KD’s were used by the old-timers because they knew it was the best way to maintain lean muscle mass while shedding fat at the fastest rate possible. This article will give you a description of the diet itself; later articles will describe the variations.
The basic idea of a KD is to induce a ketogenic state. Reducing your carbs to below roughly 30 grams a day does this.
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This reduces the your blood glucose levels and insulin levels. In turn your glucagon levels increase which will cause an increase in the number of ketone bodies in the blood. Ketone bodies (KB’s) are the product of fat metabolism. Once KB’s are at sufficient levels i.e. higher than glucose levels, they become the preferred choice of fuel for the body. (yes, contrary to what you might have heard the brain will use KB’s as fuel). Once this happens you are officially in ketosis.
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KD’s were used by the old-timers because they knew it was the best way to maintain lean muscle mass while shedding fat at the fastest rate possible. This article will give you a description of the diet itself; later articles will describe the variations. The basic idea of a KD is to induce a ketogenic state. Reducing your carbs to below roughly 30 grams a day does this. This reduces the your blood glucose levels and insulin levels.
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In turn your glucagon levels increase which will cause an increase in the number of ketone bodies in the blood. Ketone bodies (KB’s) are the product of fat metabolism. Once KB’s are at sufficient levels i.e. higher than glucose levels, they become the preferred choice of fuel for the body. (yes, contrary to what you might have heard the brain will use KB’s as fuel). Once this happens you are officially in ketosis.
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So basically eat less than 30 grams of carbs a day and after a couple of hard training sessions you will be in ketosis and well on your way to dropping those pounds…or stones!! The main components of this diet are protein and fat. I suggest 1.5g of protein per pound total body weight. This is enough to prevent muscle loss. The remaining calories are in the form of fat. Hehehe
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Advantages of a KD would be a lower likelihood of losing muscle, no hunger pangs, you will not feel hungry at all throughout the diet!!!. However the other side to this very pretty picture is that the diet is very unsocial. Your food range, (described later) is very limited, this may put a damper on your social life. On the upside alcohol is allowed, in fact you will get drunk faster (maybe they should recommend this to students!).
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Alcohol will simply be converted to KB’s and burnt off. Also it will take some time, 2 to 3 weeks to get accustomed to the diet and you may feel slightly lightheaded at times as the body gets used to this. If you’re in the middle of a set of exams or your job requires some serious thought the KD is not recommended. You will find, when in ketosis that you will go to the toilet a lot, ketosis is a dueretic state so make sure you drink lots of water.
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A pint an hour is reasonable. Water will taste fantastically sweet so that shouldn’t be a problem.
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So what can be eaten? Any food that doesn’t have carbohydrates. Let’s see: meats, eggs, fish, cheese. These are you staple foods. There is some variation there but not much, personally I can eat the same thing day in day out so this doesn’t pose a problem. But some connoisseur’s out there like variety. You have to be imaginative. Try omelets of different kinds. With KD’s back in mainstream there are plenty of cookbooks made for this diet out there.
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If you’ve totally ignored what has been written in this article but still want to star the diet just remember this, FIBRE. You must include fiber in the diet or risk disastrous consequences!!! I’ll omit the details; anyone stupid enough to try the diet without fiber deserves them… Flaxseed is a good source of fiber, also vegetables such as lettuce ands the like have sufficient low digestible carb values.
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Lets review then. A sample log may look like this:
Monday: Started KD, 1:00pm minimum carbs from now on
Tuesday: Went to the gym, still minumum carbs
Wednesday: Rest day, still minimum carbs
Thursday: Went to the gym, AM IN KETOSIS, woohoo
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You may achieve ketosis sooner or later than the above. Now how do you know when you are in ketosis. From the local pharmacy pick up some ketostix. These are little strips of plastic with a chemical patch on them. This chemical changes colour when in contact with KB’s. Here's a little tip, if you are a little obsessive compulsive a good idea is to cut the ketostix in to two pieces (three if you’re brave enough). This will save you a lot of money.
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You have now read the basics of a KD. The variations on this are the targeted KD and the cyclic KD. A regular KD where you induce and remain in ketosis until the end of your diet would be disastrous for weight training. More than a few weeks in ketosis will make intensive training impossible. TKD and CKD give you the best of ketogenic fat loss and carbohydrate driven heavy-duty workouts so be sure to check out those future articles.
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