Intermittent Ketogenesis

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

Thanks so much to @Wayne for introducing me to this idea, and @Ema for sharing freely how much keto has helped her.

According to r/keto,

Ketosis begins when liver glycogen is depleted, and the amount of glycogen in the liver only provides enough glucose for 12-16 hours.

So, after fasting overnight I started with a zero carb breakfast, with lots of fat! Can't even think of eating for the next twelve hours this way. I don't have test strips, but I am near certain I am entering ketosis.

I then end the day with a carbohydrate rich meal. Very intermittent ketogenesis.

I wait a few days and then I try again. The first 4 or 5 times I have felt quite ill, although very stimulated by it.

Today, no nausea and I have enjoyed quite a boost of energy.

I don't want to do a Ketogenic diet, it will separate me from the communal aspects of a meal. My family eats a lot of rice. But this is a very powerful tool, and this may just be one way that those who are very ill can tolerate it.

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

I am "Off the Hook".

Wait, no I mean I am hooked. I usually avoid New Years resolutions, for me they're a list of things I won't do this year, but Intermittent Keto is now a resolution I'm going to keep.

I'm using bacon and eggs to start the day and enter into Ketogenesis. I can feel it.

I'm even starting carb intake that is knocking me back out of ketogenesis and into glucogenesis, within a couple hours of ketosis beginning.

This is easy.

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

A year of zero carbs in the morning.

Six months of Intermittent Fasting once or twice a week, and surprisingly, nearly no hunger.

I'll use Ketogenesis for the rest of my life.

 

[Hufsamor]

How do you feel you benefit?

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

How do you feel you benefit?

I initially got a boost in overall energy, which I've become quite used to now so I don't really notice that part anymore.

Now, there are several things that have hooked me on Keto.

In the past it was a struggle to overcome weakness by eating, without slipping into a food coma. Now, I can go all day on a zero carb breakfast without hungering for energy, nor being sedated by carb intake. I have even been able to engage in Intermittent Fasting without hunger or the crash of blood sugar that normally accompanied periods without food for me.

When eating a carbohydrate rich meal in the evening, I find that sleeping afterwards is effortless much of the time. It knocks me out quite often. Of course, I'm avoiding that reaction in the daytime. Which is nice, it's like a tool in my toolkit. When I need to have a day of activity, I know I can keep my energy levels up until I make it back to rest time.

Additionally, I can control my body fat while eating for energy now.

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

How to Renew Your Body: Fasting and Autophagy

On October 3rd, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.


But what is autophagy? The word derives from the Greek auto (self) and phagein (to eat). So the word literally means to eat oneself. Essentially, this is the body’s mechanism of getting rid of all the broken down, old cell machinery (organelles, proteins and cell membranes) when there’s no longer enough energy to sustain it. It is a regulated, orderly process to degrade and recycle cellular components.

There is a similar, better known process called apoptosis also known as programmed cell death. Cells, after a certain number of division, are programmed to die. While this may sound kind of macabre at first, realize that this process is essential in maintaining good health. For example, suppose you own a car. You love this car. You have great memories in it. You love to ride it.


But after a few years, it starts to look kind of beat up. After a few more, it’s not looking so great. The car is costing you thousands of dollars every year to maintain. It’s breaking down all the time. Is it better to keep it around when it’s nothing but a hunk of junk? Obviously not. So you get rid of it and buy a snazzy new car.


The same thing happens in the body. Cells become old and junky. It is better that they be programmed to die when their useful life is done. It sounds really cruel, but that’s life. That’s the process of apoptosis, where cells are pre-destined to die after a certain amount of time. It’s like leasing a car. After a certain amount of time, you get rid of the car, whether it’s still working or not. Then you get a new car. You don’t have to worry about it breaking down at the worst possible time.

Autophagy – replacing old parts of the cell

The same process also happens at a sub-cellular level. You don’t necessarily need to replace the entire car. Sometimes, you just need to replace the battery, throw out the old one and get a new one. This also happens in the cells. Instead of killing off the entire cell (apoptosis), you only want to replace some cell parts. That is the process of autophagy, where sub-cellular organelles are destroyed and new ones are rebuilt to replace it. Old cell membranes, organelles and other cellular debris can be removed. This is done by sending it to the lysosome which is a specialized organelle containing enzymes to degrade proteins.

Autophagy was first described in 1962 when researchers noted an increase in the number of lysosomes (the part of the cell that destroys stuff) in rat liver cells after infusing glucagon. The Nobel prize winning scientist Christian de Duve coined the term autophagy. Damaged sub cellular parts and unused proteins become marked for destruction and then sent to the lysosomes to finish the job.


One of the key regulators of autophagy is the kinase called mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). When mTOR is activated, it suppresses autophagy, and when dormant, it promotes it.

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

Three weeks of Intermittent Fasting. I really like how this is working and think that intermittent keto was the easiest transition.

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

The "pure carnivore diet" obviously seems very risky in the long run, but since I feel tired after every meal, I'm thinking of experimenting just a bit.

I would welcome hearing the experiences of anyone who's tried it.

I like intermittent keto, as well as intermittent fasting, to enter into ketogenesis.

By going back to carbs everyday I don't have to worry about nutritional deficiencies. In fact, I'm much more concerned about the consequences of continual carbohydrate consumption. It doesn't seem like something that we're very well adapted to.

Frequently, a carb rich meal will make me feel very tired. At night! I can deal with that quite well, and it is sometimes quite welcome.

 

[alex3619]

I like intermittent keto, as well as intermittent fasting, to enter into ketogenesis.

Intermittent fasting allows people with dietary intolerances to get some of the benefits of keto. Its really hard to do keto if you are salicylate intolerant, for example. I am currently on intermittent fasting to deal with my blood sugar issues.

Unlike common wisdom, there is such a thing as an essential carb. However requirements are very low, and the body can make a small amount. These are pentose sugars, not hexose sugars, and are needed for cell growth and DNA repair. I am not clear whether or not a carnivore diet has enough carbs to cover this, though I suspect it does, but a low carb diet probably does.

I have been off this forum for a while, but am improving slightly after ten months of intermittent fasting. If I keep improving I should be here more often.

 

[ktred]

Unlike common wisdom, there is such a thing as an essential carb. However requirements are very low, and the body can make a small amount. These are pentose sugars, not hexose sugars, and are needed for cell growth and DNA repair. I am not clear whether or not a carnivore diet has enough carbs to cover this, though I suspect it does, but a low carb diet probably does.
.

Can you explain the difference in these two types of sugars?
Thanks