This makes me more productive than coffee
What happens when you discover ketones
Ketones are molecules produced by the liver when glucose is limited
They are a clean reliable energy source for all your system
Ketones are responsible for the anti-inflammatory and energetic effects of the ketogenic diet
You can take them as a supplement or increase their concentration in your blood
The first method is very straight forward, you will feel:
A mental clarity similar to coffee, but more subtil and flat, keeping you going for hours on mental challenging tasks
You will be less hungry, they suppress your appetite
(Be careful on trying these ones, they can lead to some gastrointestinal discomfort/nausea if you are not used to them)
The second one is more natural and you achieve similar effects, I prefer it
Its easier to achieve high concentrations of ketones in the blood if you are metabolically flexible
Your cells can easily shift between burning glucose, or burning fatty acids, raising ketone levels
Strategies I personally use:
Intermittent fasting
Keeping carb intake under 100 grams per day and prioritizing healthy unprocessed fats
Coconut oil
Extra virgin olive oil
Butter or ghee
Low-intensity forms of exercise like walking or swimming
Increasing dietary fiber intake
Usually, I eat my carbs once a day at dinner, unless I am in bulking season
Before that, I fast in the morning and prioritize protein and healthy fats at lunch
In the morning, during my fast I drink coffee and I can put coconut oil or MCT oil in it
These are medium-chain fatty acid sources, easily absorbed and metabolized by our organism, being converted to energy (ketone levels rise)
The effects are similar to exogenous ketones and my appetite is very suppressed, which is great to delay my first meal
“But then you are breaking your fast, that’s pure fat”
Technically yes, but turns out eating fat or taking ketones don’t compromise the fasting benefits
The insulin spike in minimal/neutral and ketones can actually improve the mental clarity and anti-inflammatory effects of the fast
The dietary fiber I referred is good for gut health.
And the microbiome decompose the fiber into short-chain fatty acids, an energy source, promoting fat adaptation and fatty acid oxidation.
Since I reject the mindset of “calories is the only thing that matter”, I don’t mind ingesting healthy fats in my “fast”.
I don’t do it everyday, I use it as a tool, do the same
Do some blood work regularly, there are some genetic polymorphisms who don’t react well on high fat diets or drinking pure fat - similar advice should be presented on most “normal” carb-centric diets and there is none, but that is another story.
Hope this was informative, tell me your thoughts on this.
