What Is Ketosis Anyway?

The carb craze may be responsible for thrusting the term ketosis into the mainstream vernacular. Before that, it was a word you rarely heard outside of medicine. Before Dr. Atikins and the low carb evangelists came along, you could relegate ketosis to a power point slide in an occasional diabetes lecture and be done with it.

Now it seems like ketosis is the in-word with soccer moms and zone dieters alike. And, while its conceptual popularity has grown, there’s still a lot of misunderstanding floating around about what ketosis is and what it means for your body. Much like belly button lint and the popularity of boy-bands, the ketosis phenomenon is well known yet somewhat mysterious and difficult to explain. So let’s review.

If you don’t have time for the long answer, here’s the short and sweet version:

• Ketosis is the term for abnormally high levels of ketone bodies in the blood.
• Ketones are created when the body breaks down fat for energy.

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Basic Functions of Abdominal Organs

Most EMT level providers are square on the primary function of the stomach. We can name several things our liver is doing for us and we get the whole kidney concept as well. But when we start drifting beyond the basics, the conversation can turn fuzzy.

OK … It’s been a little while since I studied this. What was the spleen doing again?

Something about the immune system right?

Oh, the Pancreas that produces Insulin doesn’t it?

Or was that the gallbladder?

Fear not. I put together a handy reference for you. Here’s a list of all those abdominal organs for your review. Now you can sort your large intestine from your small and your kidney from you appendix. Let’s get started.

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