Ketosis This is my best way of describing it

So I have a question for the ketosis folks since I have ya here. Yeah, I am lazy but there is so much craze around it that it is hard to find the answer to simple questions sometimes without a whole lot of funk and fluff.

So from what I understand, in order to get into ketosis don't you have to strict low to no carb/high fat and protein diet? If so, doesn't this wreck havoc on your insulin levels? Doesn't that severely retard muscle development? The reason I am asking is I usually see crossfit people toting the ketosis diet and I can see how it would be beneficial for fat loss but confused as I believe low insulin levels really have an impact on muscle growth which is what crossfitters are really aiming to do.

Anyone care to explain what I am missing.

(and no, I am not being rude or judgmental, I am honestly curious on what I am missing)

Protein is insulinogenic....basically aminos are still shuttled to muscle regardless of carbs, plus when glucose levels drop drastically in the blood, glucagon a hormone that's released from Alpha cells in the pancreas effect liver cells to increase glucose, which also effect insulin, only to a lesser degree and glucagon also helps regulate glucose from amino acids and/or fatty acids.

No, you can't drink beer until you're so smashed you don't know what happened come the next morning, but that's no way to live.

Right back at ya.

whats he point of drinking if you aren't gonna get drunk? that's the fun of it all....

If you read the other comments, it takes less to get that far (seriously, like one). And frankly, I'll take mead, vodka, or whiskey over beer any day of the week. If you're looking to get drunk, you get more bang for your nutritional buck (and possibly monetary buck, when you account for the fact that you have to drink more by volume to get drunk with beer) with 151, anyway, so...if you're looking to get drunk, what's the point of beer, anyway?

Aside from that, getting smashed to the point that I'm no longer aware of my surroundings, thus putting myself in an extremely vulnerable position, both in terms of safety and dignity (as a bartender, you should be fully aware of how idiotic some people are when smashed, I know I've seen people do some pretty stupid stuff), isn't my idea of fun. If it's yours, though, far be it from me to stop you. As my mom once told me, you're an adult, it's your life, ruin it how you want. :ohwell:

I used to be almost no carb and experienced a lot of energy and a real bad taste in my mouth. But it just wasn't for me. My body fat percentage is very low so unless I eat high fats there is really no where left for my body to get the fat from. I don't want to sacrifice my muscles and I'm trying to grow them so... I do very limited carbs, aside from my vegetables that I snack on througout the day I only get the whole grain kind in the morning e.g., Josephs flax low carb lavash or Ezekial bread with a lot of fiber to reduce the carbs.

I did notice that without the carbs I developed an intense sweets craving which I had to battle through for a while.

I don't eat pasta, rice, any form of white bread or flour and I steer clear from most wheat products.

Overall since I introduced restricted carbs back into my diet I feel much better, even more so than I did when I had no carbs. I learned that carbs are not the enemy and depending on the workout and the time of the workout I certainly need a few to push through.

Now I stick to very low carb, moderate healthy fats and high protein. I find that my particular body / stats / activities and level of activity respond really well to that combination. I also restrict my calories for the most part and shoot for a good size deficit on a daily basis.

Sorry... I know this post wasn't really about carbs but I guess it's kind of related. Hope someone can find this useful.

Thanks!

So I have a question for the ketosis folks since I have ya here. Yeah, I am lazy but there is so much craze around it that it is hard to find the answer to simple questions sometimes without a whole lot of funk and fluff.

So from what I understand, in order to get into ketosis don't you have to strict low to no carb/high fat and protein diet? If so, doesn't this wreck havoc on your insulin levels? Doesn't that severely retard muscle development? The reason I am asking is I usually see crossfit people toting the ketosis diet and I can see how it would be beneficial for fat loss but confused as I believe low insulin levels really have an impact on muscle growth which is what crossfitters are really aiming to do.

Anyone care to explain what I am missing.

(and no, I am not being rude or judgmental, I am honestly curious on what I am missing)

I just wanted to say was that to be in ketosis you should have a low carb/moderate protein/ high fat diet. If you eat too much protein then your body will make glucose out of the protein through something called gluconeogenesis-thus spiking insulin level.

I personally wouldn't recommend it for building muscle or cross-fitters. Its best for people with sever metabolic issues and neurological disorders.

Go tell them cross-fitters to eat some sweet potatoes!!!!!

Ketosis for a short period of time (couple of days) will do no harm what so ever. A prolonged period can lead to insulin resistance.

Not really true. There's a difference between insulin resistance and "physiological insulin resistance" (or peripheral insulin resistance) The first one is the diabetic/pre-diabetic state of not being able to process glucose and insulin effectively. The latter is a temporary state in which the body makes the muscles insulin resistant so that the available glucose can be used by the organs that have priority for using glucose (ie - the brain).

Ever watch Star Trek? Ever see any of the episodes where they have to route a whole bunch of energy to a particular thing? Where's the last place they pull energy from? Life support (specifically, life support on the bridge and engineering, and sick bay, just below that, as the system will allow life support in other areas to fail before letting those three fail). Why? Because those areas, and the crew in them, are vital to keeping the ship running over the long run.

It's the same idea when it comes to a lack of external sources of glucose - the brain is the body's "bridge" (and engineering), so when you're in ketosis, any glucose the body does get is reserved for the brain. The rest of the body can work just as well on fuel sources other than glucose. The fact that this is a non-permanent physiological adaptation is evident in the fact that if you eat a higher level of carbs for a period of time (the numbers I've seen mention about 4 days, as this is also a problem for keto people and glucose tolerance tests), then your body will make the muscles insulin-sensitive again.

Oh, and the big catch - the largely only happens in people who are already lean. In overweight people (and those who suffer from the pre-diabetic insulin resistance), the ketogenic state improves insulin sensitivity.

Mark Sisson has a good article on the topic of low carb and insulin sensitivity, including some links to studies on the matter - http://www.marksdailyapple.com/does-eating-low-carb-cause-insulin-resistance