The Ketogenic Files, FAQ Part I
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
I’ve received a lot of questions about my style of ketogenic dieting. To shed some more light on my approach, I’ve compiled a little FAQ from all the questions I’ve received. Here’s The Ketogenic Files, Part I.
Disclaimer: The answers within this FAQ are my personal opinions gathered from my own experience and working with hundreds of clients over the past +10 years. Please keep in mind that I will not go into depth, nor will I reveal all my “secrets”, as these are reserved for my clients who pay for my help and advice. This Q&A will be rather basic, but it should both help and point most of you in the right direction.
Q: Who would you recommend a ketogenic diet to? Are there any specific criteria for choosing it?
A: This depends on your genetic insulin sensitivity and your level of body fat. The fatter you are, the poorer your insulin sensitivity and the worse you handle carbohydrates. So, if you don’t handle carbs well and/or are overweight, you shouldn’t eat them. It’s even worse if you drink a lot of caffeinated beverages, since caffeine decreases insulin sensitivity even more. Besides, most people are kidding themselves about how much carbohydrates they need. How much do you really move about in a day? How much do you exercise on a daily basis? Oh, close to nothing, uh? Forty to fifty grams per day of good carbohydrates is plenty for most of the population.
However, if you’re lean, active and train at least five hours a week, then you can eat some carbs. Get lean first if you want to eat them. The leaner you are, the more carbs you can eat.
I would say that for fat loss, a ketogenic diet the best choice for anyone above 15 percent of body fat.
Q: What are your thoughts on re-feed/higher calorie days, i.e. eat whatever you want once a week? Do you have any of those, or do you consume the same number of calories each and every day?
A: I don’t like “eat whatever you want” re-feed days. All they do is reinforcing bad behavior patterns and your cravings for carbohydrates/crap food. I do however use re-feed meals or even re-feed days containing good carbohydrates depending on the client and his/her situation (level of bodyfat, lean body mass, activity level, signs of metabolic slow down, etc.)
As we’re discussing ketogenic diets, the most important rule is no re-feeds/carbs at all for the first three or four weeks. You need to be in constant ketosis for about three weeks to enter a glycogen sparing state (that means that your body has adapted to ketosis.) At that point your body is as efficient at using ketones as it is at using carbohydrates. This also means that there is no real reason for carb re-feeds during a ketogenic diet.
However, as you get leaner and are playing in the single digits of body fat, you might risk slowing your metabolism due to cutting calories lower or increasing your activity to keep burning off fat. If this happens, a re-feed day or two is in order. Having high carbohydrate days can somewhat elevate your metabolism by helping with the conversion of T4 to T3. This strategy however, should only be used when the body temperature drops.
Another approach I also use, especially on bigger guys that carries some muscle mass, is that once they entered a glycogen sparing state, they’ll consume one carbohydrate meal once a week. A meal of 150 to 200 grams of good carbs is enough to keep your glycogen stores almost full (once you’re in a glycogen sparing state, that is.) This will help with workout intensity, keeping the muscles fuller and retaining muscle mass.
And no, I don’t consume the same number of calories every day. I consume more on my training days than my off-days – simply by adding BCAA, glutamine and whey protein around my workouts.
Q: I read that you can pretty much eat whatever you want on a ketogenic diet as long as it does not contain carbs. So I guess bacon, cream, cheese and butter are good choices?
A: This is where most people really screw up! Bacon, cream and other fat sources high in saturated fat and/or trans-fats are old-school, outdated and plain stupid. A high intake of saturated fats in comparison to healthy and essential fatty acids will increase inflammation (and thus cortisol), decrease the function of your cells and decrease your insulin sensitivity - only to mention a few problems.
Would you like to boost your metabolism, decrease inflammations and improve your insulin sensitivity? Then there’s no better choice than fish oil. Fish Oil and Omega-3 supplementation should be the base of your fat intake. Then add healthy fats such as olive oil, borage oil, evening primrose oil, macademia nut oil and coconut oil for cooking.
It’s also extremely important that you eat a lot of vegetables! See the next question for more details.
Q: If you consume next to none carbohydrates during a longer period of ketosis, doesn’t your body become very acidic in its pH? Isn’t that bad for the body?
A: You’re correct that being in a state of acidity (chronic metabolic acidosis) is really bad for you, since your body must, at all costs, be and operate in a stable pH. Therefore, any dietary acid load has to be neutralized by one or many number of homeostatic base-producing mechanisms. These includes, for example, the breakdown of the strong base calcium from the bones and the breakdown of glutamine from skeletal muscle; resulting in both loss of bone- and muscle mass. However, you’ve got the acid-forming compounds somewhat mixed up.
First, all proteins are acidic in various degrees. But since proteins are needed for tissue repair, keeping you in an anabolic state, keeping your metabolism going and plain and simple essential, you need to keep your protein intake high. And while a high protein diet is acid forming, proteins also seem to counteract some of its own acid load by increasing the body’s capacity for excreting those acids.
The other essential nutrient in your diet is fat. Fat is neutral and doesn’t contribute to an acidic load.
Carbohydrates, which are not essential in any way, are a trickier group. Most rich carbohydrate containing sources, such as grains, are about as acidic as most meats, milk, diary and eggs. Products such as cereal, noodles, oats, pasta, rice and most bread are very acidic.
This leaves us with vegetables and fruits, which are both alkaline (base producing.) Since fruits contain fructose they need to be limited to carbohydrate loading meals only. So, on a ketogenic diet, it’s important to get a lot of vegetables. And since we’re trying to eliminate carbohydrates, these vegetables need to be limited to the green fibrous types (broccoli, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, celery and cauliflower.)
As you can see, the modern diet with processed food, some proteins, a lot of grains, sugar and very little veggies are extremely acidic. A well balanced ketogenic diet is not.
Q: I know some people who get their carbohydrates from vegetables only. And for me, it seems that they never put on any muscle.
A: Well, I know a lot of athletes (especially strength- and power athletes) that are on a low carbohydrate diet year round, and they thrive on it. Where most people screw up is simply that they do not cover their nutritional bases and needs. If you want to build muscle on a ketogenic- or low carbohydrate diet, you need to get at least 1.7 to 2 grams of protein and 1.3 to 1.5 grams of fat per pound of body weight. And the fats must be from healthy choices (fish oil, omega-3 capsules, olive oil, Macademia nut oil, GLA and CLA.) No more than 25% should come from saturated fats.
And as always, it’s crucial to pay close attention to one’s nutrition and supplementation before, during and after every training session.
Q: I’ve never seen anyone as ripped and vascular. What do you do to bring out that level of vascularity? Have you done a carb load, used arginine, caffeine or something similar before taking the pictures?
A: The pictures you’re referring to were taken during a ketogenic diet and where my subcutaneous fat was measured to about 4%. Since I’m on a strict ketogenic diet, carbohydrates are out of the question since they would put me out of ketosis for hours. I only take creatine and BCAA before and during my workouts. Both supplements help with energy and keeping you focused. I do take some glutamine after my workouts as a carbohydrate substitute, but that does not play a role in vascularity during the workout. I don’t use acetyl carnitine and for caffeine, I really try to limit my consumption since it interferes with your insulin sensitivity and ability to store glycogen. Caffeine or similar products should be limited or eliminated during the better part of your fat loss program. Only use them at the end if you hit a plateau that you have trouble breaking trough.
My vascularity is a result of many factors such as; a low level of body fat, over 20 years of training experience in various sports, being in a glycogen sparing state, and somewhat a result of my genetics.
Part two of The ketogenic Files will be up in a week or two.
