Drew Manning
Co-Founder of Complete Wellness
Founder of Fit2Fat2Fit
In recent years, the Keto diet has blown up in popularity, and for good reason!
People are using it for so many reasons because of the amazing benefits it offers.
But many people don’t know how it works, so that’s why I’m here to talk about what happens in your body when you follow a Ketogenic diet!
Our Bodies On Keto
Our bodies have two different sources of fuel to use.
#1 is glucose, which is what most people are running off of because we eat a lot of carbohydrates in our diet and in our society.
What happens when we run out of that glucose? Our bodies can only store maybe two to 3000 calories of glucose at a time. Well, guess what? Most people burn through that in a day or two!
#2 is ketones, which is the fuel source our bodies can tap into when we deplete our glucose stores. These ketones are made from our body fat! Once we’ve burned through all the glycogen in our muscles and in our liver, our bodies switch to ketones. This is where the name “Ketogenic” comes from.
Fat Burner vs. Sugar Burner
In a nutshell, when you transition into this state of ketosis, your body is turning you into a fat burner instead of a sugar burner.
Sugar is burned off extremely quickly and affects other hormones such as insulin, that make you sleepy. That is why many people have that post-lunch, mid-day crash.
When your brain and body are running off of ketones instead of glucose, it’s an amazing feeling.
- Your brain feels a lot sharper
- The mental clarity is through the roof
- There’s an improvement in cognitive function
- Your satiety levels go up
- You’re not hungry as often
- You can go longer periods of time without food
We evolved as a species was because we had this backup system where we could tap into stored body fat as energy when we ran out of food.
It Takes Time!
You’ve spent your entire life running off of glucose, therefore, It might take a few weeks for your body to fully adapt to running off of ketones instead.
During these few weeks, you might experience what’s called the “Keto-Flu.” You can read about it in more depth here: Keto & Headaches. Don’t worry! There are ways to overcome it, if not, completely avoid it - if you take the necessary steps!
But when you do finally achieve this nutritional state of ketosis, like I mentioned before, you will start to feel amazing. The longer you do it, the more amazing you will feel!
