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The ketogenic type of diet is based on a process that we know as ketosis. It is a specific state of the body, that is characterized by elevated levels of ketone bodies in the blood, which occurs because of the conversion of fats into fatty acids and ketones. This happens when the body gets only relatively small amounts of carbohydrates over a period of time.

When you start with such a diet, your body goes through several changes. After 24-48 hours since the beginning of this diet, the body starts to use ketones in order to use the energy stored in fat cells more efficiently. In other words, the primary source of energy becomes fat (fatty acids), instead of carbs (glucose). Because of that, during ketosis it is not a problem to eat food with higher amounts of fat, than would otherwise seem reasonable. This way the body is losing weight relatively fast (specifically fat). In addition, the loss of muscle tissue (proteins) is minimal, since the vast majority of food consumed during a ketogenic type of diet, also contains relatively high percentages of proteins that are good for your muscles.

To better understand the ketogenic diet, one should also learn some chemistry basics behind carbohydrates, which are the most important thing that must be avoided during such a diet. Carbohydrates are an group of organic compounds consisting only of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Carbohydrates can actually be viewed as hydrates of carbon, hence their name. Carbohydrates as a term are mostly mentioned in biochemistry, where it is a synonym for a large family of natural carbohydrates that we know as saccharides. These compounds have various roles in living organisms. They are used for storage and trasport of energy (glycogen, or starch in plants), and can also be used as a structural element (cellulose in plants). The drawback of nutrition primaraly based on carbohydrates is in the fact that any surplus is being converted into fat and stored in fat cells.

If one is interested in learning more about the keto diet, there are many more sites online where additional info can be found, often together with ketogenic recipes.