At this point, many of you know about KETO and many more have searched the word "keto" in the search bar on this blog's landing page to discover a lot of content about KETO.
*TIP: try it, there IS a lot of content.
Many of the subscribers (and the occasional visitors) understand that one of the five core values of this blog-site is: Living Well.
The other four core values are:
cultivating community
making memories
curating culture
spreading joy and love
That said, I've been asked to consider implementing more Living Well posts, and specifically more posts related to KETO.
In this particular post, I wanted to clarify something important. As someone who lifts weights regularly (on my own and with a trainer) nutrition is 90% of the model I use to achieve my goals. I mean think about it, in one single day, I spend one hour lifting weights in the gym and 23 hours doing other things which mostly involve life happening in between planned, prepped meals.
KETO has always been a huge component of training for me and continues to be so, but I have learned that depending on my goals and my activity levels, it is crucial to experiment with different variations of the ketogenic diet to get the best results.
Please note: this is not for everyone and not recommended unless you first discuss your plan with your treating physician. (I am not a Doctor.)
If you train at high-intensities regularly like me, you may hit a wall where you struggle to keep up with your workouts because you're restricting carbs. When this happened to me, I discovered that it was much better for me to use carbs as a tool to boost my performance.
The very best way that I have found for me to do this has been by using a cyclical ketogenic diet – also known as CKD.
You see, there are actually three main variations of the keto diet:
Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD)
Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD)
Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD)
As expected, each variation serves a specific purpose. For me, my goals, workout regimen and my exercise experience seem to benefit well from CKD and this is the focus of this particular post.
The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD)
CKD is an approach that combined carb loading with standard keto. This particular variation tends to be used by people, like bodybuilders and athletes, who utilize high-intensity exercise to achieve their fitness and nutrition goals. This is because with that kind of volume and intensity, it is nearly impossible to get results without the help of carbohydrates.
This is why I’ve transitioned to CKD and it’s been working wonders.
The simple change has been for me to implement carbohydrate reloading (or refeeding) one or two days a week to fully replenish my glycogen stores so that I have an adequate amount of sugar to fuel my training going forward into the new week.
Here in Eureka Springs, I’ve found that reloading on Saturday and Sunday works great for me. Then, I shop, cook and prep meals on Sunday afternoon for the new week ahead and I’m back at it with intense lifting and conditioning coupled with my focus to deplete glycogen to increase ketone levels again by sticking with the standard keto diet during the week.
Make sense?
Ketosis is vital
Regardless of the number of carbs we eat, ketosis is a process that the body goes through every day.
Hard to believe? Well, it’s true. Whenever sugar is not readily available for the body to use as energy, the body provides us with our energy by getting it from ketones - so ketosis is vital.
Whenever the need for energy increases and carbohydrates aren’t available to meet that demand, the body starts increasing its ketone levels. If carbs are restricted for a more significant amount of time (i.e., longer than three days), then the body will increase ketone levels even further and this is when the benefits become outstanding.
However, most people are rarely in ketosis.
This is because they have a daily diet that introduces sugar (by heavily eating carbs and/or too much protein) and hidden sugar (from processed foods) and this is when the body prefers to use that sugar as its primary fuel source and not ketones.
When we eat high-carbohydrate foods and/or excessive amounts of protein, our body breaks it down into a simple sugar called glucose. This metabolic process happens because glucose provides the cells with the quickest source of adenosine triphosphate (ATP.)
ATP is the primary energy molecule needed to fuel almost everything going on within the body.
Every calorie we consume from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins is used to increase ATP levels in some way.
So, what’s the difference between CKD and TKD
Unlike TKD, where the primary goal is to maintain blood sugar and muscle glycogen at a moderate level for training, the goal of the CKD is to completely replete glycogen during carb loading days and deplete glycogen to increase ketone levels on the other days.
Please know that both approaches allow you to reap the benefits of mixing carbohydrates and ketosis for your fitness goals.
How to start off on the right track?
1. Plan.
Poor meal planning is one of the critical mistakes KETOers commit frequently. Especially for those taking specific medications, it is especially advised to plan with a specialist, or medical professional, to avoid unnecessary health compromises. For instance, one with a diabetes condition should watch carbohydrate intake for the sake of insulin production, which might rise or fall in the case of improper planning of meals. Take into account that the KETO flu is expected to occur during this period also. This type of flu is caused by a change of body from adapting to usual breaking down of carbohydrates to breaking down good fats for fuel instead.
2. Hydrate.
Water is the most vital fluid in the body. It is essential in balancing body fluid and control of body hydration. KETO requires high water concentration for metabolization. Most people commit this mistake often when adapting to KETO.
About three years ago, my former personal trainer performed a mind-trick on me that has forever stuck with me. He said - "the more times you urinate throughout the day, more & more fat cells are being released from your body through your urine." This simple statement (whether true or not) changed how I react to personally staying hydrated.
Every individual should take an appropriate amount of water for balancing fluid and irons that are produced due to the change in carbohydrates. The recommended amount of water on KETO should be proportioned to the amount of carbohydrates when adopting KETO.❤️
Keto'22 is a short blog series where we explore the benefits of Keto nutrition. Keto places a big emphasis on fat, a lot of which comes from animal products. In this series, we will talk all things Keto; the favorable and unfavorable aspects of this approach to nutrition. Be sure to speak with your Doctor to make sure Keto is ideal for you. I follow Keto. I enjoy it and I have experienced the benefits of it. I am happy to share this information with you. Click here to learn how to get started on KETO.