ketogenic

Science: Metabolic Effects of the Very-Low-Carbohydrate Diets: Misunderstood “Villains” of Human Metabolism

This entry is part 121 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

In a recent thread on reddit I was directed over to an excellent journal article from 2004 “Metabolic Effects of the Very-Low-Carbohydrate Diets: Misunderstood ‘Villains’ of Human Metabolism” – it does a really great job explaining some of the actual science behind a ketogenic diet and debunks several myths including “you need 100g of carbohydrates a day to survive”. I would recommend checking it out if you ever have a doctor question you about ketogenic diets (or just want to learn new stuff!)

Abstract

During very low carbohydrate intake, the regulated and controlled production of ketone bodies causes a harmless physiological state known as dietary ketosis. Ketone bodies flow from the liver to extra-hepatic tissues (e.g., brain) for use as a fuel; this spares glucose metabolism via a mechanism similar to the sparing of glucose by oxidation of fatty acids as an alternative fuel. In comparison with glucose, the ketone bodies are actually a very good respiratory fuel. Indeed, there is no clear requirement for dietary carbohydrates for human adults. Interestingly, the effects of ketone body metabolism suggest that mild ketosis may offer therapeutic potential in a variety of different common and rare disease states. Also, the recent landmark study showed that a very-low-carbohydrate diet resulted in a significant reduction in fat mass and a concomitant increase in lean body mass in normal-weight men. Contrary to popular belief, insulin is not needed for glucose uptake and utilization in man. Finally, both muscle fat and carbohydrate burn in an amino acid flame.

By |2016-10-13T07:27:51-06:00February 22nd, 2016|Ketogenic, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Science: Metabolic Effects of the Very-Low-Carbohydrate Diets: Misunderstood “Villains” of Human Metabolism
Read More

User experience: 100lbs lost doing keto in 5 months, 3 months of Keto Chow

This entry is part 119 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

Over on Reddit there’s a post by /u/ANewAccountYetAgain detailing his experiences with nutritional ketosis. He did keto before, went from 330 to 253 lbs over 6 months but stopped when depression came back and over the next 3 years gained it all back and more.

5 months ago he started keto thanks to /r/100DaysofKeto and also tried DietBet (money as a motivator can be strong =) and lost a lot. In November, 3 months ago, he started using Keto Chow.

This ended up eliminating my last two big sources of stress: money and cooking.

It’s great to read success stories, there are tons on /r/keto and some Keto Chow specific ones on /r/ketochow. I encourage you to check them out! He said I could use his pictures, even though I dislike doing things when I have permission I’ll do it anyway =)

Before

His very first DietBet weigh in photo ~353
After

Yesterday’s photo – 253lbs

The first thing that stands out to me is he seems to be taller in the new one… oh wait, it’s just a larger photo. Still, his complexion is really clear.

By |2016-10-13T07:27:52-06:00February 12th, 2016|Weight Loss, 100 days of keto, Keto Chow, Soylent|Comments Off on User experience: 100lbs lost doing keto in 5 months, 3 months of Keto Chow
Read More

Day 040 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)

This entry is part 34 of 81 in the series 100 days of keto
  • Weight: 205.0
  • Blood ketones: 0.2 mmol/L

5 days straight with the scale going down, yay! Going to keep this going. I made eggs and sausage for the family for breakfast, and I did eat 2 patties of sausage but now I’m drinking my Keto Chow. I am planning on having a rib-eye for lunch (see above) during the keto chow mixing party that will be today.

One of my daughters is celebrating a birthday and there’s a ton of super carby desserts. They don’t even phase me anymore, I’m actually starting to get conflicted about the amount of sugar my (non-insulin resistant so they don’t need to do Keto like I do) kids eat. Hence the sausage and egg breakfast… which was almost 0 carb until they broke out the maple syrup! Regardless, our family does eat far less sugar and refined carbohydrates than before and that can only be a good thing.

By |2016-10-13T07:27:54-06:00February 12th, 2016|100 days of keto, Keto Chow, Ketogenic, Weight Loss|Comments Off on Day 040 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)
Read More

So far, no correlation between breath acetone and blood ketones

This entry is part 118 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

For the last 40 days I’ve been checking my blood ketone levels (using a Nova Max and horribly expensive test strips) and at the same time checking my breath acetone levels using a Ketonix. Based on my blood levels I haven’t been deep in ketosis but I expected there to be some sort of correlation between the two. The Ketonix is marketed as a way to check to see how far into ketosis you are, an easy way to check your levels without needing to buy expensive test strips. I don’t know if I just got a defective one that always shows high levels of acetone or what but thus far I haven’t seen any reliable data coming from the ketonix. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and I actually just ordered a second one so I can see if it’s a defective one or not. I’d love to see clear, defined results like this guy. Honestly I’d really like to have it work but my guess is I’ll be returning the new one and eating the shipping charge.

By |2016-05-05T06:37:35-06:00February 11th, 2016|Ketogenic|Comments Off on So far, no correlation between breath acetone and blood ketones
Read More

Days 035 & 036 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)

This entry is part 31 of 81 in the series 100 days of keto
  • Weight: 208.1
  • Blood ketones: 0.3 mmol/L
  • Weight: 207.8
  • Blood ketones: 0.2 mmol/L

Recovering from the conference – got to sleep in a bit Sunday morning – all the way until 8:00. My parents and my younger brother were coming over to watch the superbowl with us. With all the adults doing keto, it was an interesting spread. Cheese curds, jalapeno poppers wrapped in bacon, shrimp, chicken wings, and some sugar free jello and pudding (the pudding was made with cream cheese, cream and almond milk). There were a few carby things but not many. One of the jalapeno poppers was the first thing I had eaten all day, same for my brother. He asked if I had any magnesium supplements because he had a cramp in his abdominal muscles the night before and forgot to take extra. I didn’t know you could get a charlie horse in your abs. Guess I should have taken a couple myself: since I hadn’t eaten anything and I didn’t take my magnesium that morning I got a cramp early Monday morning in my Sartorius – that was fun.

I wasn’t really rooting for either team though I had a broncos football in elementary school so I guess deep down I wanted them to win. My mom, on the other hand, was vociferously rooting for Denver. It was a lot of fun.

Today I had the day off, happens when I only need 20 more hours this week to hit 80 for the pay period. Spent the morning mixing, packaging and generally having a keto chow party. After that finished I finally got around to doing some of the “honey-do” list: did the final sanding pass on the drywall in the wash room, put down baseboards in the bathroom and now my lovely wife is priming the new drywall so we can paint it. Fun stuff.

Incidentally, I tried some keto chow waffles, they didn’t work very well. Later I realized it might have been due to my using the wrong amount of keto chow powder in my mix. I was making 3 meals worth of batter so I should have been using 150g – instead I used the 300g I typically use when I’m making a 6 meal batch in the water pitcher. Guess I should have noticed when I had to add several cups of water in order to mix it.

By |2016-02-08T17:36:44-07:00February 8th, 2016|100 days of keto, Keto Chow|Comments Off on Days 035 & 036 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)
Read More

User Experience: 3 months and going strong!

This entry is part 117 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

My dad is on keto and drinking Keto Chow for it, He passed me another update on his progress to publish on the blog:

Keto Chow has been part of my daily diet for 3 months now.  It tastes great, is easily carried (even on airplanes,) and is very convenient.  My recent trip to Hawaii worked very well with Chow as my main food everyday (2 out of 3 meals a day) for 12 days straight.
Some people think a low-carb diet means low strength and fatigue.  I’ve had no problems keeping up my energy with Chow. I recently wanted to capture the beauty of the rugged Na Pali coast on the island of Kauai and found the only route was a treacherous hike into the jungle and over volcanic boulders.  I have never seen so many muddy adults on the trail —most were 20 and 30-something!  Many were falling down left and right, but I managed the 800 ft elevation gain (in 1/2 mile) and captured this incredible sunset image. The salt spray from the ocean waves, crashing on the shores below, was so heavy even at this elevation that I had to wipe my glasses twice to see my way!
By |2016-10-13T07:27:54-06:00February 8th, 2016|Keto Chow, Ketogenic, On Tour|Comments Off on User Experience: 3 months and going strong!
Read More

Day 026 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)

This entry is part 24 of 81 in the series 100 days of keto
  • Weight: 207.8
  • Blood ketones: 0.4 mmol/L

Made some more muffins this morning. Again the kids finished them off. We watched the finale of “My Diet is Better Than Yours” – it was kinda surreal when the Paleo guy started explaining Intermittent Fasting. My kids actually knew what it was before he explained it.

By |2016-02-02T06:24:26-07:00January 29th, 2016|100 days of keto, Keto Chow|Comments Off on Day 026 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)
Read More

PSA: “Fat Head” documentary online

This came up today so I thought I’d post for everyone, the Fat Head documentary used to be on YouTube but was taken down. Now days you can find it on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/196879 and also on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/127401963 – the Hulu one seems more official.

If you haven’t seen Fat Head, it’s a rather good introduction to HFLC/Keto and explains some of the history behind the war on fat and cholesterol. Along with the info there’s a healthy dose of humor. It’s a good way to explain what the crap you’re doing when people ask =)

It follows stand-up comedian Tom Naughton as he tries to lose weight on a fast-food diet, to prove Morgan “Super Size Me” Spurlock wrong. Along the way Naughton realizes that he himself has been wrong in focusing only on calories.

By |2016-10-13T07:27:55-06:00January 27th, 2016|Ketogenic, Weight Loss|Comments Off on PSA: “Fat Head” documentary online
Read More

Days 021 & 022 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)

This entry is part 20 of 81 in the series 100 days of keto
  • Weight: 209.0
  • Blood ketones: 0.3 mmol/L
  • Weight: 209.4
  • Blood ketones: 0.1 mmol/L

Messed up and had some “sugar free” candy – I put that in quotes because it has malitol which is only marginally better than sucrose. My weight is back up to what it was when I started 100 days of keto, so that’s 2 weeks down =( I’m optimistic it’s mostly just water weight and will come off reasonably quickly so long as I stick to what I’m supposed to be eating. Here’s to getting back on track! When I only eat Keto Chow I consistently lose weight, so let’s do that for a week.

By |2016-01-25T10:02:29-07:00January 25th, 2016|100 days of keto, Keto Chow|Comments Off on Days 021 & 022 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)
Read More

Day 018 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)

This entry is part 17 of 81 in the series 100 days of keto
  • Weight: 208.3
  • Blood ketones: 1.0 mmol/L

Weighed in for the city weight loss challenge – 210.4 with clothes on. Now I get to get rid of all the water weight I’ve accumulated over the last few days. For breakfast and lunch I have the orange jello+vanilla Keto Chow I made earlier this week, it’s all I had left in the fridge this morning when I went to work. Had to go rummaging for a spoon.

By |2016-01-21T09:43:34-07:00January 21st, 2016|100 days of keto, Keto Chow|Comments Off on Day 018 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)
Read More
Toggle Sliding Bar Area