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Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

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Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#51

Post by ilitirit »

I don't think you really need keto, but I think many people could benefit from just training themselves to eat fewer times a day, and developing an aversion to sugar and unhealthy food in general. I don't eat breakfast - haven't done so for more than 20 years. It doesn't affect my enerygy levels or mood. It always made me wonder why we even had it in the first place. All I have is a cup of black coffee, no sugar. Sometimes tea with no milk. And that's only when I start work, which is around 2 hours after I wake up.

These days I only eat after 5pm. My body is so used to it that I don't really get hungry during the day. Even if I go to gym in the morning. Do I notice a difference if I change my eating schedule or diet? Absolutely. If I eat during the day, I tend to want to eat more during the day. If I eat a lot of carbs and junk food, I tend to want to eat more. Also I feel like shit and my skin looks horrible. I think somewhere in all this mess there are mental health concerns as well, but I can't really quantify them in a meaningful way.

Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#53

Post by spidersenses »

dustincoates wrote: post #46
spidersenses wrote: post #42

As a person of normal weight, I tried a keto diet a couple of times but just couldn't get it working under vegetarian/vegan dietary restrictions for a daily work + workout schedule. I got either underfed to the point of fainting, had to rely on expensive restaurant meals and questionable supplements, or had to spent an enormous amount of time on meal preparation. So either I approached this in a completely wrong way…

Vegan is decidedly not "normal" if we define normal in the sense that it is common. Only 0.5% of the American adult population is vegan (only 2% vegeterian).[1] Not that there's anything wrong with being vegan! But it definitely a minority position. 1: https://veganbits.com/vegan-demographics/

The “normal” in my comment referred to the average weight and busy life. I am primarily an ovo-lacto vegetarian, only occasionally vegan.

Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#54

Post by sigmoid10 »

watwut wrote: post #49
sigmoid10 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the real answer. Keto, Paleo, intermittent fasting... all these things work exactly the same way: by limiting your calorie intake. When the population approaches an obesity rate of 40% (not overweight, clinical obesity!), anything you try will help to counteract the highly processed, far too calorie dense food we get on every corner. People swear on their own diet approach because of some biochemical aspect,…

And then you have rising rates of eating disorders due to all the messaging being all about restricting calories which creates fear of food which puts people in a real acute danger.

The most prevalent eating disorder is still (unintentional) overeating. Not eating 2000+ extra calories of fast food every day has never put anyone in danger.

Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#55

Post by wouldbecouldbe »

hellectronic wrote: post #48

I heard the podcast from Huberman and Dr. Chris Palmer and they talk about ketosis and mental illness. It was really interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjEFo3a1AnI

Huberman jumps on everything that is being hyped and finds one minor study to support it and talks about it like it's revolutionary and super trustworthy at the same time.

Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#56

Post by EZ-E »

ilitirit wrote: post #51

I don't think you really need keto, but I think many people could benefit from just training themselves to eat fewer times a day, and developing an aversion to sugar and unhealthy food in general. I don't eat breakfast - haven't done so for more than 20 years. It doesn't affect my enerygy levels or mood. It always made me wonder why we even had it in the first place. All I have is a cup of black coffee, no sugar. Som…

> I don't eat breakfast - haven't done so for more than 20 years. It doesn't affect my enerygy levels or mood. It always made me wonder why we even had it in the first place

I noticed it is closely related to habit. When travelling I usually eat breakfast, lunch and dinner while I usually skip breakfast and sometimes lunch outside of travel. After travelling is done I feel a hunger pang in the morning where I would have taken breakfast as my body starts to "expect" it. Few days after ignoring it, it goes away...

Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#57

Post by wouldbecouldbe »

spidersenses wrote: post #42

As a person of normal weight, I tried a keto diet a couple of times but just couldn't get it working under vegetarian/vegan dietary restrictions for a daily work + workout schedule. I got either underfed to the point of fainting, had to rely on expensive restaurant meals and questionable supplements, or had to spent an enormous amount of time on meal preparation. So either I approached this in a completely wrong way…

Keto isn't normal for anyone.

It's your body going into emergency starving mode. It might be good to do every now and then, just like fasting, but it's not normal.

It's not easy for any type of diet and just a few carbs will kick you out of ketosis.

But especially for Vegan, then it's mostly nuts & avocado's you can eat.

Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#58

Post by saiya-jin »

ilitirit wrote: post #51

I don't think you really need keto, but I think many people could benefit from just training themselves to eat fewer times a day, and developing an aversion to sugar and unhealthy food in general. I don't eat breakfast - haven't done so for more than 20 years. It doesn't affect my enerygy levels or mood. It always made me wonder why we even had it in the first place. All I have is a cup of black coffee, no sugar. Som…

You must realize the world and humanity is bigger than you. Some people with low blood sugar would be very weak without breakfast (ie my wife and most of her family, tested repeatedly under various real world situations ie in wilderness). Some thrive like that. Some, like me, don't care if they have or don't have breakfast, nothing visibly changes for me (unless I want to bulk a bit from ie weightlifting or generally doing very strenuous activity especially if its multiday).

Another case point for each' uniqueness - you mention you just drink black coffee on empty stomach. On university one of my classmates went through mandatory military service back then and he did exactly this. He utterly and forever destroyed his stomach lining (as per doctor's findings it was due to that coffee habit, even sugar or milk would help but he didn't know) and till end of his days. Tons of basic food that would make him cramp painfully or shit badly for hours. That he achieved within 1 year while you did 20 years of same seemingly without any issue.

Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#59

Post by tmikaeld »

tudorw wrote: post #23
tmikaeld wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, eventually I combine it with - as you say - the standard eggs/avocados/meat. It varies though and I use keto-sticks to check what level I'm at. And like you say, depends on daily activity. I'm not a fan of vegan food in general (hard to get tasty), Huel is what I can tolerate.

I get on pretty well with Huel, pro-tip, get used to the unflavoured unsweetened version, it's dull like porridge but not unpleasant, if you are going for every day, there's no flavour to get bored of. Also, while the idea of throwing a shot of espresso in there seems appealing and maybe a time saver, no...

I've tried it, but I couldn't handle the cardboard flavor, their flavor mixes are very good and I think that's part of why they're so popular.

Re: Patients say keto helps with mental illness. Science is racing to understand why

#60

Post by watwut »

sigmoid10 wrote: post #54
watwut wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then you have rising rates of eating disorders due to all the messaging being all about restricting calories which creates fear of food which puts people in a real acute danger.

The most prevalent eating disorder is still (unintentional) overeating. Not eating 2000+ extra calories of fast food every day has never put anyone in danger.

That wont kill you the way anorexia easily can. And fun fact: being slightly overweight is associated with best health results. The malnutrition from eating disorder really really sux and damages the body big time.

> Not eating 2000+ extra calories of fast food every day has never put anyone in danger.

Adolescents need 2500 or more daily, depending on gender activity level etc.

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