Low Carb Diets & Ketosis

While all diets that place your body into a state of ketosis are low-carb diets, not all low-carb diets place your body into a state of ketosis. Ketosis is a condition sought by many low-carb diets due to its innate preference for using fat as a fuel source. If you are confused by the difference between a standard low-carb diet and a low-carb ketogenic diet, you are hardly alone. Discover the facts about this oft-perplexing state.

What Is Ketosis?

Ketosis is a state in which your body ceases looking to glycogen as its primary fuel source. Instead of glycogen, the body begins mobilizing fatty acids as its "food" of choice. This state is only possible on an extremely low-carb diet, and is preferred for its supposed superior fat-loss effects.

Entering Into Ketosis

Everyone's body is different, but most dieters will transition into a state of ketosis after two weeks of extremely low carb eating. This requires that you remain under 20 to 30 grams of carbs per day throughout this entire period, as one "cheat" day will prevent you from fully depleting your glycogen stores and forcing your body to make the switch. Low-carb plans which allow you to consume more than this amount are not ketogenic.

Transition Period

As your body switches over into "fat burning" mode, you can expect to experience several adverse effects. These may include dizziness, brain fog, and an inability to concentrate. These effects occur where the body has used up its remaining glycogen supplies but has yet to fully transition over into a ketogenic state.

Ketogenic Benefits

Aside from the fat-burning effects, the primary benefit of a ketogenic diet is psychological. As you must "earn" your way into ketosis, you have higher level of emotional investment in the diet, and are thus less likely to arbitrarily abandon it, especially upon knowing that you must redo the entire induction period again upon climbing back on the wagon.

Ketogenic Drawbacks

The greatest strength of a ketogenic diet is also its greatest weakness. The likelihood of wholesale abandonment of the plan following an unplanned "cheat" is far higher on ketogenic diets, as dieters (perhaps rightfully) fear repeating the induction phase. Thus, a ketogenic diet is a mental tightrope act where a dieter has to balance the immense cost of cheating versus the psychological struggle of continuing on the plan.