Low carb diets have numerous advantages when compared with most other types weight loss programs. You don’t have to attend meetings, buy special diet foods or count calories. You don’t have to give up rich, creamy sauces or juicy steaks and pork chops in order to burn excess body fat. You never even have to have to fight hunger with will power. One frequently misunderstood aspect of low carbing is ketosis, the metabolic by-product of accelerated fat-burning.
Our cells have evolved to make use of two sorts of fuel. They can run on glucose, derived from starches and sugars. Alternatively they can get their energy from fatty acids derived from dietary fat or stored body fat. Clearly, if we want to lose excess weight, we would prefer our metabolism to burn stored fat.
We can painlessly switch our metabolism into fat-burning more by severely reducing our intake of dietary carbohydrate. When the body does not have enough available glucose to meet its energy needs, it produces the hormone glucagon. This hormone triggers the fat cells to release free fatty acids into circulation. As stored fat is broken down, molecules called ketones are produced.
Ketones are generated every time the body breaks down stored fat for use as energy. Even people who consume large amounts of carbohydrate produce ketones every night. During the eight hour fast while we are asleep, our blood sugar naturally drops. This prompts the release of glucagon which activates the fat-burning process.
Because stored fat is continually converted into energy in the absence of glucose from carbohydrates, a low carb diet naturally leads to the production of more ketones. When levels of ketones rise to the point where they can be measured in the blood, we are said to be in ketosis.
Some types of ketones are immediately used for energy. In the absence of carbohydrates, the brain and central nervous system will run largely on ketone bodies converted from dietary fat. The heart and kidneys actually prefer ketones to glucose.
One type of ketone molecule, acetone, cannot be used as energy and must be excreted through the urine, stool or breath. This is the source of the claim that low carb diets cause halitosis. However, acetone breath on a low carb diet is usually a sign that a person is not drinking the recommended amount of liquids.
Several studies have shown that people on ketogenic diets experience reduced appetite. Because fatty acids are continually being released into circulation, the body’s energy needs are met and hunger signals are inhibited. Falling blood sugar is the physical source of food cravings. When the metabolism has switched from glucose burning to fat burning mode, blood sugar levels stay constant.
Ketogenic low carb programs ensure that the weight dieters lose comes from body fat and not from muscle tissue. They promote the release of stored fatty acids and ketones to be burned as fuel. They also encourage people to eat a relatively high protein diet. As a result, the body never needs to break down muscle to meet its energy requirements, as it would on a typical low calorie diet.
When we are in ketosis as a result of limiting carbohydrates, it means that our body is breaking down excess fat and burning it for energy. There is nothing unnatural about this process. It is exactly what we want to happen when we set out to lose weight. A low carb ketogenic diet plan is a healthy alternative to a low fat, low calorie diet.
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