The Magic of Fat and the Secret Ketone
"Man has been living for 2 million years in a mostly Ketonic state, burning healthy fats instead of clunky and cancerous sugar". (Perlmutter).
Why then is the world absolutely full to the brim with glucose forming carbohydrates and sugars causing havoc on an epic proportion, in just the last few hundred years?
Because it tastes good…. is that it?
Did you know the body contains only two small teaspoons of sugar naturally (which is optimal)?
Did you know that even this amount can be made within our body anyway, with the conversion of proteins and other parts of our diet?
Check out this great interview of Dr David Perlmutter.
If for such a long time the human race has rather convincingly bred, to now an astounding 7 billion people and growing fast, why is it that we’re not questioning the little yellow packets of food, most seem so eager to consume on a daily basis? One can ponder this question for whilst we are growing ‘our numbers’ so-to-speak, we’re just as quickly, killing ourselves with poor lifestyles and nutrition.
American celebrity Dr Mark Hayman, the author of ten New York Times best sellers, including Eat Fat, Get Thin plainly describes the scientific evidence mounting in support of abundant health benefits for what he has called a ‘vilified nutrient’ – dietary fat. He, like many of us, once saw fat as the enemy, it being responsible for conditions like obesity and heart disease. But, the further he delved into studies and medical research papers, with an open and unbiased intent, he determined: “in the absence of refined sugars, starches and carbs, healthy fats shut-down cravings, they accelerate weight loss and they can prevent and even reverse heart disease.” (Hayman)
The Founder, a recent Hollywood blockbuster about the rise of the McDonalds franchise corporation, whilst an unlikely reference source, is as far as anyone really needs to go to see the extent of the popularity of those little yellow packeted food-like items. In the credits of the film, as if it were something to be proud of, McDonalds claims to be feeding 1% of the world on a daily basis. This is without mentioning the hundreds of other franchised fast-food outlets that produce cheap and profitable high carb, high sugar, low nutrition type foods and drink. Why stop there anyway? The majority of our Western society (with the East quickly catching-up unfortunately) are eating questionable portions of questionable foods.
What we’re talking about here, is a world that eats what’s available to them, often without question, nor responsibility to the very thing that walked them into a restaurant or kitchen: their body. It’s as though most people have forgotten that their food doesn’t come from a grocery store, golden arches or equivalent…
Food, real food, comes from the ground. It’s alive and that’s how it grows; it naturally does that in order to be harvested and exchanged in whatever way that it ends up on your dinner table. For how long before the globe saw an industrialized food chain, did a family or village consume what they could grow or slaughter? There’s pro’s and con’s to having an organized fashion of food production and I’m the first to swing into the local grocer when that time of the week comes, but why is so much of the food produced around the planet of such a poor quality?
Academics often comment, that the general public have a poor understanding of history, generally. It’s easy to be blinded by daily living and the hurdles of getting through a week (if that’s how you choose to approach it), let-alone rear children, live a ‘successful’ life, build a business or excel in a career – but seriously, when was the last time you considered what you’re eating, why you’re eating it and how it works in your tummy once your pop-it-in your mouth?
There need be no attack on big food manufacturing conglomerates around the world: they’re a business and it’s their job to spin a profit (as their board of directors would claim). The story of deception and greed, marketing manipulation through the likes of the “Dairy Council” or the tv adverts for apparently nutritious and healthy breakfast cereal loaded with sugar – well it’s an old story. Where there’s money to be made, a gap in the market for something to be sold, stories will be told and life goes on. What perhaps there is becoming a need for though, is some perspective: what’s going to make you lethargic and slowly kill you, versus what’s going to give you a light and tight body, great brain to make you productive and support you to feel vital and engaged in life?
The latest craze in the dietary world, seems to be a frenzy around Ketosis. It was summed-up in the first sentence of this article (essentially where the body runs off the highly efficient production of Ketones into the body’s system through burning healthy fats, rather than the inefficiency of constant sugar seeking). Go back just a few thousand years and it makes so much sense: man had a high plant based diet, fats were prized with moderate protein and little to no sugar or carbohydrates. Berries perhaps were found on the go, whilst hunting an animal (rather than 4 bushes worth squeezed into a smoothie) and intermittent fasting was a norm – whilst hunting and gathering activities took place. I can’t imagine the primitive man getting big pangs of the ‘hangries’ each 4 hour period that he didn’t eat - and that’s because he didn’t need to, as he was a in a wonderful state of Ketosis.
Having come full circle science and nutrition are finally connecting back to the rhythm of the apparently less educated cave man, with obesity and lifestyle caused diseases only on the rise, we must all wake up and take note of the many benefits Ketosis offers, however more importantly to start questioning or food choices with more responsibility and more love.
To read more about our personal journey with Ketosis and understand the benefits check out the article Ketosis Uncovered
