A diet that contains mostly carbohydrates makes it very difficult for you to become metabolically flexible.
As humans, we can use 2 different sources for fuel: either glucose coming from carbs or ketones coming from stored fat and dietary fat.
Since we can use these 2 different fuel sources, we should be able to use them both. This is called metabolic flexibility. If you eat a high carb diet, this is extremely difficult to achieve.
Being metabolically flexible is very beneficial:
*To prevent insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes (caused by chronic high blood sugars) and related diseases.
*To avoid being ‘hangry ‘.. being angry when you’re hungry because your glucose levels have dropped so fast, your body needs food, now! Anyone on low carb, not keto in prep will tell you this SUCKS. Like the Snickers commercial says…In KETOSIS, you energy levels remain steady, as you never run out of fuel, wither thru the fat you have eaten, or the fat you have stored on your body..
*Ability to be able to tap into burning body fat. On a “NORMAL” high carb diet, the only time you do this is fasted, usually in the am.. Which is why many trainers want you doing fasted cardio, to burn off the remaining glycogen and TRY and tap into the fat stores.
Think of it like this, hundreds or thousands of years ago when there weren’t any grocery stores and we didn’t have any food available right away, we would fast and hunt/ gather until we found food. And because we were metabolically flexible, we’d get into a state of ketosis where we would burn our stored body fat in order to have energy to find more food. We may kill an animal and eat in a day, or it may take 10 days to hunt and kill and find food for us and our family. This is also some of the reasons why a KETO diet is very muscle sparing even at a 20% caloric deficit. We were DESIGNED to run on fat, while preserving our muscle to hunt for our next meal.
That’s why the fastest way to get into ketosis is trough fasting. Because you burn your sugar reserves first, and then your body will start to use the fat reserves, when you then eat a diet high in healthy fats your body will stay in a state of ketosis most of the day.
The key to metabolic flexibility is stable blood sugar levels. You can check your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
Low carb/ HEALTHY ketogenic diet helps your body to become metabolically flexible.
Ketone levels change ALL DAY. We all enter a slight level of ketosis at night, and it spikes about an hour and a half before our metabolic clocks wake us up. At that time, our cortisol levels start to rise, as does our insulin, to get us up and ready for the day. When that happens, ketones naturally drop. They also fall EVERY time you eat anything, carbs or not. And they change with stress hormones, exercise and more.
And hey, it is okay to not be in ketosis 100% of the time. Just make sure you can switch fuel sources from time to time. Your body is designed for this flexibility. Your weight loss will continue, your health will improve, your gut biome will change for the better.