Lean Forever: Vegeketosis, Part I

First off, what the hell is ketosis?  There's plenty of sites dedicated to more scientific explanations, but, above all else, I'm a layman.

In the normal, food-pyramid-y, equal parts carbs and protein diet, your body takes carbohydrates and breaks them down into glucose, which is then shuttled into the bloodstream.  When the pancreas notices the uptick in glucose levels it produces insulin, the hormone that latches onto glucose and shoves it into cells for energy.  Obviously this process is flawed for diabetic folks and the hypoglycemic.

When the body doesn't have enough glucose, the pancreas goes to its backup plan and releases lipase: an enzyme that breaks down stored fat (triglycerides).  The fat cells go to the liver for further processing, creating glycerol and ketones.  The glycerol is further metabolized through amino acids and lactate into glucose, and the ketones are metabolized into BHB (which the brain uses for fuel) and acetone (which is either further metabolized into glucose, or peed out).

The main goal of a ketogenic diet is to keep the body steadily (and safely) in ketosis, which will, in turn, burn fat for fuel.

What's awesome about a ketogenic diet, and what's awful?

Awesome:

• Ketosis relies on a steady input of protein and...drum roll...fat.  It seems wildly antithetical to think of fat as a necessary macro for fat loss, but fat is a) almost entirely ketogenic, which means that if you're in ketosis then that fat is being metabolized immediately for fuel, and b) wildly filling.  I did a ketogenic diet late last year and I'm on day 2 as I type this, and feeling hungry has never, ever, ever been an issue.
• If you're an omnivore, ketogenic diets are similar to Atkins, except with a greater focus on the kinds of fats you're ingesting (so maybe don't eat bacon for three meals)...but this does mean that lean meats and seafood will get top billing with every meal, and everyone knows how delicious they are.
• If you're a vegetarian, welcome to a world of eggs, nuts, and cheese, and nearly every mock-meat is low carb (avoid anything breaded, though).
• With Atkins and Paleo diets still relatively popular, you have a wealth of resources for recipes and meal ideas that are either 100% ketogenic or very easily could be with a few tweaks.
• Ketogenic diets fit in very nicely with Advocare supplements, and (as I'll show in Part II) can be easily adapted to a Lean in 13 program or even a 24 Day Challenge.

Awful:

• Goodbye, bread (although I've made a pretty tasty low-carb bread last weekend)
• Goodbye, pasta (although shirataki noodles are an admirable substitute)
• Goodbye, wine and beer (both high carb...most hard liquors are zero carb and won't knock you out of ketosis, although it will slow down metabolic processes).
• Goodbye ice cream (I don't have a sweet tooth, and there are some ways to still get your dessert on).
• Goodbye fruit (I really have no response to this.  Not eating fruit sucks.  If you plan accordingly you can probably swing some raspberries or blackberries, which are both about as low-carb as a fruit can get)
• If you're a vegan, I hope you love a challenge.  Tofu will have to be your best friend, as every other bean is too high carb to maintain ketosis.

So, before you dive right in to a ketogenic lifestyle, you need to figure out your macros.  Luckily people have already done the legwork, and there's a great site (http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com) that will take your inputs and shoot out a calorie count along with your protein, fat, and carb ratios.

It's interesting to see the min and max...so on an absolutely terrible day (and 285 grams of fat would definitely be terrible...it's like eating a stick of butter), as long as my carbs stay below 30 I'm at least in ketosis.

Most calorie trackers (I use MyFitnessPal) allow you to adjust macros in the tracking, so setting this up was a breeze.

A quick note: when I (or any ketogenic diet site) discuss carbs, they're referring to NET carbs.  There's a very, very complex formula on determining net carbs, so write this down:  take the carbohydrate count, and subtract the fiber. Unfortunately MyFitnessPal doesn't let me track a net carb macro, so I'm constantly warned that "Your goal was to stay below 30 carbs!" and I'm all "I KNOW, I KNOW.  I AM."  Luckily you CAN adjust the food tracking to show net carbs, so doing the math is still easy.

Coming up in Part II:

• I put butter in my coffee.  You heard me.
• Muscle Gain is mana from the heavens.
• Get ready to pee forever.
• Not all vegetables are created equal