converted in our body).

We also have glycogen, which is stored carbohydrate. We can store up to about a maximum of 100 grams of this in our liver and between 200-400 grams in our muscles. This will vary greatly depending on the person, how well they are trained, male/female, size of muscles, activity level, and some other factors. So you see why carb loading 1000 carbohydrates really wont do much except put a bunch of sugar in the body. Once the glycogen levels are filled they are filled. Think of a gas tank, if your max capacity is 10 gallons, putting 11 gallons in will overfill it and the excess will pour out on your car and the ground. Well, the excess glucose will get shuttled into the fat cells; making them bigger and fatter.

Gluconeogenesis is pretty much something that helps a person who is a sugar or carb burner. Our brain requires somewhere around 100-160 grams of carbohydrates per day to function properly. I used to always recommend a minimum of 130 grams per day based on this number (which isnt actually based on science). But what GNG and what most people dont take into account is that ketones are a much cleaner and efficient fuel then glucose for your entire body not just your brain. But if we convert