Generally you don't have to worry about it unless you are a type 1 diabetic and/or have very high blood sugars.

There is a very good overview of ketones and ketosis put together by our own Doreen T in the tips section here.

First, your cells burn glucose, not carbs, so she's wrong right off the bat there. Second, the majority of the cells in the body function just fine on ketones instead of glucose

Glucose is the most basic form of carbohydrate so that part ofyour statement is actually inaccurate here. All carbohydrates break down into the simplest form which is glucose which is what the cells use for fuel, but you are quite right in that cells also function very well on ketones. It is like converting a car from petrol (carbs) to diesel (ketones) it runs more efficiently but if you put petrol back in it you are royally screwed.

What I dont understand is why everyone is in such a broo hahah about a low carb diet... it takes all the processed foods out, no white sugar, add whole foods.. its still that myth that we are all sitting around eating pounds of bacon. If the LCLS is followed correctly.. its healthy!!

True enough, but to use your fuel analogy again, it's like saying your car needs x amount of petroleum product. Right...would that be gas, oil, propane or diesel? Regular or unleaded?
Some people seem to have this idea that the carbohydrates (all carbohydrates) we eat somehow go directly to the brain; do not pass go, do not collect $200.00 to be used as fuel.
Glucose is the specific monosaccharide my brain along with the rest of the cells in my body is looking for when no ketones are around; there are actually 4 monosaccharides; fructose, glucose, galactose and ribose. The only one that the cells of my body, brain included, can use as energy is glucose.

Fiber is a carbohydrate. Fiber is not burned in our cells because out bodies cannot digest fiber to convert it to glucose. I always try to use the term glucose when discussing metabolism because carbs are just too general a term. Trees are a carbohydrate, but we cannot use trees in out body for energy. Termites can.

Whenever you see this...
the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine "
You know it is PURE CRAP!

Also, they (the PCRM) aquired and released Dr Atkins information without the family's consent. This is really illegal with the privacy laws in place. The Heart attack as well as the claim, morbidly obese were all ficticious bullshit crafted by the PCRM goon squad!

These Physicians are law breakers liars and as unethical as Mount Everest is high!

As to dieticians, we could all become one with enough book learning and a quick test. Dieticians are not Physicians or even nurses. It is a course you study for and you get a certificate/registration, the same way I did to be a Certified Pool Operator....

I am not against dieticians mind you, one of my best friends in the world is a dietician, but we do not go there when we are working together etc... she knows better in that I will soundly shut her down and changer the topic, thus letting her know this is not open for discussion and debate. The fact that I am in ever increasing good healthand physical shape and becoming more so each day only reinforces this stand.

There are ways to politely remove the topic from discussion, without offending those you know and love. And, when the conversation is done, I am gonna eat the way I want anyway, so if they persist, they are waisting their own breath anyway....

actually, there are a few types of dietary fiber. one of those, lignin, which gives plants there "woodiness", is not a carbohydrate. cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, gums, and muclilages, on the other hand, are carbohydrates. termites can digest lignins.

I don't understand why peole think that we are going to die eating a diet that our ancestors probably ate as well. I mean we are the product of millions of years of evolution. You'd think that we would be able to survive on a range of different diets, after all humans have spread to every corner of the globe. It seems to me that the worst thing a diet could do to you is give you something like scurvy from not getting enough of some type of vitamin or it could slowly make you fat which could lead to other health problem. I mean we are skipping some type of food in favor of some other (completely natural) type of food. They act like we are all hooked on drugs or something.

Jim, I think we have the same doctor
My doctor's exact quote was, "Keep doing what you are doing."

I agree 100%!! I wish there were somehow a magical way to at least open people's minds a bit more. They don't have to agree, but to at least look at the info on lc and not dismiss it before they even know what it is. And then make up their minds.

And thanks for the links on ketosis, guys

e

It's amazing to me the things people will convince themselves is true. One of my friends is a professional trainer/nutritionist who got her training from Cooper Clinic. Last time I was on lc and had lost 75 pounds she warned me how unhealthy my woe was. At the same time, she is an exer-holic and so anorexic it's painful to look at her. And SHE's the "professional!"

Then I look at dieticians at the hospital who tip the scales at 300. Who are they kidding?

I stick with lc, thank you. I feel great and I'm not starving myself to death.

None of my doctors have been anything but supportive of low carb for me. I think actual, working doctors are much more about the results and real world implications that nutrtionists or "trainers" are. I know there are some doctors still caught in the high carb, low fat dogma, especially those at AMA/ADA/AHA, who I think aren't really working doctors anymore, anyway.

Not saying you won't run into a doctor who's still indoctrinated, but as they see results from patients, they are more likely to be open to the reality of low carb's health benefits.

IMO, most doctors are changing their minds pretty quickly.
Nutritionists and others, much more slowly.

Doctors have to continue their education, so, that's probably why. Plus, doctors as a group are very science-oriented (openminded/eager to understand). Whereas other medical practitioners are typically "brainwashed" in school and that's that; their openness to new information (lack of bias) is probably equal to the average non-medically trained person (that is to say, very low, and thus, difficult to persuade with new facts).

Not that high blood sugar is good, but the loss in intelligence is probably more a result of the energy-starvation from hypoinsulinemia in T1 diabetics (which has hyperglycemia as a symptom). That's why it's temporary when blood sugars rise briefly, but permanent once ketoacidosis onsets.

The temporary flux in blood sugar symbolizes a temporary energy deprived state, one that is not prolonged. As an approximation, it is probably parallel in severity to the energy-deprivation of more extreme hypoglycemia (although the mechanisms at work are very different).
As a hypoglycemic let me tell you that if you gave me any sort of test when I'm in a severe hypo, I am likely to misspell all my words and barely make sense (zombie-like speech). It literally feels like slipping out of consciousness, I lose the ability to make sense of my environment, I lose contact with the emotional connotation of things... it's like a waking death (I have moments where I am aware of what's happening, but also can't control it and feel as if I'm "drifting").

Once a T1 progresses to ketoacidosis, energy starvation has become severe, life threateningly severe. Keep in mind when I speak of "energy starvation" I'm not talking about not eating - the body still fuels itself quite well on its tissues when not eating. I mean energy starvation in the most basic cellular sense - the body cannot fuel itself due to some sort of metabolic disease which prevents synthesis of energy to sustain life (whether or not you eat food is a non-factor). When a condition like that (T1 diabetes) progresses to a point, then irreversible damage happens to the body, part of it neurological.

It's like, if you fall into coma or have a stroke (oxygen, thus, energy deprivation), you are also very likely to suffer some degree of brain damage as well. It's not really the stroke or the coma that causes brain damage, but the oxygen (energy) deprivation that results. I imagine it's the same thing with hyperglycemia (particularly T1s after ketoacidosis episodes which is a SEVERE state of emergancy...)
It seems to correlate with hyperglycemia mainly because hyperglycemia is a marker for energy starvation & metabolic diseases.

I thought that in normal metabolism the body maintains homeostasis with ketone levels preemptively by controlling lipolysis (storing excess dietary fat as body fat, or, refusing to convert more body fat into ketones).
If we peed out our ketones, this would break the body's ability to conserve energy and lead to starvation.
It could also lead to pH upset & mineral deficiencies (due to frequent urination and the fact that ketones are acidic and are to be neutralized with minerals to maintain pH... thus ketoacidosis).

The T1 diabetic can't control ketone levels and they accumulate because of their insulin deficiency. Metabolism of energy is an insulin dependent process; when insulin deficiency is that severe everything goes to hell and death is quick.