What Is Ketosis? What Are the Benefits?

You’ll probably come across this term when you’re reading info on weight loss or diabetes.

The metabolic process of Ketosis occurs when your body does not have sufficient carbohydrates to burn for producing energy. So, it burns fat and builds up acids called ketones, which are used as fuel.

The Keto Diet

Ketosis occurs when you follow a ketogenic or keto diet. The process also usually occurs in diabetes patients, as ketosis could occur if your body doesn’t have sufficient insulin.

The process

Under normal conditions, your body cells utilize glucose to produce energy. Glucose can be obtained from dietary carbs like starchy food and sugar, which are broken down by the body into simple sugars.

Then, your body either makes use of glucose as fuel or stores it in the muscles & liver as glycogen.

When there is insufficient glucose available, your body begins to use glucose from triglycerides to manufacture enough energy.

What Are Ketones?

Ketones are acids that get built up in blood & leave your body in the form of urine. These are released during the process of ketosis.

Besides being a sustainable source of energy, ketones help reduce oxidative stress & inflammation, which are the primary causes of various chronic diseases.

Benefits Of Ketosis

• Ketosis helps regulate, even suppress appetite: Thus, when the process occurs in the body, the hunger pangs bother you less frequently. 
• It helps in weight loss: As keto diets suppress appetite, reduce insulin levels, & increase the rate at which fat is burnt, these outperform many other diets that are had, keeping weight loss in view.
• Reverse diabetes & prediabetes: Ketosis helps people with Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes regulate their blood sugar & insulin response. This can eventually even help them discontinue diabetes medication.
• Better athletic performance: The process of ketosis facilitates fuel supply for an extended period of time in recreational and high-level athletes.
• Helps manage seizures: It helps control the severe symptoms of epilepsy in children & adults, who otherwise might not respond to anti-seizure medications.
• Improves metabolism: ​You burn extra calories on the ketogenic diet as it is ‘expensive’ for the body to make ketones.
  Due to limited carbohydrates, your body works harder as it needs more energy for turning fats into ketones than it needs to transform carbohydrates into glucose.

This leads to better metabolism.

• Helps improve memory: There is a positive relation between ketogenic diet intake and memory performance improvement: the more the amount of ketones in the bloodstream, the better the improvement in memory.
• Prevents heart disease: A ketogenic diet reduces LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and increases HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol).
  Thus, cutting down on carbohydrates helps cause a decrease in blood triglycerides, which reduces the risk of a stroke or a heart attack.

• Mitigates Inflammation In the Brain: A ketogenic diet provides a high amount of antioxidant protection, which helps battle those oxidants that cause poor memory & depression. It also reduces inflammation in the brain.

So, ready to give the keto diet a shot?