The Ketogenic Diet, Ketosis and Ketone Esters

From 1.2 to 5.7 within 15 minutes of taking KetoneAid

Please note: I was NOT paid to write this article NOR was I given the product in exchange for a review. I also have NO financial interest in this company NOR do I stand to benefit financially from sales of this product. In other words, I am in NO WAY affiliated with this company. There are NO affiliate links in this article. I received the product to sample at my own request. I am sharing my results here in hopes that others may benefit in some way.

I Tried a Ketone Ester for the Very First Time and It Was Pretty Mind Blowing

Even though I’m experienced at the ketogenic way of eating as well as extended fasting, I wondered what it would be like to be “instantly” transported to that magical level of deep ketosis without the lengthy process it normally takes to get there. But before I get into what ketone esters are and my experience sampling KetoneAid, www.ketoneaid.com, ketone ester drink, let me back up just a bit and set the stage. 

What is Ketosis

Dr. Joseph Mercola, www.mercola.com, defines ketosis as “a metabolic state in which your body burns fat rather than glucose as its primary fuel”.

What are Some Possible Benefits of Ketosis

• Managing and preventing diabetes, healing insulin resistance and improving fatty liver disease
• Epilepsy treatment to control seizures
• May help with Alzheimers, Parkinsons and Cancer prevention
• Better hormone regulation
• Weight loss/weight management
• Increased mental focus
• Increased energy
• Decreased hunger and cravings

How Do You Typically Achieve Ketosis

Eat a diet that is mostly comprised of high-quality fats (about 80%), a moderate to low amount of protein (about 15%) and a very small amount of carbs (about 5%). This is often referred to as Nutritional Ketosis, meaning your body has achieved a state of ketosis (or burning fat for fuel) by creating its own endogenous ketones through eating according to the prescribed macros. This is my preferred method as it is the most sustainable and natural method, albeit way more difficult than supplementing with exogenous ketones.

With that said, why might you want to use a supplement to achieve ketosis?

Why Supplement Using Exogenous Ketones to Achieve Ketosis Instead of Achieving via Diet (Endogenous Ketones)

• You’re brand new to the ketogenic diet (or haven’t been deep in ketosis on a regular basis for at least a year or two) and your body isn’t experienced at switching from burning sugars to burning fat as its fuel/energy source
• You’re trying to make the switch for the first time and want to avoid the carb flu and other uncomfortable symptoms that are usually present during the first couple of weeks or more
• You’re looking for a cognitive performance boost
• You’re looking for a sports performance enhancer that is legal/not a banned substance
• You’re looking to suppress your appetite, eliminate cravings and lose weight or easily manage your weight
• You’ve never experienced being deep in ketosis
• You’ve never successfully completed a 5-day fast or longer
• You drop out of ketosis regularly, either intentionally or accidentally and don’t want to lose the benefits even temporarily while you work to get back in

KetoneAid ketone ester drink falls in the exogenous ketone category and is essentially beta hydroxybutyrate (BHB) ketone bodies at 10x the strength you’d get from ketone salts, also exogenous ketones. Both contain BHB but since KetoneAid is salt free, it allows for a much higher concentration per dose – 10x. Ketone salts are BHB that is bound to various salt compounds for delivery which limit the max dosage you can consume at one time, thereby lessening their efficacy when compared to KetoneAid.

At the time of this writing, KetoneAid is the only commercially available form of ketone ester drink I personally know of and even it is not “readily” available just yet. Although professional competitive athletes have been using ketone esters for years, it’s still very early in the consumer marketplace for a product as potent as this.

Currently KetoneAid has an Indiegogo campaign, you can see it here (actually it’s their second Indiegogo round and it closes very soon, with a delivery date for that batch to be released in March 2018). So, while it is technically available to the public, you’ll just have to be a bit patient in waiting for its delivery should you decide to purchase. Again, I have no financial interest in this company and will not gain anything one way or the other.

My hope is that over the next few years, it becomes much more commercially available as I feel the benefits are tremendous for a wide range of everyday people, like myself, not just professional athletes. Supporting reputable manufacturers such as this will help bring their products to market quicker and drive the price down benefitting all of us.

Why Might You Want to Take a Ketone Ester

Here are a few reasons you might consider:

1. You’ve never been in nutritional ketosis and wonder what it feels like and if it really works to turn off hunger, enhance physical performance, increase mental performance, etc.
2. You’re looking to perform better in a sports-related activity, for instance crush a 5k PR.
3. You’re looking to experience a flow state but don’t have time to participate in a 5-Day Fast - defined as no food or drink except water, tea and coffee for 5 full days.

On to my personal experience. I wondered if KetoneAid would actually do what its marketing material claimed, which is increase my blood ketone levels to the equivalent of what I’ve experienced after a 5 day fast. Here’s what happened:

(video)

The answer is a resounding YES! My baseline ketones went from 1.2 prior to taking KetoneAid to 5.7 within 15 minutes of taking the product! I could hardly contain my excitement yet at the same time I was in total disbelief. I’d tried ketone salts previously and not seen any ketone shift at all. I recognize others do, however for me it did not measure any difference at all.

Back to my experiment. Over the next couple of hours my ketones continued to rise peaking at around 6.7 and then starting to come back down to what would still be considered deep ketosis – 2.9. During this time, I definitely felt all of the amazing effects of deep ketosis – creative flow, calm happiness, energy, little to no hunger, etc. I got a tremendous amount done – everything from creative and administrative work to cleaning and organizing around my house. By the end of the day, though, I was completely exhausted. Apparently, I went beyond my ideal ketone range for my body weight and overstimulated myself. I didn’t feel bad, just very, very tired. I slept incredibly well that night.

This experiment was a success! It definitely did mimic a 5 day fast and I achieved a flow state within minutes – so crazy!

I can see how this would be particularly beneficial for someone who’s never experienced this state and/or has never been in ketosis. I mean how do you know what you’re missing if you’ve never experienced it?

Further, it seems to me that it would be more motivating, and a person might be better able to successfully endure the “carb flu” during those first couple of weeks while trying to switch to fat burning IF they knew how great it really was on the other side.

One time trying a ketone ester such as this would be all it would take to understand "that feeling" and hopefully provide the motivation to stick with the diet long enough to get to experience the results.

What do you think? Would you ever try a ketone ester?

PS - I’m planning another experiment using KetoneAid on Thanksgiving Day. One where I test the product’s ability to quickly get me into my sweet spot of ketosis - the level where it curbs my hunger and cravings even in the face of some of the most tempting of food situations. Will update this post with my findings.

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