Five ketosis health benefits

Are you unsure about ketosis?

Do you stray away from a keto diet because you are not certain about going into ketosis? Are you aware of ketosis’s health benefits? If so, you are not alone. If this is unfamiliar territory for you then it can definitely cause some hesitation. The good news is that there are a lot of benefits to ketosis and it will make you feel terrific! Now, that being said, if your body is not used to fat-burning mode, then it may take some time to get used to ketosis. Initially, people may sometimes experience some bad side effects such as nausea, fatigue, and malaise from the detoxification process. However, after you get through this beginning stage, you will feel like a fabulous goddess!

5 reason to love ketosis

#1 – Increased energy

What is the reason for increased energy?

So why do you have increased energy? Well, the main reason is you are giving your mitochondria their preferred fuel and revving them up! You are essentially giving your mitochondria the ketone bodies instead of sugar, which allows them to spend less energy on free radicals. In turn, this will allow your body to produce more mitochondria and ramp up the ones that you do have!

Mitochondria in summary

Let me do a recap on mitochondria for you. Mitochondria are known as little powerhouses in your cells that generate energy! They continuously create energy molecules called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). One of their many critical roles is to produce energy by combining nutrients from the sugars and fats you eat with oxygen from the air you breathe. Researchers estimate that mitochondria account for 10 percent of your body weight, with approximately 10 million billion within the cell of an average adult.

First, you may detox before you see energy

Increased energy happens to be one of my favorite health benefits of ketosis! Now, the one thing to keep in mind is that this may not always happen right away. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes when you are initially going into ketosis you are detoxifying your body. Since your body is ridding itself of waste, it is possible to experience nausea, fatigue, and malaise at first.  You may be wondering how long this may last, well that tends to vary from person to person and their amount of detox. The good news is there are ways to help detoxification, which I will talk about later in this article.

 #2- Better mental clarity

You’re giving your brain it’s preferred fuel

When you chose to do a keto diet, you are giving your brain it’s preferred source of fuel. Your brain tends to like ketones better than carbohydrates or glucose! The ketogenic diet (KD) is a low-carb diet that substantially changes the energetic matrix of the body, including the brain.

I have noticed that when I am in ketosis, I tend to think more clearly and feel like I’m better able to problem-solve. After a heavy carb-laden meal, I find that it is harder to make decisions. Did you know that your brain is mostly made of 60%fat? In fact, your brain can not function properly without healthy fats. Since your brain is 60% fat, eating healthy fats that build biologically responsive cellular membranes is crucial for optimal brain function. By contrast, overindulging on sugar and grains eventually leads to neural impairment and damage, in part because it blocks insulin’s ability to regulate normal cellular activities¹.

#3- Ketosis= weight loss

Okay, I am going to say this loud and clear. Weight loss and ketosis go hand in hand, however, just because you are in ketosis doesn’t mean you will lose weight. For example, if you are staying under 20 net carbs per day, but are consuming a heavy amount of calories, you won’t lose weight. Yes, you may be in ketosis and staying under 20 net carbs, however, if you are eating a ton of calories then you may even gain weight.

I say this because I have had people that have told me that they are not losing weight even though they are in ketosis. The main reason for this is because they are consuming too many calories! The thing you need to consider here is that your calories and portions do count! So please keep in mind that yes ketosis will help with weight loss, BUT you also must stay under an appropriate calorie limit. The easiest way to figure this out is by inputting your biometrics into Cronometer. There are other ways to figure this out without using Cronometer. If you would like to learn, please go to my article Keto Biometrics part 2.

 #4- Good libido and improved periods/menopausal symptoms

Yes, it’s true, ketosis will improve your libido! Since you will be giving your mitochondria the fuel it prefers, you will gain more energy, which will in turn increase your sex drive. The important thing here is to make sure that you are also consuming foods that will help to fuel your libido. Since I know how important it is for you to feel like a goddess, I wrote an article called Five Keto Goddess Foods. In this post, I go through the different foods which will help anywhere from menstruation to post-menopausal.

 #5-  improved mental well-being

Do you have days where you struggle mentally? I know that I have those days! I must say that I find that they are more prevalent when I am not burning ketones. Improved mental well-being all goes back to the fact that your brain prefers ketones for fuel. In 2005, there was a connection between sugar and Alzheimer’s disease that was made, and Alzheimer’s was dubbed as “type 3 diabetes ².” There also has been research which has shown that people with diabetes have a twofold increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease³. When you transition to fat-burning aka making ketones, you are able to burn fat as your primary fuel, which will produce a noticeable boost in your mental clarity⁴.

The initial transition to ketosis- how to help your symptoms

Alright, so now that I have talked about the health benefits of ketosis, let me talk about the transition time. As I mentioned earlier, every person carries their own load of detox, so it is hard to identify exactly how many days you may feel symptoms. However, the good news is that there are things you can do to help transition yourself from detox to feeling wonderful. Keep in mind that some of you may be fortunate and get to ketosis right away! Lucky you!

Drink broth

The first thing I am going to recommend is broth consumption if you start to feel any side effects such as malaise, fatigue, or nausea. Sometimes people have a detox load so great that it actually feels like the Flu! No wonder it is called the “keto flu”.  Drinking any type of broth, whether it is vegetable or bone broth, will help to provide you electrolytes that your body needs.

Take activated charcoal capsules

The next thing I am going to recommend is the consumption of activated charcoal. You can purchase these capsules on Amazon or most natural food stores. When you take activated charcoal, it will help to bind up the toxins that you are eliminating, which will in turn help your “keto flu” symptoms. The activated charcoal capsules I recommend can be found here.

Drink lots of water!

I can not emphasize this enough! The solution to pollution is dilution! Your intake of water is correlated with your weight. For a great calculator to figure out how much you should drink, click here. You don’t want to overflood yourself with water, but definitely need a good amount to help detoxify your body.

Use a sauna for detox

After you learn the five ketosis benefits, it is important to learn how to promote detoxification in your body. Sauna therapy happens to be one of my favorite detox methods and is one of the best! I purchased a sauna in April of this year and have noticed a drastic difference in the way I feel. A sauna especially comes in handy if you are on a strict keto and trying to eliminate toxins! When you get in a sauna, you passively sweat which will allow for your body to eliminate waste through the skin, which in turn really helps your liver out.

Passive versus active sweating

Passive sweating with a sauna allows you to get rid of a lot more toxins in your body. When we exercise, we sweat a lot; however, active sweating is not as beneficial for eliminating toxins as passive sweating. Research has shown that the toxin concentration in sweat during exercise is quite low. On the other hand, sweat samples taken during sauna bathing( passive sweating) revealed a high amount of toxins released in the sweat.

It is possible to detox without a sauna, but the process takes longer. I think that a sauna is essential even if you aren’t on a keto diet or detox program. Now, I do understand that they can be expensive, but you will be happy you bought one when your medical bills are less.

Go with Saunaspace for your sauna purchase

Saunaspace is another company in which I recommend. Their saunas are all near-infrared and have zero EMFs.  What I like about this company, is they offer financing options. Saunaspace is also good if you’re limited in space, as their saunas are smaller and are in the form of a tent. It makes it convenient if you have a tiny house or live in an RV.  Like the Therasauna company, their saunas are very good for penetrating your mitochondria and promoting detoxification.

How do you know if you’re in ketosis?

So now that you have learned the five ketosis health benefits, let’s talk about how you can tell if your body is in the zone. When I notice that I have more energy and mind clarity, I know that I am in ketosis. In order to know for sure, you should get in the habit of testing your ketones. In the beginning, you should monitor your ketones at least once per day when you first start fat-burning. However, once you have been in ketosis for a week or more, it is not necessary to do this as often. The only indication for doing this would be if you change your diet and add in more carbs!

Blood monitoring is the best way

When you monitor your ketones, you always want to choose the best method. There are several methods to monitor your ketones, however, checking your blood ketones is the most accurate way. If you are wanting a less expensive way then you would choose to monitor your ketones with urine test strips or with a breathalyzer.

The main reason that monitoring ketosis via blood is the best is that there is a critical ketone used by the body. This ketone is called beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), which is carried through the blood so it can get to the cells to be used for energy and fuel⁴. Since our blood ketone levels are not profoundly affected by different variables (unlike ketones in the breath or urine), blood ketone testing is the most accurate representation of how many ketones we are producing⁵. If you would like to monitor your ketosis via blood, I would highly suggest purchasing a Keto-Mojo device.

Breathalyzer

The other way you could choose to monitor ketones is through a breathalyzer. An advantage of this method is that you do not need to pay for testing strips, and you don’t have to draw any blood. Either way is subtle, there are different advantages applicable to both of them. If you do choose to monitor your ketosis through your breath, I would recommend going with the Keyto Breath sensor.

Urine test strips

Even though urine test strips are the least accurate in monitoring ketosis, they are probably the easiest and cheapest. If you want to use urine test strips in conjunction with blood or breath monitoring, then that is fine too. Maybe you choose to monitor your blood ketones once per day but use urine test strips twice a day to see if you stay in ketosis. Remember, it is only necessary to monitor ketones initially for the first week or two while you are perfecting your keto diet plan. After this, it is really not necessary, unless you change your diet or if you would just like to know if you’re still in ketosis. The urine test strips I recommend are by Perfect Keto.

Follow me on a journey to wellness

In conclusion, I am glad that you are here on my blog learning about the five ketosis health benefits! If you are debating whether to do a keto diet plan, I hope that this article may help to convince you. A thing to remember is that you don’t have to follow a strict keto diet plan forever. In fact, it is recommended to cycle your keto diet and to do intervals. If you would like to read more about keto-carb cycling, please read my article called Six things you should know about carb cycling on keto.

Another thing to keep in mind is that good health is more than following a keto diet. It involves holistic wellness with meditation and tending to your chakras. If you aren’t sure what a chakra is or how to do this, I recommend you listen to my podcast series. When you go to these podcasts, first start a Keto diet and chakra balance for your health, and then work your way through the episodes.

I hope you can find happiness in following a keto diet! Namaste!

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References
MERCOLA, DR JOSEPH. FAT FOR FUEL: a Revolutionary Diet to Combat Cancer, Boost Brain Power, and Increase Your … Energy. HAY House UK LTD, 2018^1,2,3
Cole, W. (2018). Ketotarian: the Mostly Plant-Based Plan to Burn Fat, Boost Your Energy, Crush Your Cravings, and Calm Inflammation. Penguin Group USA.^4,5

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