Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body converts fats into ketones, which are the primary sources of fuel for the body. During ketosis, your body uses fats as an energy source instead of glucose(sugar). Attaining ketosis can require some serious work and planning.
- Minimize your barb consumption
- Add coconut oil to your diet plan
- Gear up your physical activity
- Increase your healthy fat intake
- Try a Fat fast
- Maintain adequate protein consumption
- Test your ketone levels and adjust your diet
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[powerkit_collapsibles] [powerkit_collapsible title=”Table of Contents”] [powerkit_toc title=”Table of Contents” depth=”2″ min_count=”4″ min_characters=”1000″] [/powerkit_collapsible] [/powerkit_collapsibles]How to be in Ketosis:
Minimize your Carb Consumption
The single most significant act of ketosis is making sure to eat a very low-carb meal. Usually, your body cells make use of glucose(sugar) as its primary source of fuel. However, the human body is designed to utilize fatty acids and ketones as alternative sources of fuel. Glucose in the body is stored in the liver and muscles in the form of glycogen. When the carb intake is deficient, the glycogen is reduced, and insulin levels decline, thereby giving room for fatty acids to be released from fat stores in your body.
Following the release of these fatty acids, your liver converts some of these fatty acids into acetone, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate. Specific parts of the brain use these ketone bodies as fuel. Furthermore, limiting your carb consumption between 20 to 50 net grams per day lowers your blood sugar and insulin levels leading to the release of stored fatty acids that your liver converts into ketones.
Add Coconut Oil to Your Diet Plan
Another excellent way of staying in ketosis is eating coconut oil. Coconut oil contains fats called medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). These fat-MCTs are quickly absorbed and transported directly into the liver, where they are used immediately for energy or converted immediately to ketones. Also, it has been proven medically that consuming coconut oil is one of the best ways of improving the ketone level in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and some other nervous disorder. Also, MCTs have been used to induce ketosis in epileptic children without restricting carbs as much as in the traditional keto diet process.
However, it is essential to note that when integrating coconut oil into your diet plan, it is advisable to slowly eliminate various digestive side effects such as stomach cramps and diarrhea. Start with one tablespoon per day and slowly work your way up to two or three tablespoons per day.
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Gear Up Your Physical Activity
Science has shown that undergoing regular and active physical exercise is very good for ketosis. Physical activities reduce the glycogen stored in your body. Usually, these are replenished after you eat carbs, which are broken down into glucose before conversion into glycogen. However, when you consume low carb, your glycogen level depletes, and in response, your liver begins to increase the production of ketone, which is an alternative source of fuel. Exercises improve the rate of ketone production. Furthermore, working out while fasting significantly elevates the level of ketone production in your body. Lastly, regardless of the physical exercises, the body takes up to about four to six weeks to adapt to ketones and fatty acids as the primary source of fuel.
Increase Your Healthy Fat Intake
Consuming a lot of healthy fats can help you attain ketosis. An excellent low carb diet does minimize not only carbs but also increase fat levels. However, extremely high-fat consumption does not guaranty higher ketone levels. It is vital to select a high-quality source of fats when drawing out your keto diet plans. If your aim is simply weight loss, make sure not to consume too many calories, as this can be detrimental to your weight reduction progress. Here are some excellent sources of fats; olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, butter, and grease. These foods are high end in fats and low in carbs. They are excellent to keep you in ketosis.
Try a Fat Fast
Another excellent way of staying in ketosis is to remain without food for several hours. This process is called fasting. Some people can go into mild ketosis between dinner hours and breakfast hours. Furthermore, fat fasting is an excellent ketone enhancing method that is similar to the usual fasting. It involves consuming about a thousand calories per day, of which the majority comes from fat. This process might help you achieve ketosis faster as well as help you stay in the process. However, we recommend that this fast fat regimen should be followed for a maximum of three to five days. This will help excessive loss of muscle mass.
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Maintain Adequate Protein Consumption
Having just enough amount of required protein is essential for staying in ketosis. The protein supplies the liver with the necessary amino acid for gluconeogenesis (production of new glucose). During this process, your liver makes glucose available for specific organs and cells such as kidney, red blood cell, and the brain. These organs and cells are incapable of breaking down ketone. Therefore, they make use of the available glucose as a source of fuel.
Furthermore, when you are in ketosis, you eventually lose a certain amount of weight. Interestingly, weight loss is associated with the loss of both fats and muscles. Eating an adequate amount of protein on a low-carb keto diet will help to preserve your muscle mass. How can you know the amount of protein needed for your ketogenic diet? You have to multiply your ideal body weight in pounds by 0.55 to 0.77.
Test Your Ketone Levels and Adjust Your Diet as Needed
Attaining and maintaining the state of ketosis is highly specific to each individual. As a result, it is advisable to check your ketone levels regularly to monitor your progress during ketosis. There are mainly three types of ketones (acetone, acetoacetate, and hydroxybutyrate). They can be measured in your breath, urine, and blood, respectively. Acetone is found in your breath, and its level is measured by ketone meter. To use the ketone meter, you breathe into the meter and then await color flashes. This color confirms if you are in ketosis or not. If yes, it then confirms how high your levels are.
Another way of determining your ketone level is by the use of blood ketone meter. A small drop of blood is placed on a strip, and then the strip is inserted into the meter. The amount of hydroxybutyrate in your blood is measured. Lastly, to measure the acetoacetate level, you dip a ketone urine strip into your urine and read the color changes. With various shades of pink and purple, indicating the ketone level in your urine, a darker shade indicates a higher level of the ketone. However, it is advisable to use more than one method to test for your ketone level, as this will improve the accuracy of your result.
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Signs and Symptoms That Indicates That You Are in Ketosis
During ketosis, your body starts to undergo various biological changes such as increased fat breakdown and reduced insulin levels. With these changes happening so swiftly, it might be difficult for you to know whether you are in ketosis. Here are a few signs and symptoms to look out for during ketosis.
Bad Breath
Acetone, which is a family of the ketone, is often found in the urine and breath. When the acetone level in your urine and breath is elevated, your mouth begins to exhibit some side effects such as the bad breath. While this bad breath may be worrisome for your social life, it might be good news for your diet lifestyle. To eliminate this bad breath, you can make sure to brush your mouth severely within a day or consume sugar-free gum to alleviate the bad breath. Another important notice is to check the label of the sugar-free gum or drink for carbs. These may reduce your blood sugar level and impeded your ketogenic progress.
Appetite Suppression
Over the years, many keto dieters have complained of decreased hunger during ketosis. This huger reduction may be due to an increase in protein consumption or alterations to your body’s hormones responsible for hunger. Also, the ketones may affect your brain to reduce hunger.
Increased Focus and Energy
When starting a ketogenic diet, a common side effect is the keto flu or the low carb flu. The keto flu is often characterized by tiredness, brain fog, and fever. However, on a longer-term basis, ketosis often leads to increased focus and energy. At the start of the keto diet, your burning begins to adapt to burning more fats as fuel, instead of the usual carbs. But as soon as you start approaching ketosis, a large portion of your brain starts burning ketones instead of glucose. Ketones are an excellent source of fuel for the brain, and they are responsible for the brain’s improved function and clarity during ketosis.
Short Term Fatigue
Another common side effect that accompanies the keto diet is extreme weakness and fatigue. This is a significant issue for keto newbies as most new dieters often quit at the stage before reaching full ketosis. The weakness and exhaustion you feel from a keto diet are natural. It only takes your body about 7 to 30 days to adapt to the new biological changes responsible for the fatigue as well as to attain full ketosis. If you are on a ketogenic diet and you are experiencing weakness and fatigue, we recommend that you start to consume electrolyte supplements.
Digestive Issues
During the keto diet process, there is a significant switch in the types of food you eat, and these changes might give rise to digestive complications such as constipation, diarrhea, and so on. However, most of these digestive issues will subside over time, usually over the transitional period. To reduce the risk of digestive problems, you may want to avoid a diet that lacks diversity.
Insomnia
During the initial stages of ketosis, you may be a victim of a severe lack of sleep (insomnia). However, this sleepless effect begins to fade over time. When you attain full ketosis, you begin to sleep way better than you have done in the past.
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