There are so many different subcategories of the ketogenic diet nowadays. But what I’m going to focus on in this video is just the five main forms of the ketogenic diet. Now, if you want to get down to really the nitty gritty the ketogenic diet is just the ketogenic diet. Now, all these different subcategories that I’ll talk about are just various forms that people have really kind of changed or altered to fit their specific lifestyles, and as the ketogenic lifestyle tends to evolve and more people do it, I think we’ll see more and more of these different forms.
1. The Standard Ketogenic Diet?
So the first one we have to talk about is the basic, standard ketogenic diet. This is traditionally a 75% intake of fat, 20% intake of protein, and 5% intake of carbohydrates. Now there’s a lot of evidence that shows that a traditional standard ketogenic diet is phenomenal, and the main study that I would like to reference in terms of the longevity piece is going to be the Virta Two Year Health Study ’cause it took a look at subjects that had been doing keto for two years. And the biggest piece here with a traditional standard ketogenic diet is there is a 74% adherence rate over the course of two years. That is earth shattering. That is so amazing ’cause that is such a high adherence. So this is sort of your foundational ketogenic diet with this macro nutrient breakdown. Great for all kinds of things ranging from modulating inflammation, gut health, brain health, all kinds of different things. But most of all, modulating the glucose levels and reducing weight, this is the standard.
2. The Therapeutic Ketogenic Diet?
The next form of the ketogenic diet is going to be the therapeutic ketogenic diet, and this is 90% fat, 10% protein, and less than 1% carbohydrate. This is used for therapeutic conditions, neurological conditions, epilepsy, things like that. And the goal here is to get your ketones really high, above three millimoles, because we have seen in patient populations with neurological conditions, that higher levels of ketones tend to improve symptoms. A lot of the reasoning behind why isn’t known. We do know that ketones burn cleaner, so that could have something to do with the fact that it’s less stress on the brain for people who have these neurological conditions. Anyhow, the point is to get the ketones higher. We want to get them high, especially with therapeutic ketosis. That’s again, that’s where Keto-Mojo comes in handy because if you are measuring your ketones, you want to make sure you’re doing so accurately, and not using urine strips. You want to be using blood ketone testing that tests beta-hydroxybutyrate, which is the primary ketone body that we want to look at. So it needs to be over three millimoles if you’re doing therapeutic ketogenic dieting.
3. The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet?
Anyhow, then we move into one of my personal favorites which is cyclical ketogenic dieting. This is where you have periods of time where you cycle out of ketosis to keep your body somewhat adapted to utilizing glucose as a fuel source. Now, this isn’t for the every day person. This is for someone that is a little more of an extreme athlete, perhaps a football player, or someone who’s doing a lot of anaerobic activity and needs to still be able to make sure they’re adequately fueled with glucose. Now I will say, as you do the ketogenic diet for a longer period of time, your body finds ways to create glucose, from proteins, from fat, from other breakdowns, it just does. But, if you’re concerned with this and you need an extra bolus of carbohydrates for whatever explosive reason, then cyclical ketogenic dieting is great. OK, that’s where you do something like, three or four days on ketosis, one day off. Three or four days back on, one day off. Or, the other form is where you go for two or three months at a time ketogenic dieting, and then take two weeks off. Now, they all come with their pros and cons. The pros being, yes, you do become somewhat more glucose adapted and less risk of glucose intolerance, but the cons are just like learning a language, your body isn’t as efficient at utilizing those ketones as it would be if you were to just dive in full bore. But once again, that’s where measuring comes in handy because if you are doing a cyclical ketogenic diet, you want to frame it in such a way that once you do have your carbohydrates, you get back into ketosis as quick as possible, and you’re going to be able to identify that with your meter.
4. The Targeted Ketogenic Diet?
OK, then we go targeted ketogenic dieting which is very similar to cyclical ketogenic dieting except your adding carbohydrates only at the end of a workout. And quite frankly, that’s the best time to do it anyway, because you’re likely already kicked out of ketosis. At the end of a workout, you’re going to be out of ketosis because your body up regulates glucose utilization at that point. Working out just drives down ketones ’cause it burns ’em up, and it drives up glucose because there’s a demand. So what that means at the end of a workout, if you measure your ketones, you might find your out ketosis. So, you might as well, if you’re going to carbohydrates, have a little bit at that point and time. This is called targeted keto because it’s very targeted with your time frame when you have your carbs.
5. The True Zero Carb or Carnivore Diet?
Then, the last one I want to talk about is true zero carb or carnivore, which is really gaining a lot of popularity right now, and more so than the macro nutrient breakdown of it being, you know, pretty much 50% protein, 50% fat, and 0% carbohydrates. More importantly than that is it’s an elimination protocol, so people feel really good because they’re eliminating foods that could be inflammatory to them. In the world of so many processed foods, and so many different varieties and foods from all corners of the world, it’s hard for us to identify what we really resonate with as far as a food from the digestive system and the metabolism standpoint. So, if you reduce all those risks and you go back to basic meat, you’re not going to have those issues. So people end up having a lot of success with that.
The Importance of Testing with Your Keto-Mojo Meter
But once again, we see ketone levels all over the place depending on how much protein people have et cetera et cetera. So that’s again where the Keto-Mojo meter comes in handy because it helps you out with that. Helps you identify what your perfect macro nutrient ratio should be. And I hope you that you understand, the whole premise of this video is to show that although there are different macro nutrient ratios, and although there are different profiles, at the end of the day, it all comes down to how you feel, your bio-individuality, and being able to test with the gold standard, the Keto-Mojo meter. So as always, keep it locked in here with Keto-Mojo, thanks for watching. I’ll see you soon.
