KetoFast by Joseph Mercola
My Rating of “KetoFast” by Joseph Mercola: 6 / 10
Over the past few years I have read multiple Mercola books. My health journey has led me to paleo, intermittent fasting and more recently keto. All books have been informative and have built up my knowledge of healthy eating and wellbeing. KetoFast is the latest book which focuses on the combination of Ketosis and Intermittent Fasting.
Whilst I did enjoy working through his latest instalment, I felt it has covered a lot of previously covered ground in other books Mercola has written (e.g. Fat for Fuel). Yes, there are aspects of bringing the reader up to speed however felt a little bit like one book too far for me. Especially given I didn’t really learn a whole lot about the topic.
The one key topic that did spark some interest was the KetoFast concept. Mercola provides an overview on his concept of the KetoFast which takes into consideration fat adapting, intermittent fasting and ketosis. Essentially it is a combination of low calorie consumption over a 24 – 36 hour period to stimulate autophagy. It is a very extensive chapter that details the foods, the process and the gotchas; very helpful.
For a reader who wants to learn about fasting and ketosis in one hit then this is a good book to pick up. This way you can accelerate your learning about these topics.
Three key takeaways from the book:
- Avoiding food for three hours before going to bed is the single most important step you can take in improving your health and wellbeing; more important than both ketosis and intermittent fasting combined!
- Fat soluble toxins get released when your body burns fat. Hence why the initial switch from being a sugar burner to fat burner (prior to full ketosis) you will hit many symptoms that aren’t necessarily fun (e.g. head arches, fatigue, skin irritations etc.). I’ve actually noticed this a few times now when switching. It does go away after a few days.
- Long-term calorie restriction or uninterrupted ketosis isn’t good. Your body will believe it is in starvation mode and down-regulate your metabolism by decreasing your thyroid function.
