Low carb diets often involve going into ketosis. What is ketosis? What are ketones and are they dangerous?

First off, learn how your body normally creates energy. It either burns sugars, or it burns fats. The human body was developed over millions of years to burn fats for energy, and get nutrients from healthy vegetables. But then in the past 100 years we began flooding our bodies with sugars - soda, processed foods, white rice, white bread, etc. The amount of sugar hitting our bodies was incredible. Diabetes and obesity skyrocketed.

The normal fat-burning state of the body is called ketosis. It's what your body is supposed to do - burn incoming fats for energy. The body first looks around for sugars, because it figures it should burn those first (which is why people eating a ton of sugar never lose fatty weight). When it decides it should move on to burning fats, the liver starts pulling fatty acids either out of what you've eaten or out of your fat stores.

When your liver turns those fatty acids into energy, it turns them into ketoacids. Those ketoacids then circulate in your blood, and are used by cells. The leftover bits are called ketones. Ketones cannot be turned back into fats, so any extra ketones in your system are just peed out.

You can buy Ketone Strips at just about any drugstore that detect those ketones. Those can prove that you are in ketosis - and show just how much fat is being flushed from your body.

Some people confuse ketosis with ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis is actually a *high sugar* condition that diabetes get in extreme situations. It has nothing to do wtih ketones in your system.

So in short, ketosis is a normal, healthy way for your body to gain energy. It is not unhealthy, and it is not dangerous! It simply means your body is burning fats and making energy.

Using Ketone Strips and KetoStix