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https://articles.mercola.com/sites/...cal-ketogenic-eating-for-chronic-fatigue.aspx
(A long article, here are the intro points. I am interested to hear from anyone who has implemented keto cycling. Did it lower blood glucose, and improve muscle building? )
(A long article, here are the intro points. I am interested to hear from anyone who has implemented keto cycling. Did it lower blood glucose, and improve muscle building? )
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Chronic fatigue syndrome appears to be rooted in mitochondrial dysfunction. Your mitochondria are responsible for energy production, and as the name implies, low energy and severe fatigue are hallmarks of this condition
[*]Immune cells in the blood of patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue show clear signs of low energy production. The debilitating fatigue they experience is due to an inability to produce the cellular energy needed
[*]A ketogenic diet, high in healthy fats and low in net carbohydrates, with moderate protein, is a key dietary strategy that helps optimize mitochondrial function
[*]Patients with chronic fatigue also lack diversity in the gut microbiome, and the presence of certain inflammatory cytokines in their blood closely correlates with symptom severity
[*]Strategies that reduce inflammation, heal your gut microbiome and support mitochondrial function and energy synthesis are all beneficial for chronic fatigue patients
The Importance of Cyclical Ketosis
However, once you achieve metabolic flexibility and are able to generate ketones with nutritional ketosis, it's important to include higher carb intakes every now and then. For all its benefits, continuous ketosis actually has some downsides that are easily avoided by implementing a cyclical "feast and famine" regimen. I detail the reasons for this in my book, "Fat for Fuel." In summary, long-term uninterrupted ketosis can trigger a rise in blood sugar by driving your insulin level too low.
This paradoxical situation can occur because the primary function of insulin is not actually to drive sugar into the cell but rather to suppress the production of glucose by your liver (hepatic gluconeogenesis).
Cycling in and out of nutritional ketosis will effectively prevent this rise in blood sugar in the absence of high glucose. So, once you are able to burn fat as fuel, having a day or two each week where you eat more net carbs and protein is important, especially when you're doing strength training, to prevent sarcopenia.
After a day of "feasting," you then cycle back into nutritional ketosis (the "fasting" stage) for the remainder of the week. By periodically pulsing higher carb intakes, consuming, say, 100 or 150 grams of carbs opposed to 20 to 50 grams per day, your ketone levels will dramatically increase and your blood sugar will drop.
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