The glam people are into it. From Huma Qureshi and Karan Johar in this part of the world to Gwynneth Paltrow and Mick Jagger in the other.

It is called the Ketogenic diet. It involves eating large amounts of good fats, decent amount of proteins and cutting down drastically on carbs. Its followers swear it is is wonderfully effective for weight loss and reaches deeper the average diet-plan, quite literally.

“A ketogenic diet imitates starvation. It allows the body to go into a metabolic state called ketosis,” explains Mithun Purandare (picture above) from Mumbai. Actor and shirt-maker, Purandare, a Mr India finalist, is also a fitness expert.

Normally, human bodies are like sugar-driven machines, he says. “Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and mainly transported and used as energy or stored as glycogen in liver and muscle tissue.” Deprived of dietary carbohydrates, the liver becomes the sole provider of glucose for the body, especially the brain, “a particularly greedy entity accounting for 20% of total energy expenditure”.

Enter ketone bodies, which the liver gets primarily from fatty acids in the diet or body fat. Ketones, or hydroxybutyrate (BHB), acetoacetate and acetone, are released into the blood then, taken up by the brain and other organs and used as fuel. Excess BHB and acetoacetate are excreted from urine.

“Blood glucose remains normal due to glucose derived from certain amino acids and the breakdown of fatty acids,” he adds.

So you lose weight, your skin glows and your brain buzzes with ideas.

Take a look at Kim Kardashian. Yes, she is at it too.