By Dr. Mercola

If you or a loved one has been struggling with low energy, excess weight or a chronic or degenerative disease like type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's or cancer — or if you simply want to optimize your health and longevity — I have great news for you. In an earlier article, I announced that my book, "Fat for Fuel," would be complemented by an online course on Mitochondrial Metabolic Therapy (MMT) — a collaboration with nutritionist Miriam Kalamian, who specializes in nutritional ketosis.

That course is now available, and for a limited time, you'll receive a $100 discount and over $200 in bonuses, plus free access to a future audio webinar that is currently being put together. I'm proud to say, there's really nothing else like it out there. The course consists of seven comprehensive lessons to teach you the keys to fighting chronic disease and optimizing your health and longevity. If you or someone you love has cancer, it will also augment any oncological treatment you might be undergoing.

MMT is a whole new way of looking at nutrition, merging decades of my own research with the latest science on mitochondrial health, all of which has been peer-reviewed by more than two dozen experts, including physicians, researchers and scientists. Worksheets, additional reading, meal planning resources and recipes, with guidelines on how to tailor the program to your unique physiology, are all included. You'll also learn a number of other non-diet related ways to boost your mitochondrial health.

Why Are Mitochondria so Important?

Mitochondria — the tiny energy factories within your cells — are the key to optimal health and healing because they generate the energy (adenosine triphosphate or ATP) your body needs to stay alive and thrive. They're also responsible for apoptosis (programmed cell death) and serve as important signaling molecules that help regulate your genetic expression. This is a function even most doctors are unaware of.

When your mitochondria are damaged or dysfunctional, not only will your energy reserves decrease, contributing to fatigue and brain fog, but you also become vulnerable to degenerative diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and neurodegenerative decay.

Unfortunately, mitochondrial damage is more the norm than the exception these days, thanks to the prevalence of processed food diets, inactivity, lack of sun exposure and excessive exposure to toxins and non-native electromagnetic fields from cellphones, routers, cellular towers and more. On the upside, your body does have amazing capacities for regeneration and renewal, but to do that, you have to supply it with the proper fuel.

This is why your diet is such a crucial component of disease prevention and treatment. And, contrary to conventional advice, a ketogenic diet — which is very low in net carbohydrates and high in healthy fats — is actually a vital key to boosting mitochondrial function, thereby suppressing disease and supporting healing.

The importance of avoiding unhealthy fats and using healthy fats in your diet simply cannot be overstated. When your body is able to burn fat for fuel, your liver creates water-soluble fats called ketones that burn far more efficiently than carbs, thereby creating fewer reactive oxygen species (ROS) and secondary free radicals that can damage your cellular and mitochondrial cell membranes, proteins and DNA.

Ketones also decrease inflammation, improve glucose metabolism¹ and aid the building of muscle mass.² Healthy fats also play an important role in maintaining your body's electrical system.

All cellular membranes are made of fats, which act as insulators and are connected through a conductor. This arrangement sets up a biological capacitor to store electrons. However, not all fats work the same way. When you consume damaged fats, or worse, heated and hydrogenated vegetable oils, the fatty acids in your cell membranes become nonfunctional and unable to store body voltage, which further boosts your risk for disease.

The Benefits of a Cyclical Ketogenic Diet

The MMT diet is a cyclical ketogenic diet, high in healthy fats and fiber, low in net carbs with a moderate amount of protein. Nutritional ketosis is the metabolic state associated with an increased production of ketones in your liver; i.e., the biological reflection of being able to burn fat, and is defined as having blood ketones in the range of 0.5 to 3.0 mmol/L.

However, a key component that differentiates MMT from most other ketogenic eating plans is its emphasis on CYCLICAL ketosis. Once your body starts to burn fat for fuel, you need to switch to a cyclical ketogenic diet, as long-term continuous ketosis has some serious drawbacks that may actually undermine your health and longevity.

The "metabolic magic" in the mitochondria actually occurs during the refeeding phase, not during the starvation phase. Alas, you cannot get to that magic unless you first go through the starvation phase. This is why we refer to the MMT plan as a cyclical ketogenic diet. So, just what might you gain from MMT? The following chart lists some of the most important benefits of this program: