Ketogenic Diet - Powerful Dietary Strategy for Certain Conditions
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Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
This is interesting. Depression and anxiety were a dominating factor of my life for around 15 years. During this time, dairy of all sorts was a major part of my diet, as well as sugar and grains. Although my problems resolved for the most part, before making diet changes (still don't understand how, but it was an awakening of sorts), the elimination of dairy has always yielded an improvement. Recently I had tried using butter in fat bombs, but after experiencing abdominal pain, I have eliminated all dairy for pain free digestion :).
I have never noticed a problem with ghee, but it seems I am sensitive to any dairy. So I will not use ghee unless I have trouble sourcing lard. After some 2 and a half years of diet changes, my body now tells me in short time if it doesn't like something I feed it. The more time away from bad food seems to make me more sensitive to it.
Strangely enough, I don't seem to be troubled by nuts as many others have reported. When I do have them, they are soaked for 24 hours minimum and always cooked. But I have had no problems eating them, even a couple of times in large quantities. I do think they are unnecessary though (especially the fibre and this is one very good reason not to eat them) and will eliminate them when I can find a good source of pork rinds.
A Jay said:
This is interesting. Depression and anxiety were a dominating factor of my life for around 15 years. During this time, dairy of all sorts was a major part of my diet, as well as sugar and grains. Although my problems resolved for the most part, before making diet changes (still don't understand how, but it was an awakening of sorts), the elimination of dairy has always yielded an improvement. Recently I had tried using butter in fat bombs, but after experiencing abdominal pain, I have eliminated all dairy for pain free digestion :).
I have never noticed a problem with ghee, but it seems I am sensitive to any dairy. So I will not use ghee unless I have trouble sourcing lard. After some 2 and a half years of diet changes, my body now tells me in short time if it doesn't like something I feed it. The more time away from bad food seems to make me more sensitive to it.
Strangely enough, I don't seem to be troubled by nuts as many others have reported. When I do have them, they are soaked for 24 hours minimum and always cooked. But I have had no problems eating them, even a couple of times in large quantities. I do think they are unnecessary though (especially the fibre and this is one very good reason not to eat them) and will eliminate them when I can find a good source of pork rinds.
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
For what it's worth, when I first started eliminating grains (wheat at first) and diary all those years ago, I reintroduced after several weeks to see what would happen. I used to be a cheese lover and ate quite a lot of it. After reintroduction, I found out I was most sensitive to cheese and dairy, even more than grains made me feel yucky. But after a long time of not eating butter (about 4 or 5 months) after going keto, I started eating it (and lots of it) again and found I have no problem with butter.
Those who are particularly sensitive to casein might want to avoid even ghee when possible, as it still has small traces of casein usually.
For what it's worth, when I first started eliminating grains (wheat at first) and diary all those years ago, I reintroduced after several weeks to see what would happen. I used to be a cheese lover and ate quite a lot of it. After reintroduction, I found out I was most sensitive to cheese and dairy, even more than grains made me feel yucky. But after a long time of not eating butter (about 4 or 5 months) after going keto, I started eating it (and lots of it) again and found I have no problem with butter.
Those who are particularly sensitive to casein might want to avoid even ghee when possible, as it still has small traces of casein usually.
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
It seems that I too am more sensitive to dairy than to grain, so I may need to try a few days at least without any ghee to see if there's an improvement in my symptoms. I'll make some lard fat bombs and see how I do. Thanks for the reminder, SeekinTruth!
SeekinTruth said:
It seems that I too am more sensitive to dairy than to grain, so I may need to try a few days at least without any ghee to see if there's an improvement in my symptoms. I'll make some lard fat bombs and see how I do. Thanks for the reminder, SeekinTruth!
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
I notice that dairy worsens my skin and sinus problems, but didn't consider it to be a factor in anxiety until you mentioned it. I guess if any food gives you at least one symptom of inflammation, then we can be pretty sure that it is causing inflammation in other places too. I cut it out 2 days ago.
It's quite a horrifying prospect to cut out butter, especially when it is already so difficult to eat enough calories on keto. However I've managed to alter my taste buds enough to eat goose fat bombs (pastured lard is ridiculously expensive and hard to get here), which is really helping the transition away from butter in the past couple of days. You're not alone! :P
A Jay said:
I notice that dairy worsens my skin and sinus problems, but didn't consider it to be a factor in anxiety until you mentioned it. I guess if any food gives you at least one symptom of inflammation, then we can be pretty sure that it is causing inflammation in other places too. I cut it out 2 days ago.
It's quite a horrifying prospect to cut out butter, especially when it is already so difficult to eat enough calories on keto. However I've managed to alter my taste buds enough to eat goose fat bombs (pastured lard is ridiculously expensive and hard to get here), which is really helping the transition away from butter in the past couple of days. You're not alone! :P
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
After giving up butter for about 4 months and eating only ghee and animal fats, I decided to re-introduce it last week. For the first few days everything seemed to be ok, however when I started to increase the amounts of butter to around 250g per day I took a turn for the worst. One night I had no sleep at all, and ever since my sleep has been disturbed to some extent.
First of all, my throat became slightly sore and my nose started to become blocked. Eventually full-blown flu symptoms kicked in and I have not felt this ill in a LONG time! I have been having roughly 20g+ ascorbic acid with no improvements. Today I increased that amount until I reached bowel tolerance, however it was too late by that time and had to go to toilet a few times shortly after. This "illness" has persisted for maybe four days now and today I am still feeling really rough. It has made me think I may just completely cut out the ghee aswell, this is NOT worth the taste.
The only problem is, my partner came back last week with moderate flu symptoms (which she said has probably come from people in her class) and this only seemed to last a few days. I cannot determine whether my symptoms are a reaction to dairy, or whether it is just simply an illness that I have contracted.
A Jay said:
After giving up butter for about 4 months and eating only ghee and animal fats, I decided to re-introduce it last week. For the first few days everything seemed to be ok, however when I started to increase the amounts of butter to around 250g per day I took a turn for the worst. One night I had no sleep at all, and ever since my sleep has been disturbed to some extent.
First of all, my throat became slightly sore and my nose started to become blocked. Eventually full-blown flu symptoms kicked in and I have not felt this ill in a LONG time! I have been having roughly 20g+ ascorbic acid with no improvements. Today I increased that amount until I reached bowel tolerance, however it was too late by that time and had to go to toilet a few times shortly after. This "illness" has persisted for maybe four days now and today I am still feeling really rough. It has made me think I may just completely cut out the ghee aswell, this is NOT worth the taste.
The only problem is, my partner came back last week with moderate flu symptoms (which she said has probably come from people in her class) and this only seemed to last a few days. I cannot determine whether my symptoms are a reaction to dairy, or whether it is just simply an illness that I have contracted.
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
Recently my breakfast liquid coffee fat bombs have 5 egg yokes daily (up from 3) - and i'll have a small slice of pate when i arrive at work. I upped the eggs because it tastes creamier; they're good quality 'free range organic' and so i figure one of the better things i can spend my money on (grass fed meat is expensive or hard to find), and i can finally afford to go crazy on fancy eggs.
i also ran out of butter for the first time and had to make it with 100% lard, rather than 150g - 50% butter, 50% lard. Stangely enough, it was silky and creamier than with the butter, but i do like the flavour the butter imparts so i'll prorbably start experimenting a bit more the ratios. I had 2 days of lard coffee and it was quite nice, better than without that's for sure. And no meaty taste.
Recently my breakfast liquid coffee fat bombs have 5 egg yokes daily (up from 3) - and i'll have a small slice of pate when i arrive at work. I upped the eggs because it tastes creamier; they're good quality 'free range organic' and so i figure one of the better things i can spend my money on (grass fed meat is expensive or hard to find), and i can finally afford to go crazy on fancy eggs.
i also ran out of butter for the first time and had to make it with 100% lard, rather than 150g - 50% butter, 50% lard. Stangely enough, it was silky and creamier than with the butter, but i do like the flavour the butter imparts so i'll prorbably start experimenting a bit more the ratios. I had 2 days of lard coffee and it was quite nice, better than without that's for sure. And no meaty taste.
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
Seems I spoke too soon regarding the nuts! Over indulging with almonds on Saturday left me with intestinal pain and fever type symptoms. Thankfully they only lasted for half a day and resolved without further issue. It appears I blocked my small intestine (I have a narrow tract where the ileum joins the large intestine and was hospitalized due to this last year) with the excessive fibre. The problem likely was caused by eating whole nuts in a larger amount instead of blended nuts as pancakes in a measured amount. It was a valuable lesson and shows how irritating (and risky in my case) fibre can be.
Even though I have been on the diet for quite a while now, there have still been a few issues. After reading of the problems others had with nuts, I quit them for several months. During this time I also stopped having coconut cream, butter and ghee (had accumulated a good amount of lard instead) and lettuce. So the diet was pretty much just meat, fat and fat bombs or shakes. Things were going well until I started having diarrhea. This persisted for a few weeks and presented a few problems. Unfortunately, I lost all the weight I had regained previously and dropped to 63 - 64kg at 180cm. The worst problem was heart palpitations (hadn't had these since the standard diet days) and fluid retention in the feet.
After searching the forum, I saw that others had similar problems with electrolyte imbalance and diarrhea. So after adding some lite salt for potassium (have always used magnesium oil every other day), the issues resolved, but did take some time to do so. This was actually my reason for reintroducing nuts, as they have good nutritional value, particularly potassium and magnesium.
As for the diarrhea, this only stopped when I removed xylitol. This was interesting as I had been using xylitol in the same amount (2 teaspoons in 2 fat shakes a day) for many months. Really had to think on this one, as there wasn't much left to eliminate and I could think of nothing else that had changed to cause the problem. Having since reintroduced xylitol first in small amounts, now currently half my previous daily intake (2 teaspoons a day total), no further problems have arisen. Stevia was the sweetener I originally used and had no issues with. Maybe the xylitol produced a detox reaction (candida?) or I am just sensitive to the larger quantity.
Everthing is going good now. Have only managed to put on around 1kg, but my energy levels are the best they have been so far, even with my reduced strength requiring more physical effort. I do apologize for not sharing these issues earlier as they could relate to problems others may have and may be of help. Also, had I shared when having the issues, advice from other members may have lessened the effects and reduced the duration of the problems.
will01 said:
Seems I spoke too soon regarding the nuts! Over indulging with almonds on Saturday left me with intestinal pain and fever type symptoms. Thankfully they only lasted for half a day and resolved without further issue. It appears I blocked my small intestine (I have a narrow tract where the ileum joins the large intestine and was hospitalized due to this last year) with the excessive fibre. The problem likely was caused by eating whole nuts in a larger amount instead of blended nuts as pancakes in a measured amount. It was a valuable lesson and shows how irritating (and risky in my case) fibre can be.
Even though I have been on the diet for quite a while now, there have still been a few issues. After reading of the problems others had with nuts, I quit them for several months. During this time I also stopped having coconut cream, butter and ghee (had accumulated a good amount of lard instead) and lettuce. So the diet was pretty much just meat, fat and fat bombs or shakes. Things were going well until I started having diarrhea. This persisted for a few weeks and presented a few problems. Unfortunately, I lost all the weight I had regained previously and dropped to 63 - 64kg at 180cm. The worst problem was heart palpitations (hadn't had these since the standard diet days) and fluid retention in the feet.
After searching the forum, I saw that others had similar problems with electrolyte imbalance and diarrhea. So after adding some lite salt for potassium (have always used magnesium oil every other day), the issues resolved, but did take some time to do so. This was actually my reason for reintroducing nuts, as they have good nutritional value, particularly potassium and magnesium.
As for the diarrhea, this only stopped when I removed xylitol. This was interesting as I had been using xylitol in the same amount (2 teaspoons in 2 fat shakes a day) for many months. Really had to think on this one, as there wasn't much left to eliminate and I could think of nothing else that had changed to cause the problem. Having since reintroduced xylitol first in small amounts, now currently half my previous daily intake (2 teaspoons a day total), no further problems have arisen. Stevia was the sweetener I originally used and had no issues with. Maybe the xylitol produced a detox reaction (candida?) or I am just sensitive to the larger quantity.
Everthing is going good now. Have only managed to put on around 1kg, but my energy levels are the best they have been so far, even with my reduced strength requiring more physical effort. I do apologize for not sharing these issues earlier as they could relate to problems others may have and may be of help. Also, had I shared when having the issues, advice from other members may have lessened the effects and reduced the duration of the problems.
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
will01, you might find that the xylitol acts in a similar way to vitamin C, inasmuch as it draws fluids into the intestine, hence the loose stool. Looks as if you took the appropriate action, which is to reduce the amount. I wouldn't think that you have had a detox reaction.
will01, you might find that the xylitol acts in a similar way to vitamin C, inasmuch as it draws fluids into the intestine, hence the loose stool. Looks as if you took the appropriate action, which is to reduce the amount. I wouldn't think that you have had a detox reaction.
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
Thanks MusicMan, I was doubtful of a detox reaction given the length of time I've been on keto. Given my suspected crohns/IBD, most of my carb choices are made using the SCD list http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/legal/listing/A/ and the FODMAP chart http://20dishes.com/347/paleo-low-fodmap-diet-food-list/, as well as testing myself. Lettuce, almonds and macadamias are listed as legal and are all OK for me, but xylitol and all sugar alcohols are illegal. This could be why it is a problem for me. Stevia is also illegal, but I have been using this since I started the diet and have never had a problem with it.
MusicMan said:
Thanks MusicMan, I was doubtful of a detox reaction given the length of time I've been on keto. Given my suspected crohns/IBD, most of my carb choices are made using the SCD list http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/legal/listing/A/ and the FODMAP chart http://20dishes.com/347/paleo-low-fodmap-diet-food-list/, as well as testing myself. Lettuce, almonds and macadamias are listed as legal and are all OK for me, but xylitol and all sugar alcohols are illegal. This could be why it is a problem for me. Stevia is also illegal, but I have been using this since I started the diet and have never had a problem with it.
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
If you have digestive tract problems, will01, it's best to be really careful with fiber in whatever form. As far as xylitol, many others on the forum have had similar problems, including gas. Others have had problems with stevia, but it wasn't gastrointestinal, if I remember correctly. I don't have problems with either, but I've never tried have lots of xylitol in one day (like 4 or 5 teaspoons in a single day) because it's high in carbs.
If you have digestive tract problems, will01, it's best to be really careful with fiber in whatever form. As far as xylitol, many others on the forum have had similar problems, including gas. Others have had problems with stevia, but it wasn't gastrointestinal, if I remember correctly. I don't have problems with either, but I've never tried have lots of xylitol in one day (like 4 or 5 teaspoons in a single day) because it's high in carbs.
Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?
Actually, it could be a detox reaction. Xylitol has an anti-microbial effect and can kill off pathogenic bacteria in the digestive tract. If there is an overgrowth of the bad guys one may notice they can't tolerate xylitol due to the die-off reaction (diarrhea, cramping, gas, etc.). The key is to rebalance the intestinal flora with probiotics, fermented foods (sauerkraut), reintroducing small amounts of xylitol at a later date. Given that will01 has mentioned Crohn's/IBD, I'd say there's a good chance of pathogenic bacterial overgrowth that may need to be dealt with.
MusicMan said:
Actually, it could be a detox reaction. Xylitol has an anti-microbial effect and can kill off pathogenic bacteria in the digestive tract. If there is an overgrowth of the bad guys one may notice they can't tolerate xylitol due to the die-off reaction (diarrhea, cramping, gas, etc.). The key is to rebalance the intestinal flora with probiotics, fermented foods (sauerkraut), reintroducing small amounts of xylitol at a later date. Given that will01 has mentioned Crohn's/IBD, I'd say there's a good chance of pathogenic bacterial overgrowth that may need to be dealt with.
