When your on a Ketogenic diet and in deep ketosis (ie, your brain is running efficiently on Ketones) the odds of you dying, going into a comma, or passing out from hypo-glycemia go WAY way down, nearly to zero. its almost impossible , why is this?Originally Posted by tarmyg
IF your not on Keto, then your brain has access to only one fuel source - glucose - the reason you hear of diabetics going into shock or a coma from an insulin over dose is because the insulin has driven their blood sugar down so low, that the brain no longer has a fuel source and begins to stop functioning (it can't function without fuel). it shuts down and a coma or death occurs.
IF you have Ketones in large supply in your body and your brain is already running off of Ketones, then thats the brains fuel source . NOT Sugar. so if you took to much insulin and drove blood sugar way way down. your brain would just still keep ticking along as normal because its running off of Ketones.
note: there is a study where people fasted for several days ( I think it was a week or so) and got into deep ketosis. They were given 20iu of insulin and closely monitored. Blood sugar levels dropped some but there was no ill effect on the brain at all .
again, because the brain was running on Ketones not sugar.
note- some people may ask . well when your in deep ketosis why do you have any glucose in your blood stream at all if your brain is not using it for fuel ? because there are certain cells in the body (not the brain) that can ONLY run on glucose alone and nothing else.. so your body has to always be producing glucose in order to keep these cells going (red blood cells are one example).
so YES you can run insulin while on keto. and your actually in a 'protected state' sort of speak.. I've actually thought about supplementing with exogenous Ketones while running insulin as a back up safety measure (but I've never had hypo glycemic issues and I have carbs available all the time) . but you can see where someone considering what I said above may find a way to implement dietary ketones in their protocols.
having said all that . I've found zero reason personally to run insulin on a Keto diet . now on a CKD or modified keto diet, using insulin for your re-feed days may provide some benefit.
I'll have to think about it some more. but I'm a huge fan of carbs for muscle building (I implement keto only for short mini cuts and anti inflammatory diet reasons, NOT for performance reasons . . . unless you were a triathlete or something )
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