Chapter 2: How Does Eating Fat Make You Thinner and Healthier?
If you’ve been to school in the past 60 years or so, you’ve probably gotten the lecture that fat causes heart attacks and strokes, thereby meaning fats are to be avoided with all haste.
Unfortunately, this is not true. The fact is, we were lied to. It’s sugar that our bodies run on, but it doesn’t burn efficiently. We spike with sudden energy and then crash again. We eat too much of the sugar and the body stores it as fat.
Forcing the body to look for alternative sources of food, the keto diet refuses to add to the sugars already in the system and tries to “clean it out.” This is largely due to the vast amount of water you need to drink.
Being starved of its energy source, your body searches for a replacement source. The fat was stored there for a reason, after all.
This is that reason. When the body has nothing else, it will start using up the reserve fuel. Namely, the fat stored. This isn’t a “diet” so much as it is a change in metabolism. You’re switching your body and the way it works, over to the way it wants to work.
Ketosis has some bad press though. Generally, that's due to a condition called ketoacidosis, a serious and common complaint among people with diabetes. This is a very different state. Ketosis is a natural state of the body; it just needs to be kicked in to create the change.
So, toss out everything you learned about fats and the food pyramid; it’s all false. The research was flawed, and several special interest groups had a say in the creation of what we consider to be the official dietary health industry.
For example, it’s no wonder that breads are at the bottom of the pyramid when the study was created by the US Department of agriculture who support the Heartland farmers that grow grain products!
Also, keep in mind that a survey in the 1960s was influenced by a lobbyist group that represented large combined sugar companies and suddenly fat was blamed for America's obesity epidemic.
So, don’t trust the press. Fat, the good kind of fat is what fuels your body. It’s lean and efficient and gives you energy and strength. Fat burned for energy can sooth blood pressure, lower blood sugar and do so much more in healing and recovery.
It’s all because the liver can break down elementary proteins into the chemicals your body needs. Exactly as it’s supposed to.
Helpful Supplements for Keto Dieters
You’re on the keto diet, but now you’re concerned about whether or not you’re getting everything you need nutritionally. While that’s a normal worry, keep in mind that for any diet, keto or otherwise,
supplements might be a part of it. After all, that’s the very nature of a supplement – to give you something you might otherwise be lacking.
People take supplements for many reasons. Some are to provide for deficiencies in regard to nutrients. Others are designed to give optimal performance in a workout. Or to treat symptoms of another, underlying problem.
Where a keto diet is concerned, you shouldn’t need most supplements if you’re eating correctly – you’ll get what you need from the food you eat.
But there are a handful that will make your life much easier and will reassure you that you have what you need to function at optimal levels.
The supplements listed below will help with three areas while on a Keto diet:
These are the symptoms associated with just starting as your body makes an adjustment from sugar burning to fat burning. These symptoms are normal and will go away as time passes.
Even the best care of your diet might lead to lower energy levels as you adjust to things. Sometimes a supplement is just what you need to give you that added boost.
As mentioned before any diet can have an imbalance. These kinds of supplements keep you from having to worry too much about whether you’re nailing down everything you need.
What Supplements Are Best? Exogenous Ketones
This is probably the most versatile supplement out there. It comes in a variety of forms, so it’s easy to take and addresses every keto complaint on the list from keto flu all the way down to brain fog and energy issues. If you have any question about whether you’re doing keto right, this supplement is the answer.
MCT stands for Medium-chain triglycerides and is fats your body uses more easily leading these to be incredibly useful in weight loss. But more than that, they reduce LDL cholesterol and blood glucose as well, making these a valuable tool.
Collagen is found everywhere in your body in all our connective tissues. Your body makes it from protein, but this supplement is there to give you an added boost.
What makes this supplement special is it helps you to build what you want – healthy skin, bigger muscles, and strong bones all while helping you with less inflammation and better recovery after workouts. How does this help in a Keto diet?
Simply put, it helps keep your body in ketosis, thereby making your diet a whole lot easier.
This is probably one of the most important supplements on this list. If you’re just starting out in a Keto diet, you’re going to notice that you’re using the bathroom a whole lot more often than usual.
This can lead to dehydration. Electrolytes keep your body in balance because they’re made up of all those minerals you need – like salt and magnesium.
As stated before, with the exception of electrolytes, most supplements shouldn’t be needed if you’re eating correctly. But it’s nice to know they’re there to not only support you as you learn to live the keto way but to help you be your strongest most optimal you.
Take electrolytes no matter what and carefully consider the rest to keep your body at its very best.