The Ketosis Diet - Any opinions?

I am a 24 year old female, 5'4 and currently 177 pounds. Two and a half months ago, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Metabolic Syndrome, and Non-Alcoholic fatty liver disease. I wasn't even 200 pounds, and my body was shutting down.

I started on a ketogenic diet (which has shown promise in treating PCOS: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1334192/) on August 5th, and have lost almost 20 pounds. I have not felt deprived, I have had plenty of energy. I honestly intend to stay on a low-carb/high-fat diet for the rest of my life.

A few things you should know:

1. Ketosis is NOT ketoacidosis - you cannot accumulate enough ketones in your body to get ketoacidosis unless you are an insulin-dependent diabetic. If your blood ketones start to get high, your body releases small amounts of insulin to halt the breakdown of fat and therefore halt anymore ketones from entering your bloodstream. You will also be excreting excess ketones in your urine.

2. The ketogenic diet is NOT low-carb/high-protein. Too much protein is what strains your kidneys and causes people to end up in the ER with failing organs on low-carb diets, NOT a lack of carbs. You get your small amount of carbs from leafy vegetables, eat enough protein to maintain your lean mass, and the rest of your calories come from natural fats.

3. Take a trip to http://www.reddit.com/r/keto, they will have all the information you could possibly want about the ketogenic diet. If you can't find what you're looking for in the FAQ and menu resources, there's a good chance that someone has asked the same thing recently

Above all, do your own independent research. This diet goes against a lot of "conventional wisdom" and it will help to educate yourself on biochemistry. Do not trust random people on the internet to show you truth, not even me. Gain insight from conversation, and go research.

Best of luck to you in your journey to health!

The ketosis diet puts the body in an acidic state. Acidic states not only take the body out of it's natural balance, they have been linked to inflammation and cancer. I would not recommend it as a long term option.

I'd need a source for this. It sounds like rumour evolved to "fact". Ketosis is the natural state of a human body. Any omnivore would normally be in ketosis, as roots, leaves and meat would be the bulk of your diet, except for the short periods that fruiting trees and berries are in season, or in the rare case of lucking across a honey tree.

I works. You will lose weight following it. Just be prepared....if you ever go back to a diet even moderately high in carbs, the weight will come back. I know this from experience. It happened to me and to my husband. If you choose very low carb, you will have to stay low carb. Forever.

No, you can up your carb intake just fine, but for pete's sake do it slowly! Your poor digestive system will thank you!

Now can you go back to pizza every other night, pasta, and poboys? I wouldn't suggest it. I'm adapting this as a lifestyle. That's not to say I won't ever have pizza again (I'd much prefer a nice beer instead), but I have learned that my body just feels better eating veggies as my main source of carbs.

It's JUST like a calorie deficit. If you used to eat 3000 calories a day and lose weight on 1200, if you bump your calories back to your old habits, you'll see those horrifying scale numbers again. Although there may be the initial water weight gain, low carb isn't magic. You still have to watch calories and not go above maintenance if you don't want to gain again.

how do you know when you are in ketosis? Just by weight loss? You lose weight anyway if eating low calories.

As I understand it, ketosis causes the body to break down fats from the liver, which doesn't sound very good for you. Also, who wants to lose weight off their liver?

Anyone with a brain would like to remove fat from their liver, as fatty liver disease is not a good thing be it from alcohol or eating too much.

The liver is indeed the organ that breaks down fatty acids from fat stores and creates ketones for the brain and other organs to use as fuel. That's how our bodies work. You can fast for a week without ill effect because ketones keep your brain going.

http://www.phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/ketones_to_the_rescue.html

Right. That point about losing weight off the liver was actually a joke, thrown in to lighten my post. And it's a bit heavy-handed to start on "anyone with a brain," which comes across as a touch heavy-handed, not to mention discourteous. I don't do internet fighting, so let's calm down and return to giving the OP our many, varied, and by necessity diverse opinions on the ketosis diet, as they asked. Mine is that it's probably pointless or dangerous if you go on it without consulting your GP, as I said. Other people, including you, will probably disagree.