I went keto vegan. This is what happened to my body.

At the beginning of this blog, I am currently on my sixth day of moderate ketosis. I feel focused and energetic, free from my dependence on coffee. I embarked on a two-week vegan keto trip to see if ketosis could be achieved by following a vegan diet. And I found that it is, but not without its challenges. Why would I do this? What are the health implications? Does the ketogenic diet live up to all expectations?

As a registered dietitian, I am fascinated by how the body reacts to different foods, diets, and lifestyle modifications. I’m constantly researching the latest dietary trends to assess the mechanisms and appeal behind them … and then quickly find out why they don’t work. But when research is lacking, I turn to cutting-edge technology (like InsideTracker) and my nutritional science background to experiment for myself and experience first-hand. Here’s a tutorial from my latest self-experiment.

The body is ready to use carbohydrates for energy.

In a typical diet, we consume between 45 and 60% of our calories from carbohydrates. Our digestive system breaks down carbohydrates into glucose to provide fuel for our body cells. This fuel, or energy, is also called “ATP.” The three macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) are often converted to ATP through different and sophisticated processes. However, carbohydrates are more easily and efficiently converted to ATP, making them our body’s preferred energy source of the three.

With low-carb diets like keto, our bodies first use glucose in our blood for energy. As glucose is depleted, we break down our supply of stored glucose (glycogen) found in the muscles and liver. Once glycogen is depleted, the body must adapt to depend on a special source of energy: fat. A process referred to as ketogenesis breaks down fat into ketones, another useful source of ATP. Ketosis changes the body to depend upon fat for energy Simply put, ketosis primarily means using fat for energy (fat is preferred over protein as it provides much more energy per gram). As ketones increase in the blood, our body releases several through urine.   Therefore, one of the most common ways to measure ketones is with urine keto strips. Reaching a particular ketone threshold is named “being in ketosis.” Achieving ketosis can also happen with fasting, without eating anything! People who fast for extended periods of their time will also eventually enter ketosis.

It can take anywhere from two days to a few weeks to enter ketosis, depending on your body’s adaptability to burn fat for energy. It took me four to five days before I noticed ketones in my urine.

Ketosis was first used for medical purposes, not for weight loss.

In the 1920s, scientists discovered that ketosis effectively reduced seizures in children with epilepsy[1] Interestingly, why and how this works is unknown. Nonetheless, the ketogenic diet is still prescribed as an anticonvulsant treatment, and scientists are even considering it as a potential treatment for other neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Currently, there are no human studies, but rats on the ketogenic diet exhibit more neuroprotective properties and increased brain energy metabolism. [2-4] Either way, ketosis appears to be positive. It affects the brain, as many people say that they perceive an increase in energy and concentration in that state, something that I also felt during my experiment.

While the ketogenic diet has anti-seizure benefits, it comes at a price. Children on the ketogenic diet typically have:

• Nutritional deficiencies
• Constipation
• Elevated levels of lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides).
• Altered gut microbiome. [5-8]
• But now it is used as a dietary tool.

Since then, the ketogenic diet has exploded in popularity in recent years, touted as a way to lose weight; Research indicates that ketones circulating in the blood reduce appetite. [9] The macronutrient profile on a ketogenic diet resembles the following:

• 70-80% of calories from fat
• 15-30% of calories from protein
• 5% of calories from carbohydrates

Many keto dieters simply point to 50 grams of total carbohydrates or 20 grams of net carbohydrates (total carbohydrates-fiber) as a reliable thank you for entering ketosis. Nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds contain carbohydrates and therefore should be avoided or restricted.

To compensate for the lack of carbohydrates, many keto adopters incorporate more animal protein into their diet, as they do not contain carbohydrates. However, they are rich in saturated fat. Because of this, many studies show that the ketogenic diet directly increases LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglyceride levels in people; however, there is evidence to the contrary. [15] Regardless of these mixed results, a large body of research shows that long-term adherence to low-carbohydrate diets in conjunction with high protein increases the risk of premature death, including death from cancer and heart disease. [16-21] So I had a question: would ketogenic without animal products have better results?

So I wanted to know how the vegan approach to the ketogenic diet affected my body.

People who follow vegan or plant-based diets tend to have a lower risk of chronic diseases and a healthy body weight. [22-23] There isn’t much research on the vegan keto combo, which is one of the reasons I tried it myself. I personally eat a very limited amount of animal products, so this seemed like an interesting experiment to try, especially with the opportunity to get a before and after blood test with InsideTracker.