Ketogenic Diet and Fat Adaptation

February 20, 2019

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What is Fat Adaptation

Fat adaptation is something people don’t think about when they are looking at the ketogenic diet.This is the way your body was designed to work. You were designed to live in periods of feast and famine. People have negative thoughts when they think about consuming more fat. They also have negative beliefs pertaining to consuming more cholesterol. Guess what, people have heart attacks with low LDL and with a high LDL. There is no correlation. Actually people with low cholesterol tend to have more mental issues. Your brain needs fat to function. 

Can you do a ketogenic diet long term

 What will this diet  do for me long term? The benefits that occur long term  happens when the body becomes very efficient at utilizing fats.  Everything in our body  is an adaptation. If you go to the gym and workout you get stronger because you are adapting to lift bigger weights. Our bodies ability to adapt and create metabolic efficiency is one of the most amazing things  humans can do. With the ketogenic you end up conditioning your body to using fats as a fuel source. Fats are the cleanest source of fuel that your body can use.  Someone who has never been in ketosis before because they have been eating carbs their entire life has never experienced the benefits of a ketogenic diet. If someone were to start a keto diet they would  lose a bunch of weight and  feel amazing. That person could actually start eating carbs again and their body would preferentially use fats because they’ve conditioned their body. They have taught their body how to utilize fats. We call this fat adaptation. Inside our cells we have something known as the mitochondria. Mitochondria is the energy powerhouse within a cell. When that mitochondria develops the ability to use fats it doesn’t forget. Research shows it only takes four to six weeks  to get fat adapted. 

How to get into ketosis

You can’t just go cold turkey into a ketogenic state. You want to follow a specific protocol because you want to make sure that you’re optimizing your cells to utilize those fats right. We want to set ourselves up for long-term success by allowing our body to get truly fat adapted. We set ourselves up for long-term success because a diet isn’t just measured by how much weight  you lose in a couple of weeks. People that truly want to lose weight and keep it off need to get their body conditioned to use fats. Studies are now showing that the brain can operate very effectively on ketones and fat. Imagine being able to lose weight, keep it off, and  also heighten your brain’s ability to function. You can  be a lean, mean, smart machine. That is what we are truly after. Remember, food is medicine.