<story><title>Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?</title><url>http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/the-fat-fueled-brain-unnatural-or-advantageous/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jules</author><text>What is the logic behind putting butter in your coffee? If your goal is to lose weight, wouldn&amp;#x27;t not eating that butter still be better than eating it?</text></item><item><author>lopatin</author><text>I also lost a bunch of weight on keto after several failed attempts at simply cutting calories. 235 lbs to about 185 and it all happened pretty rapidly (about half a year) considering I barely exercised. Lots of salads, chicken breasts, eggs &amp;amp; bacon, lettuce wraps, and quest bars. Regular coffee though, never was a fan of throwing butter in there. I mean I did do light cardio on and off, but I think it was mostly the diet that did it for me. Tried to stay under 20 daily grams of carbs.</text></item><item><author>rotwoof</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been doing Keto since Feb 25 2016. My primary goal when switching over was weight loss, which turned out to be easy. I&amp;#x27;m 25, male and was experiencing growing health complications related to obesity. I&amp;#x27;ve lost well over 60 lbs since making the switch despite the fact that I maintain a primarily sedentary lifestyle though I now work out weekly as well as take bi-daily walks.&lt;p&gt;There are downsides though. It&amp;#x27;s not cheap, it&amp;#x27;s restrictive and it requires you to build a fairly sizeable knowledge base in order to successfully maintain the diet and your own health. For instance your body consumes more water in order to burn fat stores which leads to the body burning through electrolytes more rapidly. It is very common to supplement electrolytes every day. It is common to drink broth while on Keto in order to cover the daily salt intake requirements of Keto, ~5000-7000mg every day on top of normal dietary salt intake. Failure to cover the daily electrolyte requirement will lead to muscle cramps and more severe symptoms brought on by electrolyte deficiency in the body. Prior to supplementing magnesium I experienced leg cramps and quickly realized what was going on.&lt;p&gt;However there are significant health benefits. Weight loss, improved mental clarity and better energy levels throughout the day, as well as less need for frequent meals are positive effects that a lot of people experience on Keto. It is also a useful tool for reversing lifestyle diseases such as diabetes type 2 and pre-diabetes.&lt;p&gt;When it comes to the stuff you &amp;quot;have to give up&amp;quot; while on Keto it&amp;#x27;s mostly a case of strict moderation rather than completely cutting things out. The things you do try to cut out though like bread, sugar, potatoes, pasta, corn-syrup etc have good alternatives available in most grocery stores. You can bake bread out of almond flour, make pasta out of almond flour (or have someone make it for you), replace potatoes with sweet potatoes and so on.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re thinking that keto sounds like it&amp;#x27;s too much hassle please leave me a reply and I&amp;#x27;ll gladly talk about whatever you&amp;#x27;re unsure about.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>PKop</author><text>You&amp;#x27;re stuck in the mindset that fat makes you &amp;quot;fat&amp;quot;. This is the whole point of ketosis, and a rethinking of wrong dietary guidelines that have persisted for decades.&lt;p&gt;The butter in the coffee supplies fat for fuel &amp;#x2F; energy, suppresses appetite, and does not contribute to weight gain or more specifically an increase in adipose fat tissue.&lt;p&gt;Simply cutting all calories is futile. Your body needs energy to sustain itself. The point of keto diet is replacing carbs with a significant increase in fat (~70% give or take) as a percentage of calories consumed.&lt;p&gt;But it is crucial to &lt;i&gt;actually consume a lot of fat&lt;/i&gt;, not just try to cut overall calories.</text></comment>
<story><title>Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?</title><url>http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/the-fat-fueled-brain-unnatural-or-advantageous/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jules</author><text>What is the logic behind putting butter in your coffee? If your goal is to lose weight, wouldn&amp;#x27;t not eating that butter still be better than eating it?</text></item><item><author>lopatin</author><text>I also lost a bunch of weight on keto after several failed attempts at simply cutting calories. 235 lbs to about 185 and it all happened pretty rapidly (about half a year) considering I barely exercised. Lots of salads, chicken breasts, eggs &amp;amp; bacon, lettuce wraps, and quest bars. Regular coffee though, never was a fan of throwing butter in there. I mean I did do light cardio on and off, but I think it was mostly the diet that did it for me. Tried to stay under 20 daily grams of carbs.</text></item><item><author>rotwoof</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been doing Keto since Feb 25 2016. My primary goal when switching over was weight loss, which turned out to be easy. I&amp;#x27;m 25, male and was experiencing growing health complications related to obesity. I&amp;#x27;ve lost well over 60 lbs since making the switch despite the fact that I maintain a primarily sedentary lifestyle though I now work out weekly as well as take bi-daily walks.&lt;p&gt;There are downsides though. It&amp;#x27;s not cheap, it&amp;#x27;s restrictive and it requires you to build a fairly sizeable knowledge base in order to successfully maintain the diet and your own health. For instance your body consumes more water in order to burn fat stores which leads to the body burning through electrolytes more rapidly. It is very common to supplement electrolytes every day. It is common to drink broth while on Keto in order to cover the daily salt intake requirements of Keto, ~5000-7000mg every day on top of normal dietary salt intake. Failure to cover the daily electrolyte requirement will lead to muscle cramps and more severe symptoms brought on by electrolyte deficiency in the body. Prior to supplementing magnesium I experienced leg cramps and quickly realized what was going on.&lt;p&gt;However there are significant health benefits. Weight loss, improved mental clarity and better energy levels throughout the day, as well as less need for frequent meals are positive effects that a lot of people experience on Keto. It is also a useful tool for reversing lifestyle diseases such as diabetes type 2 and pre-diabetes.&lt;p&gt;When it comes to the stuff you &amp;quot;have to give up&amp;quot; while on Keto it&amp;#x27;s mostly a case of strict moderation rather than completely cutting things out. The things you do try to cut out though like bread, sugar, potatoes, pasta, corn-syrup etc have good alternatives available in most grocery stores. You can bake bread out of almond flour, make pasta out of almond flour (or have someone make it for you), replace potatoes with sweet potatoes and so on.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re thinking that keto sounds like it&amp;#x27;s too much hassle please leave me a reply and I&amp;#x27;ll gladly talk about whatever you&amp;#x27;re unsure about.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>snuxoll</author><text>Fat takes a long time to digest in your stomach, as such you feel satiated for a much longer period of time. Butter can be used somewhat to sweeten coffee, and unlike using sugar won&amp;#x27;t invoke an insulin response and a subsequent crash.</text></comment>