'MURICA — The diet that has been gaining in popularity reportedly can help those practicing it burn 10 times as much fat as a standard diet.

The ketogenic — keto — diet was first introduced in the 1920s to treat epilepsy and diabetes, Business Insider reported.
It involves eating only 50 grams of carbohydrates a day, roughly one plain bagel or a cup of white rice. The USDA recommends people eat 225 to 325 grams of carbs a day.

On a keto diet, the body switches into starvation mode and burns excess fat stores for fuel.

On the diet, healthy fats make up 80 percent of daily caloric intake, while protein intake should be 20 percent.

For comparison, the average American gets 50 percent of calories from carbs, 30 percent from fat and 15 percent from protein, according to the CDC.

The human body breaks down carbs into glucose, to be used for energy or stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen.

When carbs are taken out of the diet, the body burns up glucose reserves and then breaks down stored fat into fatty acids. These fatty acids move to the liver and are converted into ketones.

The brain and other organs use up ketones in a process called ketosis.

Some studies have found a low-carb, high-fat diet could may promote weight loss, improve focus, and hold off age-related diseases.