When it comes down to finding
your ultimate metabolic zone,
where your body is thriving the most in a ketogenic state,
you have to look at something known as the GKI,
The Glucose Ketone Index.
It's a very simple formula, but it uncovers a lot
about our bio-individuality.
It helps us understand what works for us
and what doesn't.
What it does is it gives us an overall picture
of where we are in a state of ketosis in relationship
to our levels of glucose, as well.
In fact, it's a very simple ratio.
It's basically just your ratio of glucose to ketones.
But there's a simple way to measure it
and when you utilize the Keto-Mojo meter,
it can make your life a lot easier.
I'm Thomas DeLauer with Keto-Mojo,
and we're going to break down the GKI and how you can use it
to advance and optimize your life.
Okay, so first things first.
We have to look at how the GKI was overall developed
and looked at.
It was developed by a doctor named Dr. Thomas Seigfried.
And what he did is he worked with cancer patients,
particularly brain tumor patients.
And he needed to find a way to determine
where these patients would thrive
and where they would have the best results
when it came down to their level of ketones.
But he also knew
that if he just measured their ketone levels,
that they would vary throughout the day.
And if he just measured their glucose levels,
those would vary throughout the day, as well.
The reason this was so important with brain tumor patients
is because brain tumors,
by and large, are usually glycolytic,
which means they feed on the fermentable fuel,
which is glucose.
So, he knew that if he could overall
bring glucose levels down
that he would essentially starve these tumors.
And he also knew that if he brought
the non-fermentable fuel, ketones, up
that he could increase their quality of life
while also starving these tumors.
So it was very, very important to him.
So, there are a couple of studies
that take a look at this in general.
One study was published
by the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
It took a look at two pediatric patients with brain tumors
and essentially what it found was that
when the GKI level was brought down,
they would end up having a reduced level
of the fuel that would feed these tumors.
So, in this case, Fluorodeoxyglucose,
which is basically glucose that gets metabolized
in a certain way to ultimately be brain tumor fuel.
So, they found there was a significant reduction
in the overall fuel that these tumors had
when GKI was brought down.
So, on average between these patients, GKI came down
from 27 all the way down to 0.7 to 1.1.
So, you want to have your GKI nice and low.
A low GKI indicates that you have low levels of blood sugar
and moderately high levels of ketones.
Now I'll explain exactly how it breaks down
and how to calculate a little bit later in this video.
There's another study that I want to look at
that was published in the journal, Nutrition Metabolism.
This study took a look at a different kind of cancer.
This woman had a Glioblastoma.
So, this is again, it is still a brain tumor,
but they all respond differently.
So, what they did with this patient is they had her go
on an eight-week ketogenic diet
with mild calorie restriction.
And, of course, what they found is that her overall GKI
came down from the mid-30s all the way down to about 1.4.
Okay, so success.
They brought the GKI down,
which means they brought ketones up over the long haul
and they brought glucose down over the long haul,
not at just one specific point in time.
Well, the interesting thing is,
they found that after eight weeks,
that brain tumor reduced in size so much
that it wasn't even detectable.
And then, when she went back on carbs and off the keto diet
for about 10 weeks, the brain tumor reappeared
and was detectable again.
Okay, so what does this mean for you?
If you don't have brain cancer,
then is this important to you?
Well, yeah, it is because the science that has come
from the cancer community regarding the GKI
has opened up a whole world for performance,
for overall life optimization,
for overall cognitive function
because now we can take a look at the larger picture.
Again, let me make some sense of this.
When we test our ketones, it could change minute to minute
because we're not a perfectly pressurized system
where we have the fuel and the ketones
running through our body at all the same rate,
the same pressure.
Okay, it doesn't work like that.
Our liver produces ketones in these surges
and then our blood surges.
So, we might measure ketones
and they just give us random results.
Not random, but they might give us results that are
within a realm but not exactly the same over time.
But if we start looking at the GKI,
we can get a bigger picture of where something is working
and where something is not.
So, I'll give you an example with exercise.
Exercise is a perfect one because when you exercise,
your glucose levels go up
and your ketone levels may go up, too.
But more than likely your glucose levels are going to go up,
and your ketone levels will stay about the same.
This alarms people, but the fact is,
if you were to actually look at your GKI over the course
of your entire workout, you would find
that the overall net result of your workout
is actually about the same as what it normally would be.
You still have a good amount of ketones.
But the other thing is,
if you practice intermittent fasting,
this could be very, very optimal for you
simply because it's going to let you know
where you're burning the most fat,
where you're getting the most metabolic effect.
Because if your ketones are low while you're fasting,
or your glucose is high
because of peripheral insulin resistance or whatever,
you're not getting that much of a benefit.
Your GKI is still staying high.
If you want the effects of fasting,
you want your GKI to be nice and low.
So, it's very, very powerful.
Again, with the bio-individuality with food, too.
If you're concerned about eating something
and it kicking you out of keto,
well, you might eat something and it spikes
your blood glucose, but you might find
that your ketone levels don't change
or they do actually go up, too, because you ate some fats.
The GKI will give you peace of mind.
It gives you that bigger picture
and helps you find that metabolic zone.
Very important, so how do you actually measure this
with your Keto-Mojo meter?
Well, what you'd want to do is you is you'd want to measure
your glucose levels and then you're going to divide
your glucose levels by 18 and then you're going to
divide that number by your ketone levels.
Okay, what this does is it takes your milligrams
of deciliter glucose and turns it into millimoles per liter.
And then you divide that by ketones and it gives you
your simple glucose to ketone ratio.
So, you want to be below a 5.
Let's just put it there.
If you're below a one on the GKI,
you're in a therapeutic state of ketosis.
Epilepsy, seizure treatment,
some cancer treatment, etc. etc.
1 to 3, you're in a nice, deep state of ketosis.
This is great just for optimal ketone production
and overall function.
And then up to 5, you're still at a moderate ketone range
where you're doing pretty good overall.
Once you get over 9, you're not in ketosis at all.
So, it's just a nicer way for us to look.
It's almost comparative to looking at our A1c
if you're diabetic.
It gives you a bigger picture which helps us out overall.
And as the ketogenic community evolves
and we start to learn more scientific ways
to truly optimize our lives, we're going to realize
that it's more than just testing that one number.
You can head on over to Keto-Mojo.com
and they have a way for you to enter your readings
into their simple little GKI calculator
and it's going to give you everything you need to know
when it comes down to what your GKI is
at that point in time.
So as always, make sure you're keeping it locked in here
with Keto-Mojo.
Leave that guesswork out of the equation
and start being data-driven and utilize a Keto-Mojo meter.
I'll see you in the next video.