Ketosis - low-carb diet

Alyx128

Okay, so this is going to be a long post. I have been reading a lot about the paleo diet and ketogenic diet lately. It makes sense to me. I read something recently that made me really think. If your anything hear something about diet ask yourself "Does this make evolutionary sense?" This is a really neat perspective, and looking at this way the normal high card diet doesn't make any evolutionary sense. My recommendation for carbs according to MFP is 165 per day on a 1200 calorie diet. Well if we really needed that many carbs the human race would have died off a long time ago before the advent of agriculture. I have been following the paleo diet for a week and even though I ate unlimited seasonal fruits I still never ate more than half of what MFP says. So you could now say that I am a convert to this type of diet. If our bodies evolved based on a certain diet it makes sense to eat that way.

Anyway, that being said I have been reading about the advantages of a ketogenic diet. I remember when I was a teenager I went on the South Beach diet and lost 12 pounds in two weeks lost another 20 pounds in a month and kept it off for several months until a week-long vacation got me off that path. For a week solid I consumed carb-laden buffet fare, and when I came back I found it really hard to get back on the wagon. Won't make that mistake again. I am guessing that I was in ketosis during phase 1 of South Beach considering it is very low carb. I want these results again.

I am a little confused on the details of what I should eat and how much I should eat of each macro nutrient. I read on askmen.com that if you want for ketosis to kick in you need to consume 50 grams of carbs or less. It also said to be careful because the brain needs 104 grams of carbs per day unless it is in ketosis. So there can be problems from eating low carb, but not low enough for ketosis. This article also said that you need to eat atleast 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body fat if you are on a low calorie (below 10 calories per pound of body weight),low carb diet, in order to prevent muscle loss. Another article said that ketones are the preferred fuel for the heart and increase its efficiency by 28 percent, which sounds awesome. Is there a formula for how much of each macro nutrient one needs to eat during a ketogenic diet. I imagine that since I am a woman I, and have less muscle mass to maintain, I don't need to necessarily eat the 1.5 grams per pound of body weight recommended on this site (which is for men). I i do I definitely will have to add in some dairy (whey protein shakes, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese) to my current paleo diet as I am allergic to beef and pork and I am on a budget. How about fat is there a formula for how much fat i should consume during a ketogenic diet (like bodyweight times X grams). Is 50 grams of carbs usually low enough to go into ketosis? And finally should I still stay with the 1,200 net calories recommended by MFP or should I raise this amount? If so by how much? Any and all help would be much appreciated!

Dear God, I just realized how long a post this is after I posted this. I supposed the subject is a little misleading. It should have said Alyx's life story and a little about ketosis.

Oh and here are the links to the articles that I was talking about

http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_150/185_fitness_tip.html
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/ketosis-cleans-our-cells/

operadiva22

I am also doing ketosis. I learned everything I needed to know (and then some) through reddit.com. They have an entire forum for ketosis. Go to the search area and type keto. There will be MANY discussions and to the right will be lots of explanations as well as awesome recipes. Hope that helps!

Larius

I'd suggest reading Lyle McDonald, starting with the free articles on his website.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/index.php?s=ketosis

natskedat

I'll stay out of the ketogenic diet discussion because the juy's still out for me. However, when asking a question about a diet or lifestyle plan, I'd forgo the question of "Does this make evolutionary sense?" Worldwide, different cultures survived on different diets. Peoples in the Middle East and Europe lived among some of the richest sources of food in the world, while peoples in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Northern Siberia lacked those bountiful resources. Worldwide, before any agricultural advances, people thrived on what they found. Yes, they likely ate a lot of meat. But they also saw animals eating grains and grasses, and those animals didn't die. Those foods were deemed to be edible, and so they were consumed. We should assume that in regions rich in tubers (North America, South America, Australia), the people ate starchy, carby potatoes. Their diets probably changed seasonally, as well, until they learned to domesticate animals and understand the concept of seeds.

Again, I'm not discounting the value of a paleo diet. Because all regions were not blessed with the same foodstuffs, adopting a diet plan because of generalizations about paleo man's diet defies logic. It's difficult to get behind a historical foods movement that's not really based on history.

For information on the likely development of paleo man's diet, I read Jared Diamond amazing book called "Guns, Germs, and Steel". It's fascinating.

DancinSMartiPants

[For information on the likely development of paleo man's diet, I read Jared Diamond amazing book called "Guns, Germs, and Steel". It's fascinating.
[/quote]

I've read that and it's GREAT. A total eye-opener for me.