Ketosis Diet
A ketosis diet is well known for being a high fat, low carb diet, which is designed to ensure that the body produces ketones in the liver to be used as energy.
Often referred to by a number of different names including ketogenic diet, low carb diet, low carb high fat (LCHF), the ketosis diet can be used for a variety of reasons.
How Does it Work?
Ketosis diet works by lowering the intake of carbohydrates resulting in the body entering an induced state which is known as ‘ketosis’. Ketosis is a 
normal metabolic process, something your body does to keep working. When it doesn’t have enough carbohydrates from food for your cells to burn for energy, it burns fat instead. As part of this process, it makes ketones.
The state of ketosis is characterized by the rising levels of ketone bodies which can be measured in the blood or urine. The diet became known as the ‘ketogenic diet’ and is the basis of the classical ketogenic diet still used today.
Preparing for a ketosis diet is extremely important. For some hints and tips, please take a moment to view the video below:
What is the Ketosis Diet Used For?
A high fat, low carbohydrate diet was first described in the medical literature in 1921 as a treatment for epilepsy in children, following other reports of the beneficial effects of fasting on seizure control. The diet was designed to mimic the metabolic changes that occur in the body during starvation, i.e. adaption to spare muscle protein breakdown and draw on energy reserves of body fat.
Muscles and other tissues progressively switch energy source from glucose to free fatty acids which are converted to ketone bodies (acetoacetate and b-hydroxybutyrate); these become the primary energy substrate for brain and other metabolically active tissues in the absence of adequate glucose supply.
You can use a ketosis diet to help combat the following:
- Adults with Epilepsy
- Brain Cancer
- Doose Syndrome
- Dravet Syndrome
- Epilepsy
- Infantile Spasms
- Lennox Gastaut Syndrome
- Neurometabolic Disease
- Other Conditions
- Tuberous Sclerosis
Longer-term ketosis may result from fasting or staying on a low-carbohydrate diet, and deliberately induced ketosis serves as a medical intervention for intractable epilepsy. In glycolysis, higher levels of insulin promote storage of body fat and block release of fat from adipose tissues, while in ketosis, fat reserves are readily released and consumed. For this reason, ketosis is sometimes referred to as the body’s “fat burning” mode.
Contact Us
If you would like any more information regarding the Matthew’s Friends charity or regarding the Ketosis diet plan, please either give us a call on Tel. No. 01342 836571 or contact us through our Facebook page and we will be happy to help if we can.