Shifting to a ketones based

metabolism

Different sources of fuel and how the

body uses them

The body’s different tissues will use a given fuel

relative to its concentration in the blood stream. For

example, if your blood sugar levels are high then you

have a lot of glucose in your bloodstream,

consequently your body tissues will use more of that

fuel for energy because it is readily available.

Alternatively, if your blood glucose levels are

decreased then your body will turn to other sources

of energy like ketones,free fatty acids and proteins.

The ketogenic diet has a huge emphasis on cutting

carbohydrates because they are usually the biggest

source of glucose in your system. When you

consume large amount of carbohydrates, then your

blood sugar levels increase significantly. The

average modern diet emphasizes eating a lot of

carbs, which is probably why we have such a large

concentration of obese people. Unfortunately these

high concentration of carbs keep your blood glucose

levels constantly high so you end up becoming

insulin resistant.

Protein as a fuel source

If your body has a high glucose requirement, in

the absence of a high concentration of free fatty

acids and ketones, your body will turn to its

protein stores to produce glucose. This will

eventually result in muscle loss.

Alternatively if your body has a high glucose

requirement but you have a high concentration of

free fatty acids and ketones, then your body won’t

be forced to turn to its protein stores for glucose.

So the existence of free fatty acids and ketones

help prevent muscle loss when in ketosis.

Ketones and free fatty acids as a fuel

source

As shown in the previous paragraph, free fatty acids

and ketones are important when you are in ketosis.

Most of our body’s tissues prefer to use free fatty

acids (FFA) as fuel when it is available (lol im saying

it as if they are actually alive). Important organs like

the skeletal muscle and heart are great examples of

such body tissues that use FFA’s. However, there

are other other important organs such as the brain,

red blood cells, renal medulla, bone marrow and

type 2 muscle fibers that don’t use FFA and require

glucose.

The brain uses most of its fuel from ketones when

they are available. Scientists estimate that the

brain uses up to 75% of its fuel directly from

ketones.

After three days of ketosis all the non protein

sources of fuel will be from the oxidization of free

fatty acids and ketones. After the third week of

ketosis, most of the body’s tissues will use less

ketones and more FFA for fuel. This change/

adaptation is thought to be the body’s way of

leaving enough ketones for the brain.

Type 1 diabetes is an exception to this as ketones

will only be present when more FFA is used by

the body.

References

On my website

http://www.xtreme-fat-loss.com/shifting-

metabolism-ketone-based/