SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

As you can probably surmise, I am advocating for us to be like cavemen, well for good reasons of course! 

The Paleolithic era brought about some of the fittest humans the world has ever seen. Seriously, have a think about some of the conditions cavemen had to go through just to survive. Living in a house made of stone, going days on end without food, and fending off hungry Sabre tooth tigers, just all part of the deal with being a caveman.  

Fast forward to today, our living standards have risen to god-like compared to our rudimentary predecessors. 

My point is, our bodies were designed to survive the harshest of environments, however, somewhere along the timeline of human existence, we've replaced spears with iPhones and caves with condos - lucky us, right?  

Although we've evolved immensely technologically, our biological evolution hasn't changed all that much - just a new haircut and fancy clothes. Now, we don't have to live like cavemen at all. What we can do is to harness some of the inherent survival mechanisms that all of us have within our D.N.A - namely, fasting and the ketogenic diet. 

Let's look at both briefly before we talk about going into what I like to call 'beast mode' (or having the physical prowess of a caveman!).  

FASTING

Now you may have heard the benefits of fasting, if you haven't you've probably been living underneath a giant rock - not like there's anything wrong with that. 

Here's a brief list of what fasting can do for you: 

• Burn fat stores 
• Enhance muscle growth and repair 
• Boosts immune function and repair 
• Increased mental clarity and focus 
• Increases longevity, and much more

By strategically timing your meals (i.e. not eating for long periods of time), you can enter what is called the fasted state. This is essentially where your body learns to use resources more efficiently to survive. 

It's important to note that fasting is different from starving. Starvation involves a deficiency of resources whereas fasting involves accessing stored resources. For more information on fasting you can checkout my article on intermittent fasting. 

THE KETOGENIC DIET 

Where fasting entails not eating, the ketogenic diet entails feasting on fat.  

Now why would someone want to feast on fat? Believe it or not, fat is actually the body's preferred macronutrient or primary energy source.  

Our bodies are built around the consumption and storage of fat. From an evolutionary point of view, fat represents survival as a long-term energy source (that's why it's so hard to burn because the body holds onto it for dear life). 

As a comparison, 1 gram of carbohydrates contains about 4 calories (same for protein), and 1 gram of fat contains about 9 calories! 

Simply put, higher calories = more energy = increased chances of survival.  

Given that food is relatively abundant, the threat of starvation is no longer relevant. Instead, the body has adapted to consume large amounts of carbohydrates (i.e. sugars and grains) whilst demonizing fats. 

The result? heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cancer, and the list goes on. Arguably, all man-made conditions as a result of our lifestyle and diet (I've never heard of a caveman die from a heart attack, then again they probably got mauled by a Sabretooth tiger).  

Now the solution involves tapping back into the good ol' caveman diet. There are many variants of this diet (i.e. Paleo, Atkins, LCHF etc.), however, they all emphasize one main element, to feast on fat.  

Feasting on fat, especially 'good' fats) teaches your body to utilize fats as the primary fuel source rather than carbohydrates. This metabolic pathway, where the body burns fat instead of glucose (carbohydrates) is called ketosis. 

Our prehistoric predecessors were 'keto-adapted' meaning their bodies could easily switch to fat burning mode when required.  

Without going into too much detail, here are just some of the numerous benefits of being in ketosis.  

• Weight loss 
• Improved cognitive function 
• Increased and sustained energy 
• Reduced blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammation 
• Beneficial to a range of conditions - Alzheimer's, cancer, autoimmune diseases, diabetes etc.

ENTER KETOGENIC FASTING 

Ketogenic fasting or Keto fasting is simply combining the two approaches. 

As you can see these two survival mechanisms work synergistically to create some serious beast-like benefits.  

Firstly, fasting is relatively simple. It involves eating within certain windows. For example, a 16 hour fast would involve having all your meals within an 8-hour window and not eating for the next 16 hours. So, breakfast would be pushed to 12pm, lunch at 4pm, and dinner at 8pm. No food would be consumed from 8pm onward until 12pm the next day.  

Now entering ketosis is a bit tricky since consuming any sort of carbohydrates can effectively switch you back into glucose burning mode. 

This is where the ketogenic diet comes in, since you can effectively enter ketosis through feasting on fats whilst minimizing carbohydrates. This is called 'Nutritional Ketosis'.  

A typical ketogenic diet would involve consuming approximately 70-80% of your calories from fat (healthy fats of course!), 15-20% from protein and 5-10% from carbohydrates. 

By maximizing fat and minimizing carbohydrate consumption, your body is forced into ketosis and can begin to burn fat like a caveman! In addition to nutritional ketosis, fasting can also help trigger the mechanisms to enter ketosis. Hence, the synergistic nature of keto fasting.  

Since the topic of Ketosis is rather complicated, I will write a more detailed article about ketosis in the future.

FINAL WORDS

Although most studies conclude that fasting and ketogenic diets are beneficial, there needs to be some care before implementing unfamiliar diet regimes. Here are some factors you should keep in mind before transforming yourself into a beast. 

For instance, extended periods ketosis can cause ketoacidosis which can cause some serious damage (especially with those with type 1 diabetes), however, in most cases the ketogenic is very safe and beneficial.  

Fasting can create some serious hunger pangs especially in the beginning. This is normal as your body is adapting its hormone levels, namely ghrelin and leptin. You might feel like you are starving to death, but it's just your hormones playing up.  

Similarly, it takes time to be keto-adapted, anything from days to weeks, to even months! The good news is that once you are keto-adapted, it becomes much easier to enter ketosis.  

Ultimately, keto fasting is about timing your meals so that you maximize the benefits of being in the fasted state, and when you do break your fast, you encourage your body to be in ketosis, where your body becomes incredibly efficient in burning fat. Together, you create the recipe for beast like abilities, with the many benefits that were originally intended when we were caveman, without the behaviors of course.

Peace

IMAGE REFERENCES

Photo by photo-nic.co.uk nic on Unsplash
Photo by Foodie Factor on Unsplash
Photo by Dave Contreras on Unsplash