Life Hacks for Health

http://livingvertical.org/2015/09/01/the-ketogenic-diet-and-type-1-diabetes-what-i-eat.

The ketogenic diet, is a high fat diet, in contrast to the Atkins diet, which is a high protein diet. Both are low carb diets.

The ketogenic diet may also work for people who are looking to lose fat, as well. It is an idea, at this point, and I don't know for sure… just something to look into. Let me know if you find some studies.

The idea is based on avoiding the intensity of hunger associated with dieting. When a body is in ketosis, it uses fat as its primary fuel. Usually, you have to fast for about 12 hours before you deplete the glucose stored in the liver, and you enter ketosis. After about 12 hours of not eating, I start to become pretty darned hungry. If your diet is sufficiently low in carbs, it will be in fat burning mode continuously. I thought there might be a link between the increased hunger, and the switch to ketosis. So what if you were in ketosis the whole time? Maybe there wouldn't be this hunger spike, when switching from glucose burning mode, to fat burning mode. Maybe hunger would be more manageable. Again, it's just an idea, and I haven't looked into studies, and am not aware that there are any, as I haven't looked. In any case, since everyone has a different energy processing engine, it would be a good experiment for them to try, if they wanted to lose weight.

Hunger is also affected by the hormones ghrelin and leptin. These vary by time of day, and I think are related to the circadian_rhythm. So it may also help to eat on a schedule.

I have tried a meat and non-sweet-vegetable only diet (high-protein), for 6 weeks, and I was always in a state of hunger no matter how much I ate, but I think that this only applies to my own body type. Or, it only applies to a body and mind with a life long history of a high sugar and starch diet. Your experience could be completely different. Regardless of choosing a high protein, or high fat diet, I think most people would benefit from reducing the amount of carbohydrates, especially, simple sugars. Edit: I found out the body can convert protein into glucose, and so maybe, I was always transitioning in and out of ketosis. And maybe, the transition in and out of ketosis was making me always feel hungry.

That's the takeaway from all this. This isn't about a diet to lose weight in the short term, because you'll just gain it back: see Diets Are Not the Answer. This is about making lifestyle changes in what you eat, which leads to sustained weight loss, and better health. It's up to you to experiment, and find out what works best for your own energy processing engine.

https://authoritynutrition.com/ketogenic-diet-101
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/venuto1.htm
http://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/2016/10/05/nutritional-geometry-3-ketosis-benefits-risks-of-oil-rich-diets

Update: The use of your own fat for fuel can reduce growth hormone levels, as the body switches from feast to famine mode. Although there seem to be workarounds, because growth hormone secretion happens at specific times.