One of the many meal plans that you can follow limits the number of carbohydrates, also known as carbs, you eat in a day in order to put your body into a state of ketosis. Known as the keto diet (aptly named after "ketosis"), this diet is designed to help you burn off those stores of belly fat, providing you with a clear mind and plenty of energy in the process.
How does it work? How do you end up inketosis? How do you know when you're in ketosis? These are all questions you need to know the answers to if you plan on following the diet properly.
Here's what you need to know:
What Exactly Is Ketosis?
The process of ketosis is quite simple to understand. Your body typically relies on your carbohydrate intake to be your main source of energy. When you drastically cut back on them, your body needs to get its energy from somewhere else.
This location turns out to be the fat stores you already have, usually in the form of belly or abdominal fat. As your body goes into fat-burning mode, it disappears, and you lose weight.
A more scientific explanation involves the glycogen stores that your body naturally produces. When you eat carbs or sugar-filled treats, your pancreas produces glucose to break them down.
In people with diabetes, this goes out of whack, so you end up with blood glucose levels that are either too low or too high. This can also be called your blood sugar level. Purposely going into ketosis mimics this, in a way, but in a healthier manner.
Now, going back to your glucose levels, your body turns that glucose into energy. However, when you stop eating or cut back on carbs (and those sugary treats that contain plenty of carbs), your system needs something else to provide energy.
So, glucose turns into body fat. The triglycerides stored in your body fat are turned into glucose, giving you the energy you need to go about your day.
What Does “Ketosis” Mean?
The word "ketosis" comes from ketones — these are the byproducts of your belly fat breaking down and turning it into energy. Technically, ketones are a type of acid that end up in your bloodstream and are removed or cleaned from the body when you urinate.
Remember how we mentioned diabetes above? Well, they appear in people with this condition as well. Those with diabetes have high blood ketone levels, which means they have too many ketone bodies in their bloodstream. When there is too much ketone production, and it builds up uncontrollably, it can cause a condition called ketoacidosis.
Thankfully, when you're sending your body into a normal state of ketosis, it's perfectly healthy. You don't end up going quite that far. After all, you want enough carb intake to stay in ketosis and burn off belly fat. That's everyone's goal, right?
How Can You End Up in Ketosis?
The shortest answer to this question is: by cutting back on the number of carbs. Of course, this isn't easy because carbohydrates lurk in just about everything, it seems.
You'll find them in sugary soft drinks, in prepackaged snack foods, in some vegetables and fruits, and, the most obvious, in breads, rice, cereals, and noodles. Thankfully, you can eat some carbs while on a ketogenic diet. You don't need to do away with them altogether.
What Is a Keto Diet?
Following the keto diet is one way to get into ketosis. This diet emphasizes macros or macronutrients. These are protein, carbs, and healthy fats. High-quality, healthy fats include foods with fatty acids such as fish, avocado oil, nuts, coconut oil, or olive oil.
By carefully measuring out your macros every day and emphasizing protein and healthy fats, you'll end up inketosis in no time. Note that this diet requires you to go low carb, not do away with them altogether. This means you can still eat some of the foods you enjoy, only in smaller amounts.
When it comes to choosing a keto diet plan to follow, you have several options, such as:
Traditional Keto
In a traditional, or typical keto meal plan, you will be eating a high-fat diet. The ratio for this plan consists of 70% healthy fats, 20% carbs, and 10% protein. Remember, these are percentages, not weights, so you'll need to translate them into grams.
Protein-Heavy Keto
With this diet, you end up with a higher protein intake in yourmeals. This makes it a great option for those who enjoy a high activity level, such as weight lifting, vigorous cardio, and more.
Here, the ratio to follow is 60% healthy fats, 20% protein, and 10% carbs. Again, the numbers are listed as percentages, so you need to measure your ratio into grams.
Fasting Keto
The fasting keto diet is a little different. It involves intermittent fasting (not eating, not even snacks) for several days of the week while following a modified keto diet the other days. You can choose to fast every other day, eating your keto plan the other days of the week. On this plan, you can include a little more carbs since you're fasting in between.
Intermittent Keto
A little like the fasting option, with intermittent keto, you're only following the diet on certain days of the week. For example, you might be "on" keto for Monday through Wednesday, then off Thursday, and on again Friday through Sunday.
During the day that you're off your keto diet, you can eat normally for breakfast, lunch, anddinner, which can include some additional carbs.
All of these diets, when followed properly, are enough to allow your body to enter nutritional ketosis and boost your metabolic state, where you'll start to lose weight and find you have a lot more energy.
The Benefits of Ketosis
Although we mentioned some of the health benefits of ketosis already, a few more are important to bring up. Not only can a keto diet provide you with more energy and help you lose that annoying belly fat, but it can also clear your mind (so you won't have to suffer from that sugar-crash brain fog anymore.)
Eating a high-quality keto diet can help build muscle mass. It also can help improve your cardiovascular system, making you less likely to end up with heart disease. It can help lower bad cholesterol levels (LDL) while raising good cholesterol levels (HDL).
In addition, it can even help prevent diabetes since it helps you regulate your blood sugar levels and assists you in losing weight.
What Are the Signs of Ketosis?
In a perfect world, you'll know you're in ketosis because your belly fat will magically disappear. However, it isn't that simple! In reality, losing weight happens over a period of time and can take effort. You'll need to know the signs and symptoms of ketosis to know your diet is working.
Here are two simple ways to tell:
What Are the Main Symptoms of Ketosis?
Watch out for symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, feeling tired and achy, dizziness, nausea, issues sleeping, irritability, and more. You may also notice you have bad breath. This is one of the biggest signs of ketosis.
When you first start eating keto meals, you'll notice that you begin to feel lousy after the first few days. This is called the keto flu (although it shouldn't be confused with the real flu) and is a sign your body is going into ketosis.
Thankfully, the keto flu will go away after a few days, and you'll end up feeling better. That bad breath won't disappear, though. It sticks around for as long as you're in ketosis. If you're worried about it, carry around some breath mints.
What Is the Purpose of Ketone Testing?
Another way to tell when you get into ketosis fast is by testing your ketone levels.
Traditionally, ketone tests involve urinating on a series of ketone strips or ketone meters. If you're in ketosis, they will change color accordingly.
Why does this work? Since your body eliminates the additional ketones through urine, the acids will make the strips change colors. You should test yourself at least once a day once you start a keto diet so that you know when you're in ketosis. Staying in that state is essential if you want all of the benefits of this diet.
Ketosis: In Review
A keto diet is the best way to enter ketosis faster and remain in it. These are typically low-carb diets, with a high-fat intake and protein depending on your daily physical activity. Once you've achieved the state of ketosis, your body will start to eliminate belly fat, turning it into a source of fuel.
Always stay on top of your macros. Don’t give into cravings for sugary sweets. Make sure to prioritize low carbohydrates to watch your weight naturally decline.
The signs of ketosis include bad breath, weight loss, and of course, more energy. Ultimately, if you truly want to know if your diet is successful and you're in a state of ketosis, you'll need to test your urine.
Sources:
What is Ketosis and Is It Healthy? | Healthline