A new drink has one local reaping the benefits of ketosis without the headache of following a stringent diet.
“This is a really excellent tool for people who aren’t willing to change their diet, or who are willing to change it a little bit,” Brittany Uchach, personal trainer in St. Albert, said.
Uchach has been helping people reach their health goals for over 10 years. Last year, however, she realized that she needed help with her own health.
“I was suffering for a good seven years of burnout, adrenal gland failure, fatigue,” she said. “I could not come out of burnout.”
Even though she was 25 years old at the time, ate healthy and exercised as a profession, Uchach said her body functioned as if she were decades older.
She went to her naturopath and was given different treatments to help her feel better, but she says nothing seemed to be working. That’s when her herbalist suggested an alternative route.
Jean Dansereau, herbalist in St. Albert, said she should try and change the way her body uses energy. Instead of getting energy from glucose, which comes from foods with carbs like bread and pasta, she should try to get energy from ketones, which come from fat.
He said the body breaks down both glucose and fat for energy, but not at the same time. Instead, the brain will choose one or the other. Some of his clients have come in with similar symptoms as Uchach, which he said is caused by the body not doing a good job at breaking down glucose.
“People who’ve been debilitated with fatigue, tiredness and exhaustion, especially people who haven’t had good quality sleep have noticed a big difference,” he said of the powder.
After hearing positive feedback from the beverage from other clients, he decided to suggest it to Uchach.
He said the keto powder is a great option for people who have difficulty tracking their diet, which is the most difficult part of getting the body into ketosis.
The body breaks down both sugar and fat, depending which one is mostly in the body. If there’s any glucose present, that’s what the body will use for fuel.
In order to achieve ketosis, you have to track everything that goes into your mouth and test the blood or urine for ketones. But one little packet of powder has offered an easier solution.
One pack of Pruvit is dissolved in glass of water. If consumed in 20 minutes, the body will naturally go into ketosis for up to seven hours depending on the individual.
Uchach said she immediately felt the impacts of the drink. With the powder she was still able to keep up with her old diet, but found a renewed sense of energy in the body.
“It’s different for everybody,” she said. “I was lucky, man, I felt it that day.”
She said the feelings of burnout disappeared and for the first two weeks she felt energized and had a lower appetite. For others, depending on their health, they may not feel anything to start.
Using ketones for fuel dates back to around the 1920s, according to online websites such as News Medical Life Sciences and Quora.com. Plenty of other websites tout its success for weight loss and other medical benefits. There is little scientific research, however, behind the long-term effects of the ketogenic diet.
“They don’t have any third-party studies done yet,” she said.
She added that not a lot of attention has been placed on ketosis. Instead, she said food studies funded by sugar companies have dominated the research field.
When it comes to reaching out to the community, she said she wants to help any other person who could potentially feel the way she had.
“I have been searching for this for 15 years,” she said. “I just think there could be somebody out there feeling the way I felt, and I want to help them.”
Uchach said people can email her at [email protected] for more information.
