Bridging the Gap Between Nutritional Ketosis and Intermittent Fasting
July 23, 2017 | 2,560 views
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Nutritional ketosis is a form of metabolic therapy where the goal is to switch your body from using sugar as a fuel source to fat. To achieve this, you need to follow a ketogenic diet, which focuses on high-quality healthy fats, moderate amounts of protein and low net carb consumption.
To shed more light on this topic, I interviewed Domini Kemp and Patricia Daly, authors of the book “The Ketogenic Kitchen: Low Carb. High Fat. Extraordinary Health.”
Kemp and Daly are both cancer survivors who met while researching for natural ways to treat their conditions, and both agree that nutritional ketosis played a role in their recovery.
Kemp is of Irish ancestry and was born and raised in the Bahamas. She was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in her 20s, and during her 40s she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Daly, on the other hand, was diagnosed with malignant melanoma of the eye at the age of 28. Her condition led to various eye infections, even after trying out numerous treatments. She gave the ketogenic diet a shot, and lo and behold — her cancer went into remission.
Daly has been cancer-free for six years, and still retains her vision. Kemp has had similar results — she has gone into remission over three years ago, and she’s feeling better than ever.
The Quality of the Fats You Eat Are Important as Well
While the ketogenic diet promotes the consumption of fats, it’s important to note that they should be healthy and of high-quality. A common problem in the American diet is that when it comes to fats, most people get theirs in the form of unhealthy margarines and processed vegetable oils.
Instead, you should eat foods that are rich in healthy fats such as coconuts and coconut oil, raw butter, avocados, pasture-raised eggs, raw grass fed milk and raw unpasteurized nuts. In addition, fatty fish such as wild Alaskan salmon contains high amounts of an omega-3 fat called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). This type of fat is actually a component of your cells and is not burned as fuel. DHA helps convert photons absorbed from sunlight by your skin into fuel for your mitochondria.
The Challenges of Implementing a Ketogenic Diet
Most people think that when it comes to trying out a new diet, you need to learn an entire new skill set to cook the food that you want to eat. That being said, a ketogenic diet doesn’t really require anything fancy. If you know the basics of cooking, you can easily follow this healthy diet.
Another challenge with the ketogenic diet is the lack of progress monitoring. If you’re generally healthy, you may not need to put in much effort, but for those who want to alleviate a certain chronic condition, then you need to develop the discipline to monitor your progress.
You can use a nutritional tracker to help you monitor where you are at your diet. I use the chronometer.com/Mercola, which is specifically designed to help support a nutritional ketogenic diet. You can use it free of charge.
How Intermittent Fasting Comes Into Play
Intermittent fasting is a great way to fully take advantage of your ketogenic diet. For those who are using the diet to lose weight, you may be able to achieve results in a shorter period of time by incorporating intermittent fasting.
There are several ways to do intermittent fasting, but I’ve found that you can get the best results when you eat your food at within a specific window of time (the optimal duration is eight hours), and then fast for the rest of the day. Eventually, your body switches from burning sugar as a fuel source to fat, which can help promote weight loss in a healthier and safer manner.
To learn more about nutritional ketosis and intermittent fasting, read my article “New Cookbook Demystifies Process of Following a Ketogenic Diet.”