Adventures in Ketosis - Part 1: Gearing Up

I'm always looking for natural ways to improve my health and sense of well being. Not long ago, I stumbled upon the concept of Ketogenic Adaptation, a.k.a. Ketosis or Keto. The science behind it is a bit complicated, but the short version is this: Adapting your body to prefer burning fats over carbohydrates -- not only for weight loss, but as a life style the has scores of scientifically proven benefits from diabetes control, improved cognition, reduced risk of heart disease, improved athletic endurance and performance,  even reduction of epileptic seizures, and many more.

I'm looking for the increased energy, cognition and performance aspects of it, along with reduced food cravings and, to be honest, getting my body fat below the 10% level out of pure vanity. The numerous other health benefits are a wonderful bonus. 

I won't go into all of the details, because frankly there are lots of resources (Check out The Art and Science of Low Carb Living for the single most comprehensive I've found.) It's similar to Paleo (but grounded in more science, from what I've seen) and Atkins (but less focused on short term weight loss), in that it requires a dramatic reduction in the amount of carbohydrates one eats. But the most important part is a dramatic increase in the amount of fat one eats, up to 80% of calories.

The basic principles to keep in mind when doing this type of diet are:

• Keep net carbs (total carbs minus fiber) below 50g per day
• Keep protein between .7g and 1g per pound of lean body mass per day (too high can throw you out of Keto, to low can cost you lean mass)
• The remainder of your calories (60-80%) are from healthy fat sources, mainly saturated and monounsaturated. 
• Stay away from polyunsaturated fats, too many tend to make people feel ill.
• Increase sodium intake, because you'll be excreting more than on a high-carb diet. 

The goal is to restrict your carbs enough to force your body to convert fats into chemicals call ketones, and to use those as an energy source. However, it can take two to three weeks for this adaptation to take place, and afterwards, increasing your carbs too much can cause your body to switch back over to the preferring carbs.

There is an important distinction a lot of discussions about Keto seem to miss or gloss over: being "in ketosis" is different from being "keto adapted." Ketones are specific chemicals your body produces from fat. When you're body produces enough to put your blood serum levels of ketones between 0.5mM and 8.0mM, you are considered to be "in ketosis." This does NOT mean that your muscles, organs and brain are actually choosing to use these available ketones as fuel. In other words, just because there are ketones available, does not mean your body uses them.

There are now a number of performance supplements available that will very quickly increase your blood ketone levels, but if you're body doesn't choose to burn them (because it is carb adapted), they won't do you much good. Being Keto-Adapted is when you're body recognizes ketones as a primary and preferred source of energy. That takes a couple weeks to reach, and must be maintained through diet. 

Once keto-adapted, I expect the performance benefits of keto supplements are probably very good, but they're pretty new in the market, and I'm not a competitive athlete, so I'll leave them alone for now. Besides, the science already shows the endurance increases of a keto lifestyle are pretty remarkable, I'm not sure the unknown risks of supplements are even worth it.

There's tons of info available about the sciences, the body chemistry, recipes, etc. But little about what to expect while going through adaptation, the initial two to three weeks. What I've seen says many people experience a initial period of lethargy and mental fog, some so bad its called "Keto flu," and that after about two weeks, you suddenly feel fantastic. But not much else about the day to day, hour to hour things you'll experience.

I know when I begin making a lifestyle change, I become hyper aware of my physical and mental state, and constantly wonder "is this normal?" Since I couldn't find anything detailed about what to expect, I decided to document my experience for others considering this change. 

My documentation will be as detailed as I can make it, but I am not a scientific or medial expert, so follow at your own risk. And please, consult your doctor and read the research on Ketosis and Low Carbohydrate Diet before trying this yourself. 

Keto is about using diet to make some pretty radical physiological changes. Fortunately, I love tracking numbers, so I have a solid base line of my own data for months, and even years, across a variety of bio-markers which I will continue to monitor as I go into Ketosis. Here's the various types of data have been and will continue to monitor through the next few weeks.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV): This measures the variation in time between heart beats and is a measure of the your bodies ability to recover from stress, both physical and mental. It is taken every morning upon waking. I've been tracking mine consistently for a couple years as a way to know if my body is ready for another hard workout, and it's very effective in telling me when I need to take a break. I use a Polar Heart Rate monitor chest strap and Elite HRV app. 

Body Composition: Body weight and body fat are important to know together. I have tracked both for years, and recently began using use a Skulpt Chisel, which is accurate to within 2% of a DEXA scan. I have data going back to July 2017 from the Skulpt, so I can monitor any changes in my lean body mass and body competition. I typically weigh myself first thing every Monday morning, take 8 body measurements with a tape measure, and do a full Skulpt scan (16 readings) for body fat and muscle quality. 

Blood Markers: Blood glucose and Ketones are the things I want to know, they should be inversely affected, as Ketones rise, glucose should decline. I use a Keto-Mojo, which monitors both with different test strips in exactly the same way a diabetic would measure their glucose, by pricking my finger and getting a little blood. Prior to beginning the diet, I measured both ketones and glucose for a couple weeks to get a baseline.

Ketones can be measured three ways, with urine test strips, with a breathalyzer and in the blood. Urine stripes only tell you what you're excreting, and are effected by hydration, so they're not very accurate. Breathalyzers measure acetone in your saliva, which again is an excretion, so not as accurate, and the device is expensive.

Keto blood test measure ketones in your blood, which are the ketones you're body can access to energy, so its the most accurate. Until recently, the blood test strips were expensive, about $5 each. Keto-Mojo now offers them for $1 to $2, depending on if you get into their "Founder's Club." 

Macro Nutrients: To make sure I'm doing the diet correctly, I'm recording everything I eat with the Cronometer app on my phone. It can measure net carbs, which makes it much easier, and includes alcohol as a fourth macro, which I do drink, so that's handy. I don't expect to track my food so meticulously after I'm fully adapted, but it'll help to learn what I can and can't eat and how much.

Those are all the things I'll be tracking, along with keeping a journal of my experiences. In my next post, I'll give you details about how it all went!