What is ketosis?

First and foremost, the Ideal Protein plan is a ketogenic diet. It works by forcing your body into ketosis, forcing it to burn fat for fuel instead of the carbohydrate it prefers. For a decent explanation, I'd suggest reading the article on Ketosis in Wikipedia. Whether or not ketosis is a good or bad thing, I'll leave that up to the experts.

Another good read on the topic of research surrounding ketogenic diets over the past 100 years, would be Gary Taubes book, Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It. I wish I'd read this one book before starting IP. I believe it may have helped me make a more informed decision about whether to follow the IP Protocol or develop one of my own. Gary makes a compelling argument that ketosis is a natural state that has evolved over millenia.

Now that I've read the book, I've been taking a closer look at Atkins, South Beach, Paleo, and other diet programs. The thing that sets IP apart from them is the reliance on pre-made packets of protein powdered meals. Its easy. Its convenient. All you need is a bottle of water, the shaker, and your protein packet. This works for me when the carb-counting work of Atkins did not.