What the Keto Diet Actually Does to Your Body
The science behind the most popular fad diet of the decade
The human body is fueled by glucose, most of which we get from our diet. However, if glucose was the only thing we could survive on, we would pass out and die when blood glucose levels drop too low.
Enter ketogenesis (ketosis), the process where our livers break down fat into ketone bodies to be used in place of glucose. Ketones stand in for glucose when there is a shortage, like while you’re in a fasted state while you sleep. But, let’s talk about the role of ketones when you aren’t fasting…
The Ketogenic Diet
The Ketogenic diet or “keto diet” for short is a diet that involves drastically limiting carbohydrate intake and increasing the consumption of fat. This puts the body into a metabolic state called ketosis.
Essentially, when the body is in ketosis, it doesn’t have enough carbohydrates to burn for energy. Instead, it burns fat to use as its fuel. The body can reach a ketosis state in as little as two days by following a low-carb, high-fat diet, such as the Keto diet.
According to the USDA guidelines, a typical macronutrient percentage for total caloric intake for the day looks something like this:
