Bacon!

I am considering putting my body into a state of ketosis as a means to jump start my fitness routine after 6 weeks on the sidelines due to major surgery . As I was researching, it occurred to me that I have thought about this before, moreover, I have researched and written about this before. So of course, I Googled myself and found my old blog! Hi old friends, and new ones! 

By the way, have you ever "googled" yourself? Well once you stop, get on the computer and look yourself up. That joke is for you dirty minded kids; you know who you are.

Back to business, if you aren't familiar with keto, or just want to refresh your memory, flashback a few years on the ol' blog here and check out all the details. My curiosity in keto was refreshed by a friend that told me high fat content is a really important part of the keto diet. And not just healthy fat, but butter, cream, bacon, and cheese; yes please! Kind of seems too good to be true, I mean, sure I have to give up carbs, but add in all those indulgent foods and I might just jump on board this crazy, carb-free, train. "Nutritional ketosis" is widely debated, with study after study showing pros and cons.

After reading several studies, conducted over the last two centuries, my conclusion is that high fat, low protein intake allows for the maintenance of lean muscle while also burning fat for fuel. It is widely accepted that carbohydrates are needed to replenish depleted glycogen stores in the muscle post-workout, however, after 2-4 weeks of adaptation, physical endurance is unaffected by ketosis as long as high amounts of fat replace the carbohydrates.[1] Bonus! You can take 2-4 weeks off working out while your body adapts; I wish I knew this 4 weeks ago.

The ideal amount of protein is 1.5g per kg of "ideal" body weight. I don't know about you, but I don't know my weight in kg, so here is the conversion factor for you: (lb/2.2) I love seeing my weight in kg. Now multiply your kg by 1.5 and that is how many g of protein you need to consume for a healthy diet. I find the number to be surprisingly low. In Ketosis, the rest of your diet has to come from fat. That means 80-85% or your daily caloric intake needs to be from fat.* Too much protein (25%) leads to the fatigue and malaise noted by people who are attempting low-carb diets unsuccessfully.  The source of the 80% of fat is noted as coming from meat, fish and poultry. Getting that much fat seems exceedingly difficult without a large percentage being "unhealthy", so maybe my friend is right and we should all eat more bacon!

Choo-choo!  I think I am jumping on this train.  Let's see what happens.

Chelle

*It is very important to note that sodium and potassium supplements were provided during the study where keto-adaption occurred and health was maintained. The exact supplementation from the study is as follows: sodium at 3–5 g/d and total potassium at 2–3 g/d. 

Source:
 (1) Phinney SD (2004). "Ketogenic Diets and Physical Preformance"