The ketogenic diet isn't a new fad diet. It's actually a very old method with a new twist. The ketogenic diet was developed 95 years ago to treat epilepsy in children. The Atkins diet from the 1970s also used ketosis. Especially in America, you're now seeing a lot of blogs and diet books about the keto diet because, in addition to reducing epileptic seizures, it can also help you lose weight. How does the ketogenic diet work So, the ketogenic diet isn't a new diet, but it fits in with the trend of the already popular low-carb diet. How does the keto diet work? Normally, your body gets its energy from carbohydrates like potatoes, bread, rice, and pasta. With the keto diet, you eat a lot of fat and few carbohydrates. When your body consumes few carbohydrates, it switches to burning fat. Your body breaks down fats into ketones, a process called ketosis. With the keto diet, ketones, not carbohydrates, are your body's main source of energy. What is ketosis? Your body enters ketosis when you eat less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. Eating fewer carbohydrates means your diet becomes higher in protein and fat. When you start this diet, the glycogen stores (energy reserves) in your liver and muscles are depleted. If you stop eating carbohydrates, your body will look for an alternative. It will break down your stored fats. This fat burning process is called ketosis. Your liver then produces ketone bodies. Your body then uses these ketone bodies as fuel for the brain. There are different types of ketone bodies: acetone, acetone acetate, and hydroxybutyrate. You can read more about ketosis in this blog post. After how many days in ketosis? Most people don't enter ketosis until after 48 hours. Ketosis can occur approximately 38 hours after the start of a fast. The benefits of ketosis, such as feeling fitter, only begin after 4 days.