The sales lady at the BMW dealer who sold me my 135is back in 2013 wanted to connect with me on Linkedin, and for whatever reason I accepted the invitation. Normally she posts about buying BMWs from her, but today I saw she posted this.
What the hell is this? It’s Prüvit, some bullshit fad Keto supplements that cost giant piles of money and maybe this BMW sales lady is trying to sell on the side, I’m not sure exactly, she was vague in her Linkedin post.
Keto is the new diet fad that’s not actually all that new, just a new name for the same old high fat/low carb combo that’s been part of diets like Atkins and Paleo for decades. Keto is the new more science-y sounding version of the same idea.
Our bodies process different nutrients into energy at different rates. Broadly speaking, we can most easily process carbs, then fats, then protein. Our digestive systems convert carbs into glucose, which circulates in our blood. Our cells then take this glucose and through cellular respiration, produce ATP, the chemical they use for energy.
The digestive system breaks fat and protein down into smaller compounds that are used mostly for other purposes than energy, but I’m not going to bog you down with these. But one example is proteins are broken down into smaller blocks which our bodies use to build muscle.
If we eat more fat or protein than what our body needs to support its non-energy needs, or if we don’t eat enough carbs to meet our energy requirements, our bodies can convert fat and/or protein to glucose, which our cells use for energy.
If, for whatever reason, we have too much glucose in our blood, our body will eventually take that glucose and convert it into stored fat which can then be turned back into glucose at some point down the road if, for whatever reason, we don’t have enough blood glucose.
Ok, that’s the foundation. So what the fuck is Keto? Our cells are like flex-fuel cars: in the absence of glucose in the blood, our cells can also convert compounds called ketones into energy. As needed, our livers convert stored fats into ketones and then our cells fuel themselves off those ketones instead of glucose.
This is the pathway that all these low-carb diets exploit. By limiting the supply of readily-available glucose, these diets trick our bodies into converting stored fat into ketones to fuel our cells. Call it Atkins, call it Keto, whatever, it’s all the same trick.
The only difference with Keto is now they’re pushing goofy overpriced supplements that are either magic compounds that will supposedly encourage your body to be more inclined to use ketones for energy, or a bunch of supposedly-optimal fats that your body can use for fuel.
So, back to this Prüvit shit the BMW lady posted. I checked out their website, and the different supplements they sell cost anywhere from $80 to $130 a pop! We’re not talking for some bulk quantity either, that’s for a 20-serving package.
Unlike what most of the Keto gimmickry out there will tell you, our cells do not operate exclusively on either glucose or ketones. Our metabolic pathways adapt to our food intake and create whatever energy sources are easiest to accomplish.
Yes, if you force your cells to run on ketones through restriction of carbs, you will burn stored fat. All you need to do if you want to do this is limit your carbs and make sure the fats and proteins you eat are from high quality sources. Your body will take care of the rest, unless you have a metabolic disease like diabetes.
BUT, forcing your body into ketosis by limiting carb intake is not the only way to lose weight. Any time you don’t eat enough to support your body’s energy requirements, i.e. it’s burned up all the available blood glucose, your body will make up the difference by directing your liver to turn stored fat into ketones to fuel your cells. So, reduce your food intake, or increase your energy requirements through more activity, and you will lose stored fat.
Sure, you can try to optimize the balance of what you’re eating, and watch your macros (carbs/fat/protein) to try and accomplish this. But there’s no magic formula that is going to unlock your inner extra-turbo fat burning mechanism, because that mechanism doesn’t exist. Ketosis is something our bodies do naturally, all the time.
Taking magic(ally expensive) supplements to supposedly trick your body into ketosis, or eating magic(ally expensive) pre-packaged fats is not going to produce any different of a result. All that shit up top about boosting your brain and repairing DNA is not going to happen. Don’t buy that $130 pile of nonsense.