The ketogenic diet is more than just a new diet. It is a lifestyle. People who are serious about running on ketones choose a ketogenic diet and with it — keto supplements. The goal of which is to remain in a state of ketosis. Keto effectively changes your metabolism from burning sugar to burning fat.
The ketogenic diet is designed to make your body produce more BHB so you can enter and remain in nutritional ketosis. However, this process can be tough to go through without the help of keto supplements which provide many different benefits to your keto journey. BHB supplements, in particular, can help you optimize your keto goals.
Ketosis is a normal metabolic process. When your body doesn’t have enough carbohydrates to burn for energy, it starts burning fat instead. During this process your body makes ketones. Normally your body controls how much fat it burns, and it does not make or use ketones. When you eat very little carbs and decrease your calorie intake, your body will switch to ketosis for energy.
It can take a few days for your body to fully switch to ketosis for energy. People will usually begin the process of getting into ketosis by fasting or eating less than 50 grams of carbs per day. People choose to take BHB supplements to get into ketosis faster and to make sure they get all of the benefits they can from the process.
What Are BHB Keto Supplements?
Glucose is the preferred source of energy for many cells in the body. When glucose is no longer available, your liver produces a ketone body from fat called Hydroxybutyrate (BHB). BHB ultimately becomes your body and brain’s primary source of energy. This process can be lengthy and uncomfortable, often resulting in flu-like symptoms and cravings for sugar as a faster source of energy. That is when supplementing BHB on a ketogenic diet can have a profound positive impact.
When restricting calories, fasting, following a ketogenic diet, or even as a result of exercise—BHB levels increase in the brain, heart, muscle, liver and other tissue. Preparing your body to trigger endogenous ketone production is what takes time and effort. Exogenous BHB ketones which can be introduced to the body through supplements provide a quicker alternative to natural ketone production. Exogenous simply means that the ketones come from an external source and are not produced in the body.
Exogenous ketones became available on the market for consumers in just the past few years. However, scientists have been synthesizing and experimenting with ketone bodies in a lab for decades. Scientists studied them for their effects on specific diseases, especially childhood seizure disorders. Thanks to improvements in technology and research, exogenous ketones are now widely available to the public.
As scientific research progresses, it continues to show how beneficial exogenous ketones can be in both improving your health and performance. Exogenous ketones are becoming more and more popular because of this.
When you are in ketosis, your body produces three different kinds of ketones. These ketones are acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), and acetone. The ketone you will find in exogenous ketone supplements is BHB. This is because the body optimizes BHB and can use it most efficiently.
What Are the Benefits of BHB Keto Supplements?
Taking exogenous BHB keto supplements will rapidly get you into ketosis and force your body to start using a sustained energy source of fat breakdown. This will help you skip the flu-like symptoms and make the keto lifestyle more attainable and sustainable.
There will also be times when maintaining a ketogenic state is not practical or realistic. Ketone supplements will provide you with extra ketones when you aren’t currently in ketosis.
If you are an athlete who needs to temporarily up your carbohydrates—this will take you out of ketosis. Or if you just simply have times of higher carbohydrate intake this will also take you out of ketosis. This is where BHB keto supplements come in. Keto supplements can help you get back into ketosis at any time. You can take them between meals for a punch of extra ketones or before a workout for much-needed energy.
Taking BHB keto supplements like the ones MindZymes provides ultimately results in direct benefits including:
Weight Loss
BHB has more advantages beyond efficient energy production. It can supercharge your metabolism in ways glucose can’t.
Studies show that BHB helps control cravings and promotes weight loss. BHB keto supplements help keep you full which helps you lose weight. Studies have even shown that a ketogenic diet can lead to a more significant weight loss than low-fat diets. Ketones delay the onset of hunger and lower the desire to eat.
According to one study, people on the ketogenic diet reported 2.2 times more weight loss compared to those on a low fat, restricted calorie diet. No more having to count calories—you naturally feel less hungry and more full with keto supplements all thanks to ketosis.
Natural, Clean Energy
You need energy, but you need the right kind of energy to be at your best. You don’t want your body to be a polluted mess not running as effectively as possible. Therefore, the type of fuel your body is using to create energy matters.
Think about it as if glucose were coal and fats are solar power. Coal is dirty, it’s always causing problems, and you have to continue to burn it to get energy. Solar power is clean and pretty much limitless. This is more or less the same story when your body is burning glucose (coal) versus fats (solar) for energy. Your mind and body will run more effectively and efficiently using fat for fuel.
Powerful Brain Fuel
BHB can enhance your overall brain health. It also fights against the brain fog you can experience when starting a ketogenic diet.
When you begin to starve your body of glucose you are also starving your brain of glucose and the energy it uses from it. However, when the brain is not getting enough glucose, it can use BHB ketones for energy. The little glucose your brain still needs, it gets from protein.
Researchers believe BHB could even be a safe and convenient new approach to a variety of diseases including, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
Enhanced Performance
The absorption of ketones like BHB is dramatically improved with exercise. In turn, ketones improve your performance during exercise and recovery after exercise.
Endurance exercise (cycling, hiking, dancing, swimming, power yoga, playing sports, or walking long distances) especially accelerate the absorption of BHB.
BHB keto supplements increase fat loss without reducing muscle mass in endurance or resistance exercise. They also replenish glycogen stores—accelerating recovery. Additionally, ketones can decrease fatigue and improve cognitive function when exercising.
One study discovered the burning of intramuscular fat increased 20-fold during exercise on ketosis. This happened even when there was muscle glycogen available. This evidence means the cells ignored the usually-preferred glucose reserves and burned more fat instead.
Get Into Ketosis Faster
Being in a state of ketosis is an effective way to lose weight, improve energy production, enhance mental cognition, and up your performance. But, how long does it take to get into Ketosis and how long does it take to experience these benefits?
Your body has been burning glucose for fuel your entire life. You can’t just automatically make the switch to ketones and jump into ketosis overnight. Your body needs time to adapt to burning ketones for fuel. The transitional process could take anywhere from 48 hours to one week. The time varies depending on how much exercise you’re getting, your body type, your overall lifestyle, and your carbohydrate intake.
There are a few ways you can speed up this process. Follow these steps and get into ketosis faster.
#1 Drastically Decrease Your Carb Intake
The average carb intake when you are on the keto diet is 50 grams per day. However, if you are an athlete, this number may increase up to 100 grams. When first trying to get into ketosis, some people find it easier to start cutting carbs gradually. If you want to get into ketosis fast, this is not the way to go. In order to get into ketosis more quickly, you need to decrease your carb intake drastically. Tracking your carbohydrate intake during this time can be necessary to make sure no carbs slip by.
#2 Increase Fats Right Away
It seems like a crazy idea, especially since we have been told our whole lives to stay away from eating fat. We have become so afraid of fats that we forget there are actually good fats. There are good fats, and there are bad fats. Healthy “good” fats are a significant component of keto meal plans. In order to get your body into ketosis more quickly, you should up your fat intake right away. You should make sure your fat intake amounts for 70-80% of your total calories. Doing this helps your body switch to using fat as it’s primary fuel source. Some healthy fats that will help you get into ketosis faster are:
– Fatty meats, egg yolks, butter
– Fatty nuts
– Avocados
– Oils
#3 Up Your Exercise
Exercise is an essential ingredient in any healthy lifestyle. But, it is especially important when your body is making the switch from sugar-burning to fat-burning. Exercising will help your body get rid of stored glucose. When your glycogen reserves are low, and they are not being filled back up with carbohydrates, your body will then turn to fat as a fuel source. Weight training can be very beneficial if you want to get rid of stored glucose quickly. Increasing your exercise intensity will help get you into ketosis faster.
#4 Give Fasting A Try
Intermittent fasting is a tool often used by people who live a keto lifestyle. Fasting can improve concentration and even reduce blood sugar levels. It has also been known to promote many other health benefits as well as decrease the symptoms of various diseases. Intermittent fasting also aids in weight and fat loss. Although it may seem intimidating, intermittent fasting along with a ketogenic diet can help you get into ketosis faster.
#5 Take BHB Keto Supplements
Like I have mentioned, keto supplements make it easier for you to get into ketosis and speeds up the process. The most effective exogenous keto supplements are those that are made with hydroxybutyrate (BHB). BHB can make up about 78% of your total ketone bodies in your blood. When talking about an efficient fuel source—it doesn’t get better than BHB. BHB keto supplements get your body into ketosis much faster—sometimes even in just 24 hours. Not only will it decrease the time it takes to get into ketosis, but it will also lessen the ill side effects of getting into ketosis.
Getting Into the Perfect Ketosis with Keto Supplements
If we back up quite a bit and take a look at our history, we can see that the human race has depended on ketosis from early on. Humans in the hunter-gatherer era survived thanks to the body’s ability to use different fuels for energy depending on what was available. This was vital during a time when the source, quantity, and frequency of food was uncertain. Because of this, people were fasting for a lot of the time—their bodies ran on ketones, not glucose.
Fast forward, and now most adults rely on glucose for energy. This is all thanks to the abundance of high carb foods our environment pushes causing us to ditch ketones.
The good news is that it’s easy to start using ketones again. Your body is always making BHB. However when you are on a regular carb based diet, your body isn’t making enough to use as fuel. You have to change your lifestyle to boost BHB levels high enough to start using them for fuel.
You can do this by following a ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, and exercise. However, you should take whatever help you can get while trying to get into that perfect state of ketosis. Supplementing with BHB ultimately helps you get into that perfect state of ketosis and amplifies your keto lifestyle results.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products discussed are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.