FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT KETONES AND KETOSIS
Introducing Dr Andra Campitelli. Better known as Dr Andi. She’s a naturopathic physician who’s been in practice for almost 10 years. Her focus in treatment and practice has always been the ketogenic diet. Low carb – high fat diet. The treatment and prevention of health conditions really helps optimize patients health.
We’re actually finding is that ketones, specifically beta hydroxybutyrate is actually beneficial to the health of our liver and to the health of our kidneys.
The benefits of ketones are quite diverse and what we see short-term and long-term can be different for everyone.
Initially, most people experience that cognitive benefit. The focus, the concentration, the energy, from the ketones in their system and then more long-term as the ketones exert their effect internally helping to manage inflammation and balancing hormones.
Exogenous ketones can be taken multiple times a day or just once a day depending on what the outcome is that you’re looking for.
No. Exogenous ketones are water soluble. That means it will not get stored or converted to fat in the body. If you have too much ketones that your body doesn’t need to make use of it just gets simply eliminated via the urine.
So you can still experience the benefits such as anti-inflammatory, energy, focus, concentration and to experience the most of other benefits that can be offered from BHB.
Ketones themselves can be a little bit dehydrating so often you can lose minerals. When we lose minerals the impact of that could be fatigue or a headache also constipation. If you suffer from constipation or diarrhea reduce your dose by half increase your water consumption and then as those symptoms subside slowly move up to the full dose.
Ketones have been used quite safely in conjunction with medication. It’s very important that you consult your personal health care provider and ensure that this is safe to take in conjunction with the medications that you’re taking.
You can take the ketones without making any changes and still experience those benefits. However, I do encourage making those healthy lifestyle changes obviously optimizing your health and your diet will enhance the benefits of taking the exogenous ketones.
The ketogenic diet has actually been used for centuries but it really came to popularity in the early 20s when a medical doctor began using the ketogenic diet to treat seizures in children suffering from epilepsy.
We started to look at the neuroprotective benefits, the anti-inflammatory benefits, that we get from ketones. Benefits from a mental and emotional state. From there, the research continued to expand. Today we’re looking at ketones in the use of athletic performance. There’s a lot of research currently being conducted when it comes to cancer and if there could be a potential benefit from a ketogenic diet and exogenous ketones from that standpoint.
Ketoacidosis is nutritional ketosis is the process of your body breaking down fat as a source of fuel and creating ketones and this only happens when you’re following a very low carbohydrate and high fat diet.
Taking exogenous ketones is drinking Ketone bodies without pushing your body into nutritional ketosis but still elevating the blood level of ketones.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is a dangerous state that occurs in the absence of insulin.
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Nutritional ketosis and taking exogenous ketones nutritional ketosis is the state of your body using fat as a source of fuel.
Natural Ketosis is getting on a low carbohydrate moderate protein high fat diet this allows our body to transition from using that sugar to using fat as our primary source of fuel or energy. For some people to become keto adapted or to move into nutritional ketosis it can take weeks other people can take months. It just depends on each individual.
Urinary testing is easier and is most common. However, as our body becomes more accustomed to using and making use of the ketones that we’re putting into it less and less will be eliminated via the urine
It’s preferential to use blood ketone measurements within one hour of taking your exogenous ketones as this is the most accurate way.
