M3:D30 Ketogenic Diets

The Velocity Diet is a form of a ketogenic diet.  This type of diet is high fat, high protein and low carb.  They use it in epileptic children to control seizures.  So what is a ketogenic diet?

Normally the body generates glucose as fuel.  When you restrict your carbs to a very low level (in this case about 5%) your liver will convert the fat into fatty acids and ketones.  The ketones go through to the brain for energy there.

When on a ketogenic diet, not only are carbs limited, starchy veggetables are also eliminated.  The idea is to force your body to use the fat for fuel.  The ketones go to your brain for energy and the fatty acids are used by your body for energy.  Some say it is possible to actually teach your body to use the fat for fuel long term.

There have been several books written that talk about keto diets.  One very popular in the body building world is Better Than Steroids by Dr. Warren Willey.  Dr. Willey discusses a very strict keto diet and recommends limiting its use to a 2 week period every so often.  Dr. Willey states that a keto diet is quite efficient in taking fat off.  The concern is in keeping off the fat.  The Anabolic Diet by Dr. Mauro G. DiPasquale also touts a keto diet, but goes much further with the program.  Dr. DiPasquale recommends this as a way of life.  The Anabolic Diet is a modified version of a keto diet in that it permits a carb up period every 5 days.  The concept is to spend the weekdays low carb and then to eat whatever you want on the weekends.  The amazing claim with The Anabolic Diet is that your body becomes a fat burning machine, extremely adept at using fat for fuel, so the extra fat intake (while is needs to be reasonable) isn't a huge problem–the body handles it.

Both books (Better Than Steroids and The Anabolic Diet) make the case that food can cause the same physical responses as anabolic steroids can, but without the dangers.  The increase in fat will also cause an increase in testosterone and GH production within your body. This is obviously good for muscle building.  It is important to note that we are not talking about getting massive, we are merely talking about adding some nice muscle to your frame.

Now beware, the Adtkins Diet was also a keto diet, but it emphasized heavy proteins and fat.  This is the downfall of that diet.  It can be the cause of some very severe health issues as a result.

Better Than Steroids and The Anabolic Diet present some solutions that avoid the problems of Adtkins.  The main issue is that both BTS and TAD recommend using lean proteins, getting your fats from EFAs (including nuts) with just a small amount of animal fat, and keeping your carbs very low.  TAD recommends carbing up on weekends.  Both BTS and TAD recommend high calories to gain muscle, but TAD claims your body can actually burn fat and build muscle at the same time if you train it properly.

I wanted to share this research with you because it is all part of what I am doing right now.  I am really into the nutritional research.  I want to understand why something works.  It isn't enough for an expert to recommend something to me anymore.  I want to understand what I am doing to my body. 

This mindset comes from my interview with Marc David.  During our chat afterwards he made the point that he likes to teach people about what exercises work what area of the body because it enables them to go it on their own at the gym.  If they are supposed to do squats today and the squat rack is being dominated by some knucklehead doing curls, they can walk over and do leg presses because they understand the two exercises work the same area of the body.