Basic concepts
In order to be able to correctly explain you all future blogposts, we must first explain some basic concepts.
This basic concepts will be referred too often in later blogs, so this post will certainly serve as a reference.
Content :
Ketosis
‘Going into ketosis’ means that your body has switched from metabolic energy engine and is starting to use a cleaner fuel.
Instead of carbohydrates, your body uses ketones as the main fuel.
Both carbohydrates and fats can be used as fuel for the body, but the quality of these fuels is not the same at all.
The body will always function the most efficient and fastest way when choosing what is easiest to absorb. It is much easier to absorb carbohydrates than it is for the body to make them from scratch. When you limit carbohydrates, your body will switch from metabolic engine and produce ketones as a backup energy source. After an adjustment period, the body will use these ketones as the main fuel, instead of carbohydrates.
The pancreas
This organ produces the hormone insulin and the hormone glucagon. Both hormones ensure that the blood sugarlevel remains balanced. In people without any disordes, glucagon is practically inexistant when insulin is sufficiently present.
Starch
Complex carbohydrates from external sources, especially made from plants by photosynthesis activated by the sun.
Glycogen
Complex carbohydrates from internal sources, stimulated by insulin to replenish muscle cells.
Glucagon
The hormone that is responsible for fat oxidation (lipolysis) and for maintaining a healthy blood sugar level. If the blood sugar level is too low, glucagon will rise and indicate that the liver must release the stored glycogen into the blood. When the sugar in the liver is empty, the body will produce its own glucose. This process is called gluconeogenesis.
Insulin
One of the most anabolic hormones and absolutly crucial for a healthy metabolism. It is responsible for a number of different processes within the body, including the mobilization of sugar, the oxidation of glucose (glycolysis) and the stimulation of glycogen production to supplement the storage of muscle cells for anaerobic (=without oxygen) movement. This process does not supplement liver glycogen because gluconeogenesis is an expensive process. There is no reason to leave glucose in the liver if ketones are the primary fuel. Only up to 2000 kcal of carbohydrates can be stored in the body, around 100 grams in the liver and 400 grams in the muscles. You don’t have to worry about an energy deficit, because 7% of the body fat is around 20,000 kcal that you always carry around with you.
Gluconeogenesis
Is a process where the body makes its own sugar. Here the body uses non-carbohydrate sources such as glycerol, pyruvate, lactate or amino acids (proteins). These can come from external sources (nutrition) or internal sources (muscles) to make glucose.
Ketoacidosis
Ketones are actually toxic substances. They can cause an acidification of the blood in the accumulation of ketone bodies (acetoacetate, acetone and beta-hydroxybutyrate) when they are not used by the body.
When the pancreas can produce insufficient or no insulin to bring glucose to the cells (such as in people with type 1 diabetes), insulin must be induced from outside.
Otherwise the cells will not receive glucose from insulin, and the amount of glucose in the blood will increase.
At this time, and when glucose remains the main fuel, the amount of ketones in the blood will also increase, causing blood acidification (up to 5.5 pH). This can lead to cell damage and ultimately to coma.
In people without any medical condition, the above almost never occurs.
Ketoacidosis starts when the amount of ketones in the blood exceeds 10-15 mmol / dl.
Nutritional ketosis
A nutritional ketosis occurs when ketonbodies are between 0.5 and 3.5 mmol / dl in the blood.
This amount of ketones is completely safe and increasing this amount without fasting is very difficult. During fasting, it is possible to obtain a higher concentration of ketones in the blood.
