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Is Ketosis Sustainable?

cz_dave

cz_dave

Well-Known Member
Messages
450
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have been on LCHF and in ketosis for about a month now.

I am quite pleased with the results in general, though still struggling with how to handle exercise (especially anaerobic), for instance.

Now, the question is: Is the ketogenic diet sustainable? I would think there must be a reason why the body prefers burning glucose to fats. And so, I wonder if any side effects caused by being in ketosis in the long term will outweigh the improved BS control. I would think that ketosis is kind of an emergency scenario for human metabolism....

Anyone who has been in ketosis for a long period of time?
 
I've been in ketosis for about 2 years - haven't noticed any side effects (apart from very stable blood sugars).
 
I take the view that my ability to metabolise glucose is severely compromised and so I must revert to ketosis. That is now a given so after that the chips fall where they may.
 
cz_dave said:
I would think there must be a reason why the body prefers burning glucose to fats.
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Because it has much lower storage capacity for glucose vs fat? It's more efficient to burn the glucose immediately than convert it to glycogen or fat for storage and convert it back for later use.

I doubt ketosis is toxic long term because free glucose was a much smaller part of the diet of all our ancestor animals in evolutionary time, from the emergence of land animals up until (for humans only) the late Stone Age.

Most omnivore mammals are in ketosis all their lives. That's what we evolved from. That's what we are, actually.
 
cz_dave said:
I would think that ketosis is kind of an emergency scenario for human metabolism....
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My view is that ketosis is the evolutionary normal scenario for humans for 2 million years, plus 100 million years of our mammal ancestors, and the glucose scenario has only become common in the last few thousand years. Even after agriculture started ketosis would have been very common right up until we reached the current stage of mass affluence in only the last hundred years or less.
 
Yes, ketosis is sustainable (with a few tiny coping mechanisms, like drinking enough, taking enough salt, potassium and magnesium).

I have reached the point where I am MUCH more comfortable in ketosis than when burning sugar. More stamina, better digestion, better sleep, fewer aches and pains... the list is pretty long.

I've been eating low carb, with the odd (cough!) discrepency for about 3 decades now - since long before anyone was using the term 'ketosis'.
 
Almost all animal life on earth has insulin so this glucose vs ketosis switch is probably as old as life itself. As long as there has been animal life, free carbohydrates have been scarce in proportion to protein and fat. Herbivores adapted to ferment undigestible carbs to make them edible. But although we have a limited ability to do this we are not descended from herbivores.

So I am very relaxed about the consequences of long term ketosis. For me the problem is not being able to stick with it. But that's the fault of my own poor behaviour. Staying in ketosis isn't even that hard. It's temptation and dysfunction that derails me, not any intrinsic difficulties of staying with a ketogenic diet. :-(
 
cz_dave said:
I have been on LCHF and in ketosis for about a month now.

I am quite pleased with the results in general, though still struggling with how to handle exercise (especially anaerobic), for instance.

Now, the question is: Is the ketogenic diet sustainable? I would think there must be a reason why the body prefers burning glucose to fats. And so, I wonder if any side effects caused by being in ketosis in the long term will outweigh the improved BS control. I would think that ketosis is kind of an emergency scenario for human metabolism....

Anyone who has been in ketosis for a long period of time?
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Hola

Have google on volek and phinney. They wrote a book called the art and science of low carb performance. Now most of it is about how effective ketosis is for endurance sport but if you look at you tube you will see that it is crossing over to anaerobic exercise too. Books a couple of years old now so Web is best place to search on this.
 
For me, it is the most sustainable of all diets. Even if I fall off the wagon, I can jump back on...my body LIKES this WOE.
 
I've been more or less in ketosis for nearly 18 moths now and my body and my brain are much happier burning fats. I don't check every day and sometimes in the morning I'm not actually showing any breath ketones, but from various browsing sessions this is apparently normal, and can happen overnight. Google's told me that very active young children can pop in and out of ketosis according to their glucose levels, and very young breast fed babies are also naturally in ketosis, so I can't imagine if nature's doing this, long term it can be doing any of us harm. :wideyed: I totally agree with @Spiker.

I'm actually much happier, and I believe, healthier eating a low carb/ketogenic diet, and as long as I'm prepared to keep an eye on what I eat, I don't have any issues. If you can work on a diet that you enjoy eating, as far as I'm concerned it's definitely sustainable long term. And I've actually recently recommended the Volek and Phinney to my nephew-in-law to give to my great nephew who's turning into a very keen cyclist. (His mum is a Paleo fan and was quite interested in what I'm eating...)

Robbity
 
I've been in ketosis for over two years now!
I feel great.
All my life signs are back to normal, from being high and in serious trouble!
I am so active and never felt better.
Waistline down from 38" to 32"
Weight down from 16. Stone to under 12 stone!

Don't really care about any side effects, don't have any!
 
Can someone explain me in very simple terms what does it mean to be in ketosis what are the signs that i am in ketosis apart from very good BS levels?
I have seen people here using phrases like "being kicked out of ketosis" but what does this mean and how do we know that we are not anymore in ketosis ?
I am on a very low carb myself bellow 20 g and quite often i go as low as 10 or 12 .
 
khorlo said:
Can someone explain me in very simple terms what does it mean to be in ketosis what are the signs that i am in ketosis apart from very good BS levels?
I have seen people here using phrases like "being kicked out of ketosis" but what does this mean and how do we know that we are not anymore in ketosis ?
I am on a very low carb myself bellow 20 g and quite often i go as low as 10 or 12 .
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The best evidence is a blood ketone test. You can get home meters for free (usually) and test strips cost about £1 for each test. There are also urine strips which are hugely cheaper but less reliable (due to the way the type of ketones excreted in urine adapts during ketosis). Low BG is not a good indicator that you are in ketosis though high BG pretty much proves that you are not, unless you are just skipping insulin. Either way not healthy.

Ketosis is directly determined by blood insulin level but we rarely get tested for that, maybe once a year in lab tests. Low insulin produces ketosis. That's why you need to low carb to get healthy ketosis.
 
I've been in mildish ketosis for 14 months now. Feel fine, have my energy back, and all is well except for my hair, which didn't like it much. (It got a lot thinner.) Apparently that's common, as you'll see if you google low carb and hair loss. BUT it's growing in again now, as it will if low carb shock is the cause.

I got the also quite common result (common on LCHF) of slightly raised LDL cholesterol (3.3 and 3.7 mmol). To check out whether that was actually cause for concern, I'd have to test privately for LDL particle number. But at the moment I can't be bothered. The ketosis has rendered all other indicators super-duper - triglycerides, HDL, blood pressure.

If interested in the nutritional ketosis / cholesterol thing, here are a couple of good links. The first is Thomas Dayspring, who calls himself Dr Lipids !!

http://www.lecturepad.org/index.php...mous-case-291-can-losing-weight-worsen-lipids

And this one is Dr Peter Attia, Gary Taubes' partner in founding their Nutrition Science Initiative. See the bottom of his post, where he talks about a patient with amazing indicators but high LDL particle numbers.

http://eatingacademy.com/cholesterol-2/random-finding-plus-pi

From the para 'And contrary to what some of you might think ... '

BTW I do NOT want people thinking I am a miserable old baldy. I am enjoying prancing around with a very good haircut in my skinny jeans looking amazing.

So I think I intend to keep up ketosis mire or less forever, because I can keep my insulin intake down that way.

The Ketonix is another option to monitor hiw far into ketosis you are. It's a one-off cost of c. £100 but it lasts for ever. You blow into it.

And also, there's the added benefit of ketosis protecting you from the effects of low blood sugar. Ask @Spiker about that, or @diamondnostril.

Lucy
 
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Thanks for the links @LucySW.

What would your glucose levels be during the day - from wake-up until bed-time? Could you post please? Postprandial etc
 
I don't know what ketosis is or how you get in it so can someone enlighten me please
 
Pinkorchid said:
I don't know what ketosis is or how you get in it so can someone enlighten me please
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This is the start of the first article I googled.....

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180858.php

Ketosis is a metabolic process that occurs when the body does not have enough glucose for energy. Stored fats are broken down, resulting in a build-up of acids called ketones within the body.

Some people encourage ketosis by following a diet called the ketogenic or low-carb diet. The aim of the diet is to try and burn off unwanted fat by forcing the body to rely on burning fat for energy, rather than carbohydrates.

In fact it's the only thing I can do to lose weight. Have a look at this:-

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/my-5-day-dairy-fat-fast.81433/

It's truly amazing and proves that for me and T2's like me who struggle to lose weight that counting calories is not everything. It's the carbs that make us fat. Of course you won't need to do this yourself as you are so slim, but it's a real help to me. :)
 
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