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Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#291

Post by serg_chernata »

rudolf0 wrote: post #227
serg_chernata wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Science behind keto? This article explains it pretty well.

No, the science behind feeling mental clarity after extended fasting. Unfortunately, everything I could think to Google just returned a bunch of grandiose pseudoscience.

Yeah I'm not a scientist either but I would equate this to the opposite of feeling sleepy after a big dish of pasta. Food does have a certain effect on the body especially if it's full of carbs. What I get out of fasting and keto is the opposite.

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#292

Post by johnward »

fatman2poh wrote: post #230
johnward wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"plenty of veggies and fruits" "cut out sugar" You can't do both.

checkout studies on fructose/glucose in a glass that is consumed, and the equivalent in fruits. good thing that the physical reaction isn't equivalent despite the fact that calorical intake of that sugar is the same. it's a huge shame not to consume fiber, or berries, or other fruits. fruits were made by plants to prolong the life of the consumer, it's absolutely impossible to overdose on bananas if you aren't delibe…

On a keto diet you can still consume a good amount of fiber (in the form of green veggies or supplements) and a serving or two of berries. Most other fruits contain too much sugar though.

To the original point, if you consume fruit you're not really cutting out "sugar". The OP probably means added sugar.

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#293

Post by johnward »

skrause wrote: post #215
johnward wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who says it's an addition of calories? For many people breakfast is just coffee with coconut oil and butter. It's not adding calories it's just consuming them at a different time. You're still going to be at a deficit at the end of the day.

For me it would be compared to just black coffee and no breakfast, so of course it would be additional calories if I force myself to drink coffee with butter in it.

In that case it probably doesn't make sense. Unless you find that adding it to your coffee allows you to not eat additional calories for a longer period of time.

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#294

Post by johnward »

serg_chernata wrote: post #220
johnward wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take ZMA and potassium daily. I will drink electrolyte water too. When I get home from the gym and feel drained I will drink 8oz of chicken broth for the salt. I had some severe cramps before starting this.

Potassium in pill form is only sold in very small doses, correct? How do you reach the high daily minimum?

I don't know what the daily values are to be honest. I just take it until my symptoms, mostly cramping, go away and stick with that dosage. I basically eat broccoli or brussels sprouts with dinner every day. They both seem to have a decent amount of potassium.

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#295

Post by tripzilch »

jules wrote: post #146
lopatin wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also lost a bunch of weight on keto after several failed attempts at simply cutting calories. 235 lbs to about 185 and it all happened pretty rapidly (about half a year) considering I barely exercised. Lots of salads, chicken breasts, eggs & bacon, lettuce wraps, and quest bars. Regular coffee though, never was a fan of throwing butter in there. I mean I did do light cardio on and off, but I think it was mostly the…

What is the logic behind putting butter in your coffee? If your goal is to lose weight, wouldn't not eating that butter still be better than eating it?

When I tried keto a few years back (an interesting experience, to say the least), and I eliminated almost all carbs from my diet, estimated the calories that are left, I found I needed to eat a LOT more fat to reach a sensible daily amount of calories. Like heaping a few big tablespoons of mayo on a bowl of broccoli lots (being Dutch, cue the Pulp Fiction references :) ). Maybe it's just that I've never been a very big eater, but yeah I found it a bit of a struggle to keep up. So adding some butter and coconut fat to the coffee helps. Plus fat lasts longer, it doesn't quite spike like sugars do, so getting a whole lot of it in the morning is a great way to start the day.

I kinda want to try and start again, it definitely had some benefits, as long as I managed to get enough calories and vegetables/nutrients (sorry I'm one of those persons that needs to take care they eat enough).

The big problem, however, is that in the mean time I've greatly reduced the amount of animal products from my diet--for environmental and ethical reasons, not health. And I'm not really sure how to do both.

I would need to spend a lot of money on almonds and other foods that may not seem that expensive until you need to consume them in bulk to replace the cheap, cheap carbs :) Being nearly-vegetarian is very cheap.

And even though I could probably hack the costs (or figure out something clever to do so), I'm not at all sure if it's even possible to live on a healthy keto diet while keeping my environmental impact footprint to a reasonable size that I can consider myself a responsible inhabitant of this planet. I don't think I can bring myself to eat very large amounts of meat again, even if they're organic certifiably happy cows. Tempeh has slightly more proteins anyway :p (also tastier than tofu, which is not a very high bar, I know)

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#296

Post by tripzilch »

choicewords wrote: post #260
collyw wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But adding calories in whatever form still means more calories in than not eating them. Edit: I get the point that it stops hunger, but my point still stands, and the parent posters still doesn't make a great deal of sense.

If you don't eat a lot of carbs, that means you need to eat fat during the day to replace it. Would you rather eat the butter raw, or with a cup of coffee?

Um, either is fine IMO :)

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#297

Post by Nav_Panel »

esailija wrote: post #290
Nav_Panel wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The main problem I have with ketogenic diets is that it's actually quite difficult and sometimes expensive to eat a 90-95% fat diet From what I've seen, your diet should be ~60-70% fat, 5% or less carbs, and ~25-35% protein. Definitely not 95% fat. > I had several instances where my dinner in a pinch was melted down cheese and half-n-half. Your diet basically becomes cheese and avocados with some, but not too much,…

That study is only for a very short duration of keto.

Most people only do keto for a few months at a time anyway. 30 days seems more than sufficient to capture the changes that occur when doing keto short term. I doubt keto is very healthy long term.

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#298

Post by vram22 »

choicewords wrote: post #258
vram22 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some good links to learn more about it? And what's the difference between keto and paleo? Just asking out of interest.

https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/keto_in_a_nutshell

Cool, thanks.

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#299

Post by cylinder »

bitstein wrote: post #238
dave_sullivan wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has there been any more research into the long term health effects of Keto? I tried it years ago, but found it to be more of a pain than it's worth (I seem to have better luck with intense exercise 3x per week and avoiding sugar). And it seems like tons of meat and cheese is actually bad long term, in the sense it clogs your arteries or increases cancer risk. Atkins did not look like he was in good shape inside when…

Research? Sort of. Experience? Yes. Owsley "The Bear" Stanley, the famous LSD manufacturer and Grateful Dead sound engineer, lived very healthily on an all-meat diet for over 50 years. (Note: he did have cancer, though likely due to HPV and years of secondhand cigarette smoke and firsthand marijuana smoke, and his diet probably helped him survive it, and he had a heart attack, but that was likely due to complications…

Thanks for the links. I went deep into the Bear thread, definitely an interesting man. Funny enough as I began reading I was thinking, "I would only do this if I had access to cheap Australian grass-fed beef," and it turns out he lived there. Commercially available beef in the US is plain awful; Whole Foods carries grass-fed Australian but it's expensive. Fortunately I'll be moving there soon.

Now, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my evolutionary history. My immediate ancestors are from central Asia / mideast but really don't know about anyone beyond great-grandparents. Observing myself, I seem to thrive in dry weather and feel horrible in humid weather (regardless of temp; winter moisture doesn't feel good either). This has led me to believe my "genetic preference" is for dry climates and possibly the foods found in arid places, which would probably be animals that feed on dry grasses and such.

I love fruits and vegetables, I have grown up eating lots of them, and salad everyday. However, I am open to skepticism, as right now in the last few days I've stayed home and eaten nothing but very fresh, healthy vegetables and fruit all day and yet still could not prevent this cold / congestion from taking root. I could not imagine eating zero vegetables for the rest of my life, though, it sounds ridiculous.

I'm fed up with generally being a low energy person, with chronic nasal congestion (inflammation, not mucous) maybe I will give this a shot. I don't need to lose weight, but I do want mental clarity and energy. I'm quite healthy "by the numbers," but a recent finding of almost deficient levels of Vit D and B12 leads me to believe that I require a high meat diet.

Re: Fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

#300

Post by CarlosD »

tripzilch wrote: post #295
jules wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the logic behind putting butter in your coffee? If your goal is to lose weight, wouldn't not eating that butter still be better than eating it?

When I tried keto a few years back (an interesting experience, to say the least), and I eliminated almost all carbs from my diet, estimated the calories that are left, I found I needed to eat a LOT more fat to reach a sensible daily amount of calories. Like heaping a few big tablespoons of mayo on a bowl of broccoli lots (being Dutch, cue the Pulp Fiction references :) ). Maybe it's just that I've never been a very b…

I'm on a similar boat. Vegan for +10 years, I fast one day a week and aim to keep carbs under 20 grams the day after, I feel my great during those 2 days. I would like to make the switch into full vegan keto, but I've yet to find a plan that I feel would cover my nutritional bases and that I could maintain on a low-budget.

Let me know if you make any headway! /r/veganketo helps.

p.s. I recently found that dumpster diving asian supermarkets I can get infinite supply of still-fresh packaged tofu, that has sure been helping!

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