Kathleen Theisen-Remaud wrote:
> Since I am a new paleo, can someone please explain KETOSIS to me?

I would love to answer your question in order to check my knowledge
against the many smarter and better informed list members who will
hopefully tell me how I am wrong...

Most cells in the body can get energy from either fat or sugar, to get
real basic. Exceptions are parts of the brain that need sugar. Ketosis
is the state where the body is burning fat for primary energy instead of
sugar. The conversion process is inefficient, so fat stored in your body
or eaten are converted to energy with a good deal of waste. This is the
"metabolic advantage" that Atkins talks about -- the ability to burn off
pounds while still eating a lot of calories, supposedly.

Sugar is stored as glycogen primarily in the body's muscles and in the
liver. You have a "glycogen store" that can work for a period of hours.
When it gets low, your body starts tapping fat for energy, and you are
said to be "ketosis". A diet that induces ketosis in most people is one
that is very low in carbs. Carbs you consume replenish your glycogen
stores, but if you are eating very low carb, your body also produces
glycogen from protein in order to feed nervous system tissue that must
have glycogen, a process known as gluconeogenisis.

There is nothing paleo one way or the other about low carb. You can do
low carb ketogenic diet (one that induces ketosis), or not. Paleo carbs
could include root vegetables and tubers including yams, sweet potatoes,
onions, and squash, along with fruit and honey, all of which are
relatively high in carbs.

What I have found works for me is this: I eat virtually no carbs during
most days, other than an occasional piece of fruit and usually not even
that. During the night, I eat a good dinner including carbs. This keeps
me out of ketosis. There is nothing necessarily bad about being in
ketosis but I prefer not to be.

--Richard