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Building Muscle, Fitness, Ketosis, Max Fat Burning

Join Me On My Journey Into Ketosis

After a few weeks in LA after being in Europe for a month, I appear to have accumulated a few extra pounds without changing my diet. I hear this happening to people when they come to the States from Europe and I hear the opposite when people go to Europe. Scroll down to learn about Ketosis, or continue to read if you’d like to know how I think I gained these extra pounds recently in the US.

This might be down the quality of the food, namely the hormones, antibiotics and GMO corn feed that is given to animals. It might be down to the hormones and “gender bending” chemicals in the water supply that are causing male fish to grow eggs and alligator penises to shrink (true story), which is also having an impact on men’s testosterone levels and sperm counts, and also an increase in gynecomastia (man boobs).  These environmental toxins or ‘xenoestrogens’ are also causing problems with teenage girls and women too. Girls are starting their periods much younger and infertility problems among women, and men, are rife. Since these hormones trigger a rise in the female hormone, oestrogen, it’s far easier to gain fat, and they make it even harder to burn it.

The fat gain might be attributable to the pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides that are carcinogens (cause cancer) and cause endocrine-disruption (hormonal imbalance, namely a rise in oestrogen).  They all trigger inflammation too. It might also be down to excess alcohol consumed over July 4 Weekend, and a higher carb load diet, with a little wheat here and there. Who knows. It’s probably a mixture. Anyway, whatever the cause, I decided it’s about time to ditch these unwanted extra pounds.

The fastest way to do this, I believe, is by entering the weird and wonderful world of nutritional ketosis whilst eating the purest of organic meats an vegetables. What is Ketosis? Here’s a definition from BodyBuidling.com:

The metabolic state of ketosis simply means that the quantity of ketone bodies in the blood have reached higher-than-normal levels. When the body is in a ketogenic state, this means that lipid energy metabolism is intact. The body will start breaking down your own body fat to fuel the body’s normal, everyday functions. Read more

This is a really cool, fast and effective way to burn fat, fast and safely. Simply put, your body transitions from being a glucose burner (which you get from carbohydrates) to being a ketone burner derived from body fat – and also dietary fat. Interestingly, we do not actually NEED to eat high glycemic (GI) carbohydrates. High GI carbs are the ones that trigger a very sharp blood sugar response, and thus the insulin spike that follows. Insulin’s job is to regulate blood sugar to prevent it from becoming toxic. It’s a critical hormone. It’s also your fat storing hormone.  Over time, the consistent exposure to high levels of the hormone insulin can lead to insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes. And insulin resistance is accompanied by inflammation, which leads to almost every chronic disease there is.

Sadly, our typical Western diet, or Standard American Diet, is heavily geared towards an excess of carbohydrate consumption, and excess sugar of course, so has led to a drastic surge in pre-diabetes, type-2 diabetes, obesity, and also inflammation, among many other health problems. PCOS for example, is directly linked with insulin resistance. Ketosis is a very effective way to regain insulin sensitivity and also fight inflammation and even to kill cancer cells. (Cancer’s prime fuel is glucose, so you can starve the cancer cells of their primary fuel.)

So what are high GI carbs? These are the likes of potatoes, rice (white and brown), breads, pastas etc. All grains essentially, the main one being wheat which is the most inflammatory of all grains.  We can get sufficient glucose from leafy vegetables that grow above ground to provide sufficient amounts of glucose. The fat intake, from the likes of avocados, olive oil, nuts, seeds, eggs and fatty fish, provide the rest of the energy required for brain function and also physical energy.

It can take a few days to transition into ketosis. It’s actually a survival mechanism which is perfectly safe. During this time, you can get headaches, you might feel dizzy, find it hard to think and focus, and you might feel a little wobbly. It might be hard to sleep and your mood may fluctuate. However, once you’re in it, you turn into a superhuman. By this, I mean ketones are like a superfood for your brain and you find your focus improves dramatically, you can concentrate with ease, mood fluctuations flatten our and you feel way more balanced.

In addition to that, you deprive your body of insulin, so your body has no option, but to burn fat. Once you get past the pain barrier, you turn your body into a 24-7 fat burning machine and can hyper-focus like a monk. Ok, I may have gone a little far. The point is, is that it’s super cool and a great bio hack.

More benefits of Ketosis:
  1. Ketosis has a protein-sparing effect, assuming that you are consuming adequate quantities of protein and calories—0.7 grams per pound of body weight per day—in the first place.1 Once in ketosis, the body actually prefers ketones to glucose. Since the body has copious quantities of fat, this means there is no need to oxidize protein to generate glucose through gluconeogenesis.

  2. The main benefit of ketosis is that it increases the body’s ability to utilize fats for fuel, which gets very lazy on a high-carbohydrate diet. When on high-carbohydrate diets, the body can usually expect an energy source to keep entering the body. But in the state of ketosis, the body has to become efficient at mobilising fats as energy.

    Another benefit has to do with the low levels of insulin in the body, which causes greater lipolysis and free-glycerol release compared to a normal diet when insulin is around 80-120. Insulin has a lipolysis-blocking effect, which can inhibit the use of fatty acids as energy. Also, when insulin is brought to low levels, beneficial hormones are released in the body, such as growth hormone and other powerful growth factors.

    Another small but very important benefit of the ketogenic diet is that when in the state of ketosis, ketones, along with a high protein intake, seem to suppress appetite.3 A high-carbohydrate diet, on the other hand, increases hunger levels. Because you have to consume a lot of fat on a ketogenic diet, which hold 9 calories per gram, you are not getting much food volume. It’s not mandatory to be hungry on a reduced-calorie diet. Read more on BodyBuilding.com

    Pretty cool I hear you say?

    My first 2 days: Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 July 2016.

    On Monday I chose to do a green vegetable juice fast during the day and in the evening ate this meal:

    IMG_8145

    The meal was simply 3 organic eggs cooked in coconut oil, salt and black pepper, accompanied by a whole avocado, organic vine tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, kale, red peppers laced in olive oil. Yum. Normally I’ll add turmeric to my eggs as it’s highly anti-inflammatory and the King of Spices.

    And I looked like this…

    IMG_8148

    I know what you’re thinking: Who ate all the pies? My jeans are tighter than ever and I appear to have grown a winter blanket about 6 months early.

    My side effects: I had a mild headache for most of the day. It might have been down to the green tea and Americano coffee (organic of course) too, but I don’t normally get a headache when I drink those drinks. I normally start my day with green tea and have a black Americano after breakfast. It’s my treat.

    I also felt a little wobbly on my feet. I didn’t feel the most balanced of people.

    Tuesday 12 July

    I decided to combine my ketosis with Intermittent Fasting which entails an 8 hour eating window, and therefore a 16 hour fast. This has tremendous benefits for the body – but it’s not for everyone. See my post here for more info on Intermittent Fasting. One key component is that you release more human growth hormone – your fountain of youth hormone – that keeps you young. It also helps to build and maintain muscle and bone, and helps organ functionality too. I chose to engage in sprints, a form of HIIT, in a fasted state. This helps helps to maintain muscle and the after burn effects of HIIT are far superior to endurance cardio. You’re pushing your muscles, lungs and hearts to their limits so your body goes through a process of damage and repair, raising your metabolism after the workout, for up to 2 days. You also increase your pulmonary performance (lung capacity) and your heart stroke volume (the amount of blood your heart pumps per beat). It comprises sprints of your chosen form of aerobic exercise for 30 seconds, and resting for a minute or two, before engaging again. Start off slow, maybe 2-3 sprints. I did 8 today, and I felt very wobbly afterwards! Read about building muscle in ketosis here.

    Soon after my midday exercise, I chose to eat my breakfast which was almost exactly the same as my meal last night. It’s kept me fuelled and focused all afternoon. Overall today, I’m still feeling light headed but I don’t feel the headaches as I did yesterday.

    Look out for my post tomorrow…

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  1. […] journey into ketosis. I started on Monday 11th July and was intending to go for a couple of weeks. See my first post here. My first 2 days were the most ‘painful’ in terms of hunger pangs and headaches. I also […]

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