- What's going on Jigsawland
it's Thomas Delauer
and today I'm giving you a breakdown
of the ketogenic diet when it comes down
to preserving muscle.
Okay, we've talked about
magnesium's relationship with ketosis
and it sparked a lot of interesting comments.
It sparked a lot of
talk about what you can do with the ketogenic diet
and who the ketogenic diet is for.
And I figured in this video
I wanna break down
and debunk some of the common myths.
In this particular one I wanna talk about
how the ketogenic diet does not
cause you to burn up muscle mass.
In fact, it actually preserves it.
Especially, when you're doing the ketogenic diet
with proper mineral supplementation.
Like of course, your magnesium.
So let's get into the science
and let's talk about how this could be
or couldn't be for you.
But I also wanna give you the detailed science.
I wanna give you the understanding
and the physiology behind what's happening
within the body.
So, first off let me address
why people are usually concerned.
People usually think that our body
is just going to break down our existing
protein tissue in an effort to create carbohydrates.
You see, here's what happens.
Our bodies don't have the ability to
break down fat and turn it into carbohydrates.
We have systems in our body
that either run on fats
or they run on carbs.
Some can run on both.
But not all.
This is where people start to get concerned.
Because you see, the body cannot break down
fats into sugars but it can
break protein down into sugars
and since there are specific cells in our bodies
that require glucose, people jump to conclusions
and think the only logical thing
the body's gonna do is break down protein
and break down muscle.
Thusly, they think that the ketogenic diet,
although they may lose fat,
they think they're gonna lose muscle too.
And it makes completely valid sense
and I totally understand.
But that's why I wanted to do this video
to help you understand it a little bit more.
You see, our body always needs
a little bit of glucose.
No matter what.
Our brain requires a little bit,
we have specific cells in the body called
erythrocytes that need glucose,
we have specific kidney cells,
renal cells that need glucose.
We'll never be in a state where we
don't have glucose at all.
Our body will always find a way to have it.
But what ends up happening
is on the ketogenic diet,
when you have enough ketones being produced,
meaning you're eating enough fat
and your liver's actually producing the ketones,
it's producing the fat energy,
then what ends up happening,
is that goes to the tissues that can run on both.
Like the brain for example.
The brain can run on fats and glucose.
So what happens is the brain starts
to use the fats instead and the glucose from the brain
travels to other areas of the body.
So really the ketones and the fats
displace the glucose.
They don't just completely replace, they displace.
So now the glucose can go over to the erythrocytes,
it can go to the kidney cells
and it can do its job.
We don't have to break down muscle tissue
to get to that point.
We have the glucose already available.
It's always gonna be there.
We will break down a little bit of protein
but it doesn't have to come from muscle.
But here's the other really cool thing that happens.
We're gonna go back to biology class.
You may not even remember this.
There's something called
the Cori cycle.
C-O-R-I.
And what ends up happening
is after these erythrocytes,
after these renal cells,
after they end up using this glucose,
that's been recycled and been displaced,
it creates something
called lactic acid.
This lactic acid travels back to the liver
and it gets converted back into glucose again.
So we have a glucose recycling system
that's naturally occurring
so we don't have to consistently
be breaking down protein.
The only time when we'd start
breaking down protein is
if we're consuming too much of it
at that point in time.
Granted there are many situations
where your body will break down muscle too.
I mean we can't just hold on to muscle forever.
But I'm not gonna really address those in this video
that's for another time.
So we have a very powerful way
utilizing the Cori cycle to take the glucose
that was in one part of the body,
move it to another, have a byproduct from it
and create more glucose,
all because our ketones are elevated enough.
The only time that your protein stores
are gonna start to get utilized
in terms of muscle mass is again,
if you have too much protein coming in
or not enough fat coming in to ever create
the ketones bodies that we need.
But now there's a whole different side
of the equation when it comes down to
what allows us to preserve our muscle
and that is just the fact that
beta-hydroxybutyric inandofitself.
The main ketone body,
I know it's a big mouthful to say
beta-hydroxybutyric is the main ketone
that is created from fats.
That gives us all the energy in ketosis.
It is very powerful at preserving muscle.
In fact, there is one study that was published
in the Journal of Clinical Investigation
that found that beta-hydroxybutyric
preserved protein, preserved amino-acids
and actually allowed our bodies
to utilize the fat for fuel
and preserve the muscle at the same time.
They also found in this study
that beta-hydroxybutyric the ketone body
promoted protein synthesis
which means it helped muscle become built.
Protein synthesis is where we take the proteins
and we actually build muscle with it.
And then it stopped the oxidation of a particular
amino acid known as leucine.
Leucine is one of the main amino acids
that is a constituent
of muscle building.
If leucine is being broken down
we are catabolic, we're breaking down muscle tissue.
But beta-hydroxybutyric,
by being in ketosis inandofitself,
you're able to keep that leucine
from burning up.
It stays there.
It stays where it should be
and it keeps your muscles hot and fresh
and growing the way we want them to.
That's one study.
There's actually another study that was published
in the Journal of the
International Society of Sports Medicine
that took a look at a really detailed thing.
They took a look at participants
that were on a very low-carb ketogenic diet.
We're talking like 20% protein,
5% carbohydrate, and 75% fat,
versus a traditional Western diet.
55% carbohydrate, 20% protein, and 25% fat.
And they looked at the difference between the two
after going on a specific periodization
of weight training over a number of weeks.
They wanted to see how much muscle
they would lose or gain.
So, three times a week they put both of these groups
through a periodized weight training regime.
Those were very calculated and very specific.
And then at the end of the study
they measured the responses.
Well, get this,
those that were on the low-carb ketogenic diet
ended up having an increase
of muscle mass of 4.3 kilograms.
That's like nine and a half pounds,
versus the traditional diet
only had 2.2 pound increase muscle mass.
So, with weight training the ketogenic diet
ended up building more muscle.
Then when it comes down to muscle size,
the ketogenic diet, the very low-carb ketogenic diet
ended up having a growth of muscle of .4 centimeters
versus the traditional diet .19.
So more muscle density, more actual muscle growth.
So the beta-hydroxybutyric group,
the group that was on
the very low-carb ketogenic diet,
when it came down to fat loss
ended up having a 2.2 kilogram
fat loss
at the end of the study versus
1.5 kilogram fat loss in the traditional diet.
So yes, you burn fat, you not only preserve muscle,
but you built muscle while being on the ketogenic diet.
Then, there's one other cool interesting thing
that's starting to come out
and that's the fact that we have this adrenaline response.
When we look at the adrenaline response
in the body,
we have a high influx of adrenaline
when we're in ketogenic diet.
Why? It simply has to do with
the catecholomine response.
It's all just a matter of different hormones
and different things that are happening.
But adrenaline has a very, very anti-catabolic effect.
In fact, it actually stops
proteolysis.
Proteolysis is when our body is
breaking down protein into energy.
So proteolysis is like glycolysis, right?
Glycolysis is where we take carbohydrates
that are in its storage form
and turn it into energy.
Proteolysis is just like that but with protein.
So we're not breaking down the protein anymore.
Much like gluconeogenesis.
Now, this is in its embryonic stages.
We don't know a whole lot about it.
The fact is, it's one more key
and one more piece to the ketogenic puzzle
and one more bit of affirmation
that we need to know, the ketogenic diet
is not gonna allow you to just waste away.
In fact it's gonna preserve muscle more than anything.
So there you have it Jigsaw fans
and if you are someone that's on a low-carb diet
you wanna make sure you're getting your minerals in.
It is imperative.
You wanna make sure you're getting your sodium in,
you wanna make sure you're focusing on
all of your minerals
but you also wanna make sure
that you're getting copious amounts of magnesium
to support the fact that you have
so many enzymatic functions
that require magnesium
especially on a low-carb diet.
So make sure you click on through
and check out Magnesium SRT
and some of the other awesome Jigsaw products.
I'll see you in the next video.