Capitalizing on this relatively new scientific concept, Ai-Ling Lin and her colleagues at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky have published two studies that demonstrate the effect of diet on cognitive health in animals. The first, in Scientific Reports, demonstrated that neurovascular function improved in mice who followed a Ketogenic Diet regimen. Lin et al considered The Ketogenic Diet-characterized by high levels of fat and low levels of carbohydrates-a good candidate for the study, as it has previously shown positive effects for patients with other neurological disorders, including epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and autism. Two groups of nine mice, aged 12-14 weeks, were given either the Ketogenic Diet (KD) or a regular diet. After 16 weeks, Lin et al saw that the KD mice had significant increases in cerebral blood flow, improved balance in the microbiome in the gut, lower blood glucose levels and body weight, and a beneficial increase in the process that clears amyloid-beta from the brain-a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. According to Lin, the beneficial effects seen from the Ketogenic Diet are potentially due to the inhibition of a nutrient sensor called mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin), which has shown to effect lifespan extension and health promotion. In addition to the Ketogenic Diet, Lin said, mTOR can also be inhibited by simple caloric restriction or the pharmaceutical rapamycin.
It doesn’t matter what meal, but for an overnight fast you’d probably choose skipping dinner or breakfast. Fasting for Hours - Eat only during a specific window of time. You could fast for 20 hours and have a 4-hour window of opportunity to eat. Fasting for Days - No eating for a specified number of days during the week and then resume eating normally for the remaining days. When food is restricted glucose availability declines. Your body has to find an alternate fuel. This is when ketosis begins. Ketones will now be the source of energy. Another, often unexpected, benefit of intermittent fasting is smaller portions needed to achieve ‘feeling full’. You might feel as hungry as a baseball team of teenage boys in a buffet line, but you’re more likely to stop eating when you’re sated. For the ketogenic diet to be effective, carbohydrates are restricted while fats and proteins are increased. Again, the purpose here is to force the body into a state of ketosis so stored fats are used for energy instead of sugars/glucose, which is the reason for the strict carb limit.
It’s important, especially at first, to weigh your foods and keep track of your macronutrients (carbs, fats and proteins) so you can be sure you get into a state of ketosis. Although you can purchase test strips over the counter, they haven’t proven to be very accurate, and there are other ways to reasonably determine if you are in ketosis such as the KetoBM Ketone Blood Meter. Why Follow Both Diets at The Same Time? Both these diets go hand-in-hand and amplify your results when done together. First of all, it will help you avoid some of the side effects of ketosis, like the “keto flu” which can happen when your body is shifting from glucose to ketone production. It’s a great way to kickstart your keto diet as a way of eating and really get into the swing of things. When you change your way of eating to keto-approved foods, when your window to eat on intermittent fasting comes around, you have plenty of foods to eat and don’t feel like you aren’t going to get enough to eat. In fact, you may even have trouble getting in all your macros in the beginning.
Another huge reason people might opt for both is when you are eating keto friendly foods, you get full and stay full, thus snacking isn’t a real issue. When you are fasting, it’s easier to forget about eating because you aren’t even hungry. Your mental clarity is on point, your body feels sated and your energy levels are high - all while losing weight and feeling great! It’s crucial to consider your overall health and discuss your thoughts with your primary care provider before making any drastic changes to your way of eating. The benefits of intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet are incredible alone and magnified when combined. It takes a little discipline in the beginning, but the results far outweigh any sacrifices! Will Ketosis Happen Faster with Intermittent Fasting? You bet it will! Think about it. If you are restricting carbs, you are already “fasting” on a metabolic level. This forces the ketone production because you’re going to need energy, and if this can be supplied from your unwanted fat stores, yahoo! It basically mirrors an intermittent fasting routine, but on a higher level.
When your body runs out of available glucose, there’s no choice but to switch over to the better, more efficiently modulated fuel - stored fat. And because it’s going to be quite a few hours before you eat, your body turns into a fat-burning factory. While you are fasting, your body is busily pushing ketones so fatty acids can be broken down and used to power all of your organs, especially the super-hungry human brain. It’s an incredible cycle on a cellular level, but because this isn’t an anatomy and physiology lesson, we will keep it simple. When you start an intermittent fast you are going whole-hog, all at once, and your body responds quickly. You aren’t going to feed your body every 4-6 hours like a normal diet so it has to counter your play by engaging in ketone production. Using the ketogenic diet alone, we generally reach ketosis in 48 hours, sometimes longer. Intermittent fasting essentially jump-starts the commencement of ketosis.
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