The Million Dollar Question that everyone asks is “How do I really burn fat?”

The Million Dollar Answer is complicated, but here at Julian Bakery we are dedicated to helping people reduce carbohydrates, eat healthy, and as a result see a decrease in fat storage.

Like everything else in our bodies, storing and burning fat occur in precise metabolic pathways.  Although understanding how fat is synthesized and stored is important to understanding how it is broken down, I am going to neglect that aspect and concentrate on burning fat for this series.

There are two cycles that allow someone to actually break down fat molecules and burn them for energy.  In this post I will describe ketosis.  Ketosis happens during two times: during starvation, and during carbohydrate restriction. There have been recent medical publications that show that the body’s metabolism during low carbohydrate intake is identical to the metabolism during starvation.  To fully understand how ketosis works, you must first understand the glucose process.  Glucose, also known as a monosaccharide or simple sugar, is the primary carbohydrate that serves as the main source of energy for your body.  Your brain and various tissues such as red blood cells and kidney cells to name a few, absolutely require glucose to function.  A carbohydrate intake reduction carries a direct relationship with glucose levels in the bloodstream.  During starvation, as the glucose intake from your diet depletes, your body must find other sources to fulfill its organs’ needs.  First, it begins breaking down muscle protein along with a small amount from stored fat.  Adversely, if you are on a low carbohydrate diet, your protein intake is directly converted into glucose, saving your muscle proteins from being broken down. Gluconeogenesis is the process of your liver converting proteins to glucose, which requires energy.  This is where fat burning and ketones come into play.  Fat is broken down to provide the energy needed for gluconeogenesis.  Most of the fat is used to provide energy to the liver, and the remaining part of the fat converts into ketones.  Ketones are a ‘miracle’ byproduct of gluconeogenesis that serve as a replacement source of energy for glucose in many tissues including the heart, brain, and muscles.  Ketones reduce the amount of sugar needed by the body, requiring less protein conversion, allowing you to maintain your muscle mass.

As you can see, a low carbohydrate diet is essential to burning fat while still maintaining a healthy muscle mass.  To contribute to your low carbohydrate diet, check out Julian Bakery’s amazing collection of healthy low carbohydrate breads by clicking here

Written by: Ricky C