Joy Kong, MD discusses why keto isn't a fad but a natural state our ancestors entered during food scarcity. When you fast, insulin drops, your liver burns fat and produces ketones that fuel your brain and mitochondria.
You mentioned something about ancient therapies. So you're saying that ketogenic diet is actually ancient?
Yeah. And intermittent fasting. They're both ancient healing strategies. Or ancient therapies is a good term as well. They have both been around since humans have existed. There's nothing new about keto. Keto is not a fad, it's a fact. It's a metabolic process that every single one of our ancestors went through. And how do I know that? Because our ancestors didn't have food readily available to them, so they were forced to intermittent fast. Sometimes it was an intermittent fast, sometimes it was a three day fast. And what happens when you fast? Well, you drop glucose and insulin and your brain needs some sort of energy. Your cells need another sort of form of energy. So that's where ketones are produced. The body starts mobilizing fat stores and fatty acids, which is then shuttled to your liver. Your liver starts burning that and then it produces ketones, which fuels the brain, it fuels the mitochondria.
