WHAT IS KETOGENIC DIET

What does the science say about ketogenic diets and why they probably won't help you "dry out" much.

There are many different food patterns, many of them even bearing beautiful names, such as South Beach diet, weight loss diet, Atkins diet, HCG diet, bulk diet, paleo diet, IIFYM (literally "If it fits the diet")your "-" if it fits in KBJU "), reverse carbohydrate supplement (carbohydrate back supplement), ketogenic diet, which will be discussed today.

One of the most widely used foods is ketogenic. Despite the fact that many people use it to burn fat, this diet is surrounded by a lot of misconceptions.

Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of a ketogenic diet is how it affects your sports performance and your ability to gain muscle mass and increase strength.

The ketogenic diet - from the word "ketosis"

Ketosis is a metabolic condition that occurs when the amount of carbohydrates in your diet is so low that your body simply needs to use the fatty acids and ketone metabolism of your body for energy. It seems like everything is simple, but let's understand this process to understand why our body goes into ketosis.

Our bodies need enough ATP energy to function.

ATP is a comprehensive energy source for all biochemical processes in living systems.

You need an average of 1, 800 kcal a day (you can calculate your personal percentage on a fitness calculator) to produce enough ATP and be viable. At the same time, the central brain needs about 400 kcal a day and uses almost only glucose as energy. This means that a personneeds to consume 100 g of glucose per day just to maintain normal brain function.

What does this have to do with ketosis? With a ketogenic diet, we remove almost all carbohydrates from our diet, which means we are depriving our brains of glucose. But we need the brain to work somehow. Fortunately, the liver stores glucose in the form of glycogen and can give a small amount of it to the brain to keep it going. Our liver can store an average of 100-120 grams of glucose. With a lack of carbohydrates for the brain to function, the liver allows us to function normally throughout the day. In the end, however, it is not possible to replenish the liver's glucose reserves rapidly, and carbohydrates are not only needed in the brain, which is why we have problems.

Our muscles also store a lot of glucose - they contain 400-500 grams of glucose in the form of glycogen stores.

However, glycogen stores are not primarily designed to feed the brain. Unfortunately, our muscles cannot break down glycogen and put it into the bloodstream to eventually feed our brain, due to a lack of muscle enzyme that breaks down glycogen (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase).

In the absence of carbohydrates, the liver begins to produce ketone bodies that pass through the bloodstream to our brain and other non-energy-rich tissues.

Let's quickly review the biochemistry of these processes. When you "burn fat", the fatty acid molecules in your body are converted to acetyl-CoA, which in turn combines with oxaloacetate to start the Krebs cycle.

With ketosis, our liver uses so much fat as energy that in excess of acetyl-CoA begins to produce ketone bodies (beta-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetic acid and acetone).

Gradually,with a regular lack of carbohydrates, the body reaches such a state that this process begins to take place constantly and the amount of ketones in the blood increases markedly, then we can say that we are officially in a ketosis state.

What is a ketogenic diet and how is it different from a "low carb" diet

Low carb diets and ketogenic diets are not the same thing.

The low carb diet uses fats and carbohydrates for our daily energy needs. Our body does not store ketones in our blood and our tissues do not use ketones for energy.

With a ketogenic diet, our body reaches the point where ketone bodies are produced in large quantities and used as fuel. With such dietary ketosis, the levels of beta-hydroxybutyrate may be between 0, 5 and 3, 0 mM / L. You can even buy blood ketone test strips and measure them yourself.

Low carb diets limit the amount of carbohydrates in the diet (often just under 100 grams per day) but the amount of beta-hydroxybutyrate does not reach 0, 5 and 3. 0 mM / L.

How to Eat a Ketogenic Diet

As we discussed above, the ketogenic diet should be high in fat and low in carbohydrates.

In traditional and strict ketogenic diets, 70-75% of daily calories should come from fats and only 5% from carbohydrates. The amount of carbohydrates you can consume while staying in ketosis varies from person to person, but typically you can consume up to 12% of your calories from carbohydrates and stay in ketosis.

Protein intake is also very important. Most people have realized that they have to consume a lot of protein, perhaps this is one of the reasons for ineffective ketogenic diets.

As we discussed earlier,protein, when consumed in large doses, can break down into glucose (during glucose synthesis) and thus you can not get into ketosis.Basically, if you consume more than 1. 8 grams of protein per 1 kg of body weight, this amount will be enough to get out of ketosis.

Ideally, to improve ketogenic status and maintain lean muscle mass, your diet should be approximately 75% fat, 5% carbohydrate and 20% protein.

"Adaptation" phase of ketogenic diet

If you read the ketosis literature you will see one general development. It is the most prominent "adaptation" phase where people experience a cloudy mind, feel tired and lose energy. Basically, people feel very bad during the first weeks of a ketogenic diet. This is probably due to the lack of essential enzymes in our body, which are needed to oxidize certain elements efficiently.

To survive, our body tries to rewind to use other energy resources and learn to rely solely on body fat and ketone. Usually, after 4-6 weeks of adaptation to the ketogenic diet, all these symptoms disappear.

Ketosis and Athletic Performance: A Review of Scientific Research

Let's look at some research that might answer this question.

Study # 1

The first study included 12 individuals (7 men and 5 women, aged 24-60 years) who were on a ketogenic diet with an average dietfor about 38 days. Subjects underwent moderate to extensive training, their blood count, body composition, and maximal oxygen uptake were measured.

The authors themselves conclude: “A radical reduction in carbohydrates did not have a statistically significant effect on the running journey, compared to the time when the individual began to fatigue and the amount of oxygen consumption, but the body weight composition improved, participants lost 3, 4 kg of weight and 3 kg of fat, weight. kg of lean muscle mass. “

Study participants weighed in on this but showed no significant change in athlete performance. The subjects also reduced the body's ability to recover.

Study # 2

Another study involved 8 men approximately 30 years of age with at least 5 years of training experience. Subjects sat on a 4-week cross-style mixed + ketogenic diet and did longer static workouts at different stages.

The ketogenic diet also had a positive effect on body weight compositionas in the first study.

Interestingly, the relative value of maximal oxygen consumption and oxygen consumption at the anaerobic threshold increased significantly on the ketogenic diet. The increase in maximal oxygen consumption can be explained by a decrease in body weight. However,maximum workload and workload at the anaerobic threshold were lower after a ketogenic diet.

This means that theketogenic diet led to weight loss, but also a significant decrease in explosiveness and the ability to train at high intensity. Do you want to be stronger and exercise more? Do not think that the ketogenic diet is a good choice for this.

Study # 3

A third study examined how a 30-day ketogenic diet (4. 5% calories from carbohydrates) affects performance in the following exercises: leg elevation, elbow flexionfloor, parallel arm bends, pullups, squat jumps and 30-swim jumps. The researchers also measured the participants' body composition.

Here are the conclusions:

1. The ketogenic diet caused a "sudden decrease in calorie intake" compared to a normal diet.
2. No performance loss was found with ketogenic diet exercise tested, but no performance results were found.

As with other studies, there was a marked difference in body weight composition by ketogenic diet: participants were able to lose weight. However, it should be borne in mind that the participants selected in this study were already quite "dry" (about 7% body fat).

It is also important to note that none of these tests looked at the glycolysis process as an energy source, these were more tests that tested explosive power, the phosphagen system and muscle fatigue tests.

Study # 4

In this study, 5 experienced cyclists performed a maximum oxygen consumption test and a time to fatigue (TEE) test before and after a 4-week ketogenic diet.

Since this research is quite long, I want to focus only on muscle performance and glycogen levels. The TEE test showed a huge difference in participants. One subject improved TEE score by 84 minutes in 4 weeks, the latter increased by 30 minutes but two subjects decreased by 50 minutes in total and one subject remained unchanged:

Regarding muscle glycogen stores, muscle mirrors showed thatglycogen stores after the ketogenic diet were almost half of their normal values ​​. This fact is already enough to claim that it is possible to say goodbye to high performance.

Results of ketogenic diet research

Let's look at what these 4 studies have in common:

• Improved body composition.Each study led to a qualitative improvement in body composition. However, it is a controversial fact that these are miraculous ketogenic diets, rather than spontaneous calorie restriction. Because if you do any research on any diet and body composition, a calorie-restricted diet will improve your body composition.

  In the third study, individuals consumed an average of 10, 000 kcal less in 30 days (minus 333 kcal per day! ) than in a normal diet and of course lost weight.

  It is likely that the ketogenic diet may still offer additional benefits in terms of body changes, but research has not yet shown this.

  It should also be said that there is no literature to support the idea that a ketogenic diet can help build muscle. It only helps to lose weight.

• Decreased performance under heavy load. The first two studies showed a decline in individuals' ability to exercise at high intensity. This is possible for two reasons: firstly, a decrease in muscle mass and secondly, a decrease in liver glycogen stores during strenuous exercise.
• Decreased muscle glycogen storage. Studies have shown that impaired performance in sports with advanced training is a sign of decreased muscle glycogen levels. It can also have a negative effect on the recovery of athletes who exercise and the ability of the muscles to grow in size.

Mistakes People Make With A Ketogenic Diet

While there are no obvious benefits of traditional calorie restriction, ketogenic diets can be a good weight loss tool. If you are looking to lose weight (maybe also through muscle mass), then maybe you should try it. Now let's look at the mistakes that people on ketogenic diets often make so that you do not.

1. Lack of adequate adaptation phase

   Switching to a ketogenic diet can be very difficult for some. Very often, people stop dieting during the adjustment phase without completing it. The adjustment phase can last for a few weeks, where weakness is felt, consciousness is cloudy, but after 2-3 weeks the energy level returns to normal.

   If you want to try a ketogenic diet, give yourself plenty of time to adjust.

2. Eating too much protein

   As we have already learned, too much protein can prevent ketosis. People often switch to low carb diets for high protein in ketogenic diets - these are mistakes.

3. High-activity ketogenic diet

   For high-intensity aerobic exercise, our body relies primarily on glycemic storage, liver and muscle glycogen, and glucogenogen.

   Because a ketogenic diet reduces muscle glycogen levels, exercise is very difficult.

   Try a carb diet instead of a ketogenic diet if you want to exercise at high intensity.

4. Ketogenic diet prevents muscle gain

   A ketogenic diet can help you lose weight but not increase muscle mass.

   CD prevents you from exercising a lot and gaining lean muscle mass, so if these are the goals you are pursuing in your training, then it is better to give up the idea of ​​practicing CD.

Consuming both protein and carbohydrates together produces a greater anabolic effect than consuming these nutrients alone. On a ketogenic diet you reduce carbohydrates. And since you need both carbohydrates and protein to achieve muscle growth, you need one or both of these essential nutrients.

Conclusion: A ketogenic diet is neither optimal nor effective for building muscle mass and improving athletic performance. However, they can help you lose weight - just like any other calorie restriction below your daily value.