Chapter 1: How the Keto Diet Works

The ketogenic diet aka keto diet is low in carbohydrates, high in fat and contains a medium amount of protein.

Your body produces a large amount of glucose when you eat something that contains a high amount of carbohydrates. Your body then converts the glucose into energy that is used as fuel to perform routine activities.

If you are on a standard U.S. diet (a high carbohydrate diet), your body won’t burn fat and as a result, most of the fat will get accumulated in your body.

Let's say you want to try the keto diet. How will you lose weight? In this case, your body will look for another source of energy, such as fat. When the fat starts being burned up rather than proteins or carbohydrates, your body goes into a state called ketosis. This is heavenly and what keto dieters aim to achieve. Not only is ketosis an amazing way to burn fat but it is also a tremendous way to achieve mental clarity and focus. In other words, some say the keto diet is the best way to totally optimize your whole life. At NowKeto we believe in this diet and the science behind it and try to actively pursue a state of ketosis.

So how does ketosis scientifically work? Ketosis is a process that involves your metabolism. This process kick starts when your body doesn’t have enough of carbohydrates. As a result, your body starts burning the fat in order to produce energy. The fat is turned into ketones that are used as a solid source of energy.

What do we want to achieve with the keto diet? In simple terms, the goal is to make your body obtain energy from fat instead of carbohydrates thus improving your weight and optimizing your life. In other words, the idea is to train your body to burn the additional fat first, which is done by reducing or eliminating your intake of carbohydrates.

The goal of any diet is to boost weight loss by reducing your calorie intake and boosting the process of burning calories with weight loss exercises.

But keto diet is different as it focuses on the source of calories instead of imposing a restriction on how many calories you can consume.

Understanding Keto Terms

While doing your homework for a keto diet, you may have come across a lot of unfamiliar terms. If you want to understand the keto diet better, you need to understand the common terms associated with this low-carb diet. Let’s spell out some common keto diet abbreviations and terminologies.

AS = Artificial Sweeteners

BF = The Fat in Your body

BG = The glucose in your body

BMI = This common terms refers to Body Mass Index, which is a ratio between your weight and height.

BMR = Your Basal Metabolic Rate, which refers to the number of calories you tend to burn when you are idle.

BP = This is another common health term that refers to Blood Pressure

BPC = This funny abbreviation is derived from Bullet Proof Coffee

Carbs = Carbohydrates

CICO = The full form is Calories in Calories Out

TKD, SKD, CKD = Targeted Keto Diet, Standard Keto Diet and Cyclical Keto Diet

CO = it is short for Coconut Oil

FA = It stands for Fat Adapted

Fat Bombs = This term refers to a keto diet food that is high in fat and low in carbohydrates. Common ingredients may include cocoa powder, cream cheese, butter, and coconut oil.

Gluconeogenesis = In this process, your liver uses the excess amount of protein to produce glucose.

HF = It’s short for High Fat

IBS = It’s abbreviated from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which is a digestive disorder. Its common symptoms include constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, abdominal pain, and cramping.

IF = It’s is short for Intermittent Fasting

Ketosis = It’s a metabolic state and when you get into this state, your liver burns fat to produce fatty acids known as ketones. Your body uses ketones as the fuel.

LCD = It’s short for Low Carb Diet

Macros = It stands for Macronutrients.