Proportion, Not Elimination
	Another word you may want to bring up is ketosis. Perhaps your doctor will anticipate the question. Ketosis is a condition in which chemical compounds called ketones accumulate in the blood as a result of the incomplete oxidation of fat. An excess of ketone bodies can be harmful, even poisonous. In relation to the low carbohydrate diet, this has significance because it is generally accepted that fat cannot be completely broken down in the body unless carbohydrates are present. That is why, in the chapter discussing the application of the diet, we emphasize proportion, not elimination. You do not cut carbohydrates completely out of your food intake. You reduce them to 60 grams per day, unless your doctor approves a lower figure. You must continue to take in some carbohydrate-a measured quantity in order to stay healthy. A further caution: to repeat, this diet works. It has melted up to fourteen pounds a month off people who have never before managed to take off anything like that, stay healthy, and keep it off. But face this honestly: nothing will work if you gorge yourself. Further along, we give you carte blanche to eat as much as you like of certain foods. This is based on the assumption that you will like, or want, a more or less reasonable amount for your height, build, and way of life. If you are planning to use this diet as your Open Sesame to gross overeating, we must point out that while this diet has achieved startling, dramatic results, it has not-so far as we know-performed magic. If you are a neurotically compulsive overeater, you probably will be just as fat at the end of your diet as you are now, and you will have wasted a lot of time during which you should have been seeing a psychiatrist. Next: Self-Control Equals Pounds Off