nurse thinks ketosis is bad

[IwillLose]

Ok I have a friend that decided to try atkins but she says that she always heard ketosis is a bad thing. Where do people get this idea and what do I tell her? Thanks.

[CindySue48]

Ketosis in diabetics has always been an indicator of uncontrolled blood sugar. Now they go more by direct blood sugar measurements, but for many years diabeticcs were told to test their urine for ketones. This may be where your friend got this idea.....of it could be the hundreds of articles out there that say fat is bad, protein is bad, ketosis indicates muscle breakdown (it doesn't, it's the fat breaking down that causes ketones), protein causes kidney damage (it doesn't, it will likely make it worse if present, but doesn't cause it!), etc etc.

There's a lot of disinformation out there! Just ignore the nay-sayers....most have no idea what they're talking about, they're just parroting what they've heard!

[jaykay]

She's confusing it with ketoacidosis, which occurs in diabetics. That is bad, but only happens in uncontrolled diabetes in the prescence of high carbs.
In normal humans ketosis is associated with lipolysis, ie burning fat. We're designed to do this, its why we store fat, so we can burn it later when needed. Normal process, used by all sorts of animals for millions of years!

[sknymonkey]

Look in you DANDR book, and find where he explians the difference between the two. I was not aware of the difference either until I read the book. You can arm yourself with facts to enlighten your friend.