Cod Liver Oil and Ketosis

Ketosis -- the dietary state in which you burn ketones, or free-floating fatty acids, as your primary source of fuel -- requires work to both achieve and maintain. A low-carbohydrate diet will lower your blood sugar levels, and regular exercise will deplete your levels of muscle glycogen, which is the sugar that gets stored in your muscles. If you are following a low-carbohydrate diet, such as the Atkins diet, you should get most of your fats from healthy sources, such as the omega-3 fatty acids found in cod liver oil. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any diet or exercise program.

Ketosis

Your body will normally burn sugar as its primary source of fuel. Limiting your intake of carbohydrates allows you to take the first step in achieving ketosis, where you burn fatty acids as your main source of energy. You can no longer consume any nonfibrous carbohydrates, such as cereals, grains, fruit, juice and bread. Your calories must come from fat and protein, with some sources of fibrous carbohydrates, such as leafy green vegetables.

Energy

To ensure that you have enough energy to function, you must consume enough calories. Consuming excess protein will push you out of ketosis, so the bulk of your calories must come from fat. While consuming a small amount of saturated fat is unavoidable on a low-carbohydrate diet, you should still limit your intake as much as possible by eliminating fatty cuts of beef and pork. Lean cuts of meat, oily fish and chicken are good protein sources. Healthy fat sources such as cold water fish, olives and olive oil provide essential fatty acids.

Cod Liver Oil

Cod liver oil can provide you with fat and calories while you are on a ketogenic diet, but it is high in saturated fat. One ounce of cod liver oil contains 28 g of fat, or nearly half of the USDA recommended amount. Six of these grams come from saturated fat, or nearly one-third of the recommended daily allowance of saturated fat. Cod liver oil does provide over 5 g of omega-3 fatty acids, which help with hormone production, immune system function and healthy joints.

Essential Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are classified as essential because your body cannot manufacture them on its own. Omega-3 fatty acids help with various types of inflammation, reduce your risk of heart disease, and may even control rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study published in February 2005 in "Nutrition." During the study, patients who received 3 g of fish oil a day showed marked signs of reduced inflammation secondary to their condition. They showed even more improvement when using fish oil and olive oil together. Fish oil is available as a supplement, and it contains only fish oil, no saturated fat.