Simplified ketosis: the definition of ketosis and how it occurs
Digital MarketingThe word ketosis often inspires confusion or even alarm in those trying to figure out what causes it and whether it is a good thing or not. Here’s a simplified overview of ketosis.
Definition of ketosis
Let’s move from an oversimplified definition of ketosis to a moderately simple one. Ketosis means that the body has switched from using carbohydrates as a fuel source to fat, almost exclusively.
But it is a bit more complicated than that. Ketosis begins when there are not enough carbohydrates in the bloodstream to recharge the glycogen stores in the liver. What is glycogen? The liver produces glycogen from carbohydrates as a kind of quick food source for the body.
The lack of carbohydrates means that the body needs an alternative food source. So the body uses fat, specifically fatty acids, instead. The liver breaks down fats into ketone bodies, commonly known as ketones. When the liver releases these ketone bodies into the bloodstream for the body to use for energy, it is ketosis.
How does ketosis happen?
When you eat carbohydrates, your body uses them for fuel and turns the rest into fat using insulin. This means that carbohydrates are not actually stored in the body, except for those that are stored in the liver as glycogen.
If you consume all the carbohydrates in your bloodstream and do not replace them, your body will eventually have to use the fat that you are eating with your food and the fat stored in your body for fuel. It usually takes about 48 hours to induce ketosis.
Diets and ketosis
A growing number of diets recommend reducing carbohydrate intake, as the modern diet has far more than is needed to fuel the body. Things like bread, pasta, sugar, soda, candy, and other cereal or sugar-based foods are very high in carbohydrates and are being consumed more frequently and in greater amounts now than before.
The Atkins diet and the South Beach diet are based on propelling the dieter’s body into a state of ketosis to begin the process of rapid fat loss, as the body must use fat for energy during ketosis .
People who follow other low-carb diets such as the Paleo diet (also called the primary or caveman diet) can also go in and out of ketosis depending on their daily dietary choices, although inducing ketosis is not the primary goal of these diets.
Is ketosis dangerous?
This topic is hotly debated, but the truly dangerous condition related to ketosis is actually ketoacidosis. The body does not naturally go into ketoacidosis; insulin prevents it. But in people with type I diabetes, the body does not produce insulin, so a lack of glucose in the blood can lead to ketoacidosis.