Ketogenic Diet - Powerful Dietary Strategy for Certain Conditions

[Carl]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Just to clarify, Ailen, do you do a full body workout using every muscle every 2 days? I would have thought that the body needed more rest time to repair fully, as most bodybuilders and strength trainers say. But if you are having continually good progress with this then maybe my current thoughts are wrong, or maybe things work differently in ketosis.

My routine is currently split into two. I do chest press, deadlifts, and tricep dips one day, and pull ups + shoulder press on the other day. I do multiple sets though, i.e. 5 repetitions with heaviest weight - 1 min rest - 5-8 reps with a lower weight - 1 min rest - then lowest weight.

This is a very conventional way of working out, and in most of what we learn about conventional wisdom seems to be dead wrong. I seem to have stopped making progress in strength so I am guessing that I am doing something wrong.

Where did you get your information about the specific type of training that you guys do in order to decide it the best one for you? Sorry if there was some discussion on this that I have missed.

 

[mcb]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

... You eat carbs and the body responds by releasing insulin to get blood sugar back down. The higher glycemic the carb, the sharper the blood sugar rise and the more insulin that gets released. Too much insulin leads to blood sugar dropping below the stable range and hypoglycemia results. Adrenals release stress hormones to raise blood sugar back up to normal. Chronically riding this roller-coaster leads to adrenal burnout (the adrenals were not designed to be activated after every meal!). Low carb does not lead to this pattern, although if protein is too high and is converted to glucose, it might (I was experiencing low blood sugar type symptoms when my protein was too high).

I suspect that hypoglycemia has pathological roots. I was diagnosed with it in 1970 (after my mother was diagnosed with it), and I finally controlled it last year. Doing that seems to have been a two-step process: 1) eliminate wheat and rice and heal for a while (hypoglycemia continued) and 2) lower carb intake to ~70 g/d, eliminating all grains (hypoglycemia ceased, immediately).

My working hypothesis is that bad diet causes inflammation which leads to pathology (including leaky gut), which can lead to hypoglycemia and/or other symptoms depending upon individual vulnerabilities. If things are working right (no pathology), I don't think that insulin will overcompensate.

In this hypothetical view, the underlying pathology could also be interfering with adrenal and/or thyroid function. What seems to have worked for me was to adopt a simple, low-inflammation diet and stick with it. I am planning some testing in the upcoming weeks to try to better understand what has changed.

[quote author=monotonic]
...

If charting it is how you need to picture it, I don't see a problem with that. But from what you're describing here, it sounds like you might be dealing with a learning disability. You may have some sort of block that doesn't allow you to learn in a certain way, or some sort of thinking pattern that interferes with learning. I don't know this, of course, but just thought I'd bring up the possibility. I'm sure that the diet will help with this, but you might want to explore the detox and psychology topics on this forum, too. Pathological trauma early in life can lead to disordered thinking patterns, also. Are you doing EE?...
[/quote]

I am noticing patterns in monotonic's posting that are reminiscent of issues I have had, especially earlier in life. In fact, the similarities really bug me sometimes, and that is what often happens when I encounter someone with similar issues.

monotonic: It's only a hunch, but a ketogenic diet might prove to be especially helpful. That would require jumping in and doing it, once you are prepared, rather than hanging around trying to anticipate what would happen in this scenario or that.

There may be something else you need to do, though, and I have no way of knowing what that might be. Sometimes when you are trapped in cyclical thought patterns you need to do something radical -- something that feels too unsafe to try -- looking at it from your own point of view -- but that is not really dangerous (and is not stupid!). Something that takes you outside of your familiar world, broadens your perspective, and shows you that you can do things you didn't think you could.

The only way I know to find these kinds of opportunities is to say "yes" when they present themselves, instead of "no." But don't forget to check for "dangerous" and "stupid" first. Not everything that presents itself to do is beneficial!

 

[Horseofadifferentcolor]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

... You eat carbs and the body responds by releasing insulin to get blood sugar back down. The higher glycemic the carb, the sharper the blood sugar rise and the more insulin that gets released. Too much insulin leads to blood sugar dropping below the stable range and hypoglycemia results. Adrenals release stress hormones to raise blood sugar back up to normal. Chronically riding this roller-coaster leads to adrenal burnout (the adrenals were not designed to be activated after every meal!). Low carb does not lead to this pattern, although if protein is too high and is converted to glucose, it might (I was experiencing low blood sugar type symptoms when my protein was too high).

I suspect that hypoglycemia has pathological roots. I was diagnosed with it in 1970 (after my mother was diagnosed with it), and I finally controlled it last year. Doing that seems to have been a two-step process: 1) eliminate wheat and rice and heal for a while (hypoglycemia continued) and 2) lower carb intake to ~70 g/d, eliminating all grains (hypoglycemia ceased, immediately).

My working hypothesis is that bad diet causes inflammation which leads to pathology (including leaky gut), which can lead to hypoglycemia and/or other symptoms depending upon individual vulnerabilities. If things are working right (no pathology), I don't think that insulin will overcompensate.

In this hypothetical view, the underlying pathology could also be interfering with adrenal and/or thyroid function. What seems to have worked for me was to adopt a simple, low-inflammation diet and stick with it. I am planning some testing in the upcoming weeks to try to better understand what has changed.

[quote author=monotonic]
...

If charting it is how you need to picture it, I don't see a problem with that. But from what you're describing here, it sounds like you might be dealing with a learning disability. You may have some sort of block that doesn't allow you to learn in a certain way, or some sort of thinking pattern that interferes with learning. I don't know this, of course, but just thought I'd bring up the possibility. I'm sure that the diet will help with this, but you might want to explore the detox and psychology topics on this forum, too. Pathological trauma early in life can lead to disordered thinking patterns, also. Are you doing EE?...

I am noticing patterns in monotonic's posting that are reminiscent of issues I have had, especially earlier in life. In fact, the similarities really bug me sometimes, and that is what often happens when I encounter someone with similar issues.

monotonic: It's only a hunch, but a ketogenic diet might prove to be especially helpful. That would require jumping in and doing it, once you are prepared, rather than hanging around trying to anticipate what would happen in this scenario or that.

There may be something else you need to do, though, and I have no way of knowing what that might be. Sometimes when you are trapped in cyclical thought patterns you need to do something radical -- something that feels too unsafe to try -- looking at it from your own point of view -- but that is not really dangerous (and is not stupid!). Something that takes you outside of your familiar world, broadens your perspective, and shows you that you can do things you didn't think you could.

The only way I know to find these kinds of opportunities is to say "yes" when they present themselves, instead of "no." But don't forget to check for "dangerous" and "stupid" first. Not everything that presents itself to do is beneficial!
[/quote]

Megan's words I put in bold at the bottom are very important in my eyes. I have a rule that every day I have to do something I have never done before. This most of the time is very simple, go a different way home or listen to music I have never heard.

I went to a festival many years ago to meet up with friends. They never showed and panic struck. I decided to stay and had a very liberating and independent time. It was amazing for me. Before that moment I never realized how stuck and dependent I was.
So I see the diet in the same way. Megan is correct about jumping in on the diet. You have to feel it out and understand by doing. A new way of thinking by a new way of life daily helps. IMHO hope this helps monotonic.

 

[Ennio]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

The diet, I think, won't magically "cure" a brain that has yet to learn how to learn - it will, along with other changes, make new efforts and struggles possible, and through this make progress viable - but effort, lots of it, is also needed. The challenge is a big one: To get the intellectual center in shape, make it function properly.

Or, stated differently: The challenge is to rewire one's brain. The diet and other changes will give it the potential to change, but one must also direct that potential, make use of it - manifest it.

For me, this process of getting my mind into shape is still ongoing, but there has been and continues to be significant and measurable progress.

Glad to hear this, Psalehesot. And know that I am pretty much in a similar boat as you, Gimpy, and others in some ways; working to get my mind back into shape. When Laura mentioned that the renewed research into the benefits of ketogenesis was kicked off because of a member who had a Parkinsons-like condition, she was referring to me. The implications of 'not seeing reality as it is really is' are huge and a little scary to me so the research into healing mtDNA has been something of Godsend - even though there is still a lot of other work involved in healing and re-learning how to think.

It's funny, when I learned that Laura and Ailen were following this line of research as a way to address Parkinsonism/neurodegenerative brain conditions (among other things), one of the first things I thought was "of course!", its 'food as medicine' at its most beneficial. We already know about the diet's benefits for those with epilepsy, why not Parkinsons-like conditions and maybe even a whole host of other things???

I must admit that though this line of treatment is very encouraging I am sometimes a bit impatient with this process. I have read about various supplements that have been known to help people improve their cognitive deficits. And there is a desire to get things back in the best order possible asap! At the same time, I am reminded that Brain imbalances are a very delicate thing, and to add a supplement at so early a time in my effort to make things work optimally, could knock things out of wack - and not allow things to progress more holistically. So this process really needs time to do it's work. Who knows, maybe somewhere down the line it may be a good thing to be taking NADH or DLPA, but for now, and perhaps a while to come, I'm going to sit tight and see what can happen only on the diet, IF, and resistance exercise and learning how to focus my mind and will.

What you write above is an excellent reminder of the fact that there really are no shortcuts, Psalehesot. And every honest effort made towards re-wiring ourselves will count towards adding to our being if we can continue to see the big picture and the context in which we're doing all this. Towards that end, this is just a reminder to folks to try and read the whole thread if possible. And in addition to all the hard science that shows why this is beneficial, the more metaphysical implications are also incredible.

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,28799.msg362905.html#msg362905

 

[dugdeep]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

... You eat carbs and the body responds by releasing insulin to get blood sugar back down. The higher glycemic the carb, the sharper the blood sugar rise and the more insulin that gets released. Too much insulin leads to blood sugar dropping below the stable range and hypoglycemia results. Adrenals release stress hormones to raise blood sugar back up to normal. Chronically riding this roller-coaster leads to adrenal burnout (the adrenals were not designed to be activated after every meal!). Low carb does not lead to this pattern, although if protein is too high and is converted to glucose, it might (I was experiencing low blood sugar type symptoms when my protein was too high).

I suspect that hypoglycemia has pathological roots. I was diagnosed with it in 1970 (after my mother was diagnosed with it), and I finally controlled it last year. Doing that seems to have been a two-step process: 1) eliminate wheat and rice and heal for a while (hypoglycemia continued) and 2) lower carb intake to ~70 g/d, eliminating all grains (hypoglycemia ceased, immediately).

My working hypothesis is that bad diet causes inflammation which leads to pathology (including leaky gut), which can lead to hypoglycemia and/or other symptoms depending upon individual vulnerabilities. If things are working right (no pathology), I don't think that insulin will overcompensate.

In this hypothetical view, the underlying pathology could also be interfering with adrenal and/or thyroid function. What seems to have worked for me was to adopt a simple, low-inflammation diet and stick with it. I am planning some testing in the upcoming weeks to try to better understand what has changed.

I'm starting to think that mitochondrial disfunction is the root cause of the whole picture. Eat crappy, live in a toxic environment, expose yourself to toxic vaccines and medications and things start going wrong at the cellular level. Mitochondria start to function poorly, maybe get "leaky" and the rest of the system on up starts breaking down as a result - inflammatory modulation goes fritzy, immune system goes out of whack, insulin control problems, leaky gut, brain/thinking problems, etc.

With the studies that Weston A. Price did, I was always a little confused about how he found some isolated communities eating decidedly "non-paleo" foods and still thriving with little to any detrement to their health. The Scottish coastal peoples he visited for instance basically ate dairy products and oats. They had some root veggies, some fish, shellfish and seaweeds as well as some wild game, but the bulk of their diet was oats, a grain, and dairy. They weren't anywhere near low carb, I wouldn't think, yet their health would be enviable to any westerner, then or now.

But if you bring in the mitochondrial issue, it makes a little more sense. They were living a pristine existence compared to us. They essentially had no toxicity to deal with and I imagine their emotional stress was low. Maybe their diet wasn't ideal (we know it wasn't), but in such clean conditions, with cellular function at its optimum, you could get away with "less than ideal" and it wouldn't cause the whole system to sink into the depths of chronic disease.

This may be why we can no longer eat the foods our ancestors ate. Our conditions are so far less than ideal that we can't survive, let alone thrive, on anything less. And when you add in the fact that your health has more to do with what your grandparents did to affect their genes than what your parents or you do, is it any wonder that things are breaking down now? Think about all the stuff that our grandparent's generation started getting introduced to - processed foods, trans fats, massive amounts of sugar, refined grains, food dyes, radiation...

When you think about it, we're quite lucky that there's still a path back, assuming of course that there is and we're actually in the process of discovering it (trying hard not to count my chickens, here ;)).

 

[Gaby]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

I must admit that though this line of treatment is very encouraging I am sometimes a bit impatient with this process. I have read about various supplements that have been known to help people improve their cognitive deficits. And there is a desire to get things back in the best order possible asap! At the same time, I am reminded that Brain imbalances are a very delicate thing, and to add a supplement at so early a time in my effort to make things work optimally, could knock things out of wack - and not allow things to progress more holistically. So this process really needs time to do it's work. Who knows, maybe somewhere down the line it may be a good thing to be taking NADH or DLPA, but for now, and perhaps a while to come, I'm going to sit tight and see what can happen only on the diet, IF, and resistance exercise and learning how to focus my mind and will.

Persist and never don't yourself to fall into despair, patience pays. As G. said, all active work converts itself into a fresh supply while all passive work is lost forever.

The thing with supplements for mitochondrial support and repair, is that if you focus in only one nutrient, you might create an unnecessary imbalance. There are several supplements that have proved to be useful in Parkinson's, but what might work for one person, might not work for another one due to individual genetic glitches.

The protocol in the Ultra Mind Solution underlines the importance of taking several supplements that supply for all the major pathways for mitochondrial dysfunction. I don't know if taking all of them might work for you, instead of focusing in only one or two. They serve as nutrients and antioxidants to protect your mitochondria, but as a combination. For instance,

- D-Ribose, 5 grams a day in powder.
- Acetyl-L-Carnitine, 500 mg twice a day.
- Coenzyme Q10, 100mg a day
- Alpha lipoic acid, 100mg twice a day.
- NADH, 10 mg a day.

Other than magnesium, riboflavin, niacin, and N-acetyl-cysteine as another precursor for glutathione.

Perhaps you can see how it goes with the ketogenic diet, IF and resistance training. And at some point you can try mitochondrial support supplementation and observe very carefully if it works or if it is a setback.

 

[Laura]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

I suspect that hypoglycemia has pathological roots. I was diagnosed with it in 1970 (after my mother was diagnosed with it), and I finally controlled it last year. Doing that seems to have been a two-step process: 1) eliminate wheat and rice and heal for a while (hypoglycemia continued) and 2) lower carb intake to ~70 g/d, eliminating all grains (hypoglycemia ceased, immediately).

My working hypothesis is that bad diet causes inflammation which leads to pathology (including leaky gut), which can lead to hypoglycemia and/or other symptoms depending upon individual vulnerabilities. If things are working right (no pathology), I don't think that insulin will overcompensate.

In this hypothetical view, the underlying pathology could also be interfering with adrenal and/or thyroid function. What seems to have worked for me was to adopt a simple, low-inflammation diet and stick with it. I am planning some testing in the upcoming weeks to try to better understand what has changed.

Excellent points!

I began having hypoglycemia/hyperinsulinism episodes when I was 15. Basically, you go into insulin shock, that is, pass out, go unconscious, FAST. You essentially have two options: constantly eat carbs (but then you can have an episode at 3 am as I did because it has been too long since you ate) or eliminate carbs completely and just eat proteins that covert to glucose in the body and reduce the amount. The latter is what I did time and time again. I would go for 3 months or so without any simple carbs and get it under control and then think "okay, it's fixed, back to normal diet" and within a couple more months, I'd be back in the soup, so to say. The adrenals and thyroid went kaflooey, I was on thyroid medication, all other problems just escalated... and the answer was right there in front of me all the time: simply cut out the carbs. Well, of course, when I did cut out the carbs, it was just the simple ones, not veggies. No rice, potatoes, breads, cakes, cookies, fruit, etc. But I would eat plenty of veggies and meat and eggs which is why the other things were clearing up.

When I think how much smarter I could be if I hadn't killed off all those brain cells with "do-it-yourself shock therapy", it just makes me sick!

 

[MK Scarlett]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

My experience studying math, which may help or not: [...]

It does! Thanks Psalehesost. During these last six months I learnt more than in my all life by discovering new intellectual challenges which help me to increase the comprehension I have of many subjects.

I later realized that I had made my way for many years by "intuitive smarts", up to the point where it no longer worked - where suddenly more was needed - and had not learned to technically think in the required way. Strictly speaking, many people actually don't think technically - there is simply an associative activity running in their minds, be it with or without effort, which is actually not quite the same. (The difference has to be learned by experience.)

This is something I am familiar to being uselly curious of many things in my life without having gone deeper into ever really the understanding of "how"... This is different now but I have a lot of work to do yet.

Three things changed, leading to a process of learning to think and understand in a more real way in a technical context:
[list type=decimal]
[*]The diet.
[*]Tobacco usage.
[*]Exercising the brain by:

• Finding something I could read and work hard to understand - effortful but doable - something to push my limits.
• Keeping at it, and working on several intellectual challenges.

[/list]

This is relevant to say the least. Thanks!

The diet, I think, won't magically "cure" a brain that has yet to learn how to learn - it will, along with other changes, make new efforts and struggles possible, and through this make progress viable - but effort, lots of it, is also needed. The challenge is a big one: To get the intellectual center in shape, make it function properly.

Or, stated differently: The challenge is to rewire one's brain. The diet and other changes will give it the potential to change, but one must also direct that potential, make use of it - manifest it.

For me, this process of getting my mind into shape is still ongoing, but there has been and continues to be significant and measurable progress.

What a great challenge it is! ;)

There may be something else you need to do, though, and I have no way of knowing what that might be. Sometimes when you are trapped in cyclical thought patterns you need to do something radical -- something that feels too unsafe to try -- looking at it from your own point of view -- but that is not really dangerous (and is not stupid!). Something that takes you outside of your familiar world, broadens your perspective, and shows you that you can do things you didn't think you could.

The only way I know to find these kinds of opportunities is to say "yes" when they present themselves, instead of "no." But don't forget to check for "dangerous" and "stupid" first. Not everything that presents itself to do is beneficial!

In bold is something which happened to me in last February (in the forum to be precise) for the first bold and did not stop at this day for the second one.
Thank you for these words I would not know write by myself. They help me to put an English thought in my own one's.

 

[Gwenllian]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Are you familiar with the work of Weston Price? He found out very interesting data about the paleo diet. Here's a short summary:

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. I attached one from Weston Price's book. He said that herdsmen-hunter-fishermen were among fittest. Weston Price noticed that in Australia, coastal Aborigines eating seafood were the healthiest. But when their diet was displaced by processed agricultural food, tuberculosis and crippling arthritis became common.

I love these pictures! :) :) :)

I always wondered about these beautiful and good teeth that some Africans had that I met. I didn't understand how that was possible, how did they do that without dentists, orthodontists etc. Here I was, no room in my mouth for new teeth, so that I had to wear braces and some of my molars had to be extracted to make room and they had these beautiful mouths with wonderful teeth.
But now I get it. :D

 

[Oxajil]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Lately I've noticed that my (right) eye that contains the virus has become quite sensitive to light. I think this is a good thing, similar to the body becoming more sensitive to harmful substances. I think that now knowing that light or bright environments stresses my eye, I can now help it by wearing shades or atleast try to keep the brightness away from my eye, and this has been quite relieving and keeps the stress level low. So the ketogenic diet does seem to be doing something.

Regarding stools, well I've had pretty much all kinds throughout the low-carb/ketogenic diet. And I've kind of figured out what means what. I've been keeping a journal and I noticed that I have to go only once a month (if I don't eat too late in the evening, then I'd have to go in the middle of the night or the next morning, which doesn't feel right). I don't really get the baby stools (though I did have that in the beginning), mine is more like as Carolyn Dean described it "[medium]/large and the consistency of a ripe banana."

Yesterday I had bone broth in the morning with an egg and some bacon (regarding my egg sensitivity, it seems to be gone, I think that the reason my stomach had hurt when I ate an egg was because it was a so-called ''Omega 3 egg''... when I tested sensitivity to organic eggs, I didn't have a problem). It was my first day at school as well and I noticed that I did pretty well with quite little food. No headache, no problems with concentration, it was all fine. I was tired though, because of walking from building to building with a heavy backpack, but overall it's pretty amazing that one can just attend college with a clear mind, while eating so little (in a sense).

 

[nicklebleu]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

When I think how much smarter I could be if I hadn't killed off all those brain cells with "do-it-yourself shock therapy", it just makes me sick!

Laura, you're about the smartest woman I have ever "met"!
Thank god you didn't "get it" earlier, or you would have just let all us others writhing in the dust ....

:D

 

[LQB]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

With the studies that Weston A. Price did, I was always a little confused about how he found some isolated communities eating decidedly "non-paleo" foods and still thriving with little to any detrement to their health. The Scottish coastal peoples he visited for instance basically ate dairy products and oats. They had some root veggies, some fish, shellfish and seaweeds as well as some wild game, but the bulk of their diet was oats, a grain, and dairy. They weren't anywhere near low carb, I wouldn't think, yet their health would be enviable to any westerner, then or now.

But if you bring in the mitochondrial issue, it makes a little more sense. They were living a pristine existence compared to us. They essentially had no toxicity to deal with and I imagine their emotional stress was low. Maybe their diet wasn't ideal (we know it wasn't), but in such clean conditions, with cellular function at its optimum, you could get away with "less than ideal" and it wouldn't cause the whole system to sink into the depths of chronic disease.

I would add a couple of things. The oats they had probably have little resemblance to that we have today (after much hybridizing and tweeking for yield). Also the folks back then had no EMF exposure - a totally new stressor in the current time.

On the Scottish Highlanders. the current WAPF Journal says: http://www.westonaprice.org/notes-from-yesteryear/the-mighty-highlanders

THE HIGHLAND DIET

What was the secret of the Highlanders’ prowess? Why were they larger, stronger, faster, and able to defeat much larger groups of enemies in hand-to-hand combat? What gave them their incredible endurance that enabled them to march sixty miles over steep roadless hills and fight a battle—all in one day? Why did they recover from horrible wounds that would have been fatal to most other men?

It could not have just been their hard physical work, because all the peasants of Europe and India did hard physical work. The difference was in their diet. While most of the people of Europe ate a grainbased diet, the Highlanders ate mostly animal foods, just as their ancestors did.

The Highlands of Scotland is a high land, full of hills, mountains, streams and valleys. The soil is not very good for agriculture, but provides great grazing lands.

The Highlanders’ diet was based first on the raw milk of their herds. They kept large herds of small, agile cattle, of tiny sheep, and of goats. All of these animals produced milk, which was drunk either fresh or fermented, added to porridges raw, and made into raw cheese and raw butter. The cheese and butter were used at all times, but especially in the harsh, cold winters.

The Highland diet varied with the seasons. During the spring and summer, wild game of all kinds, including the native red deer, were hunted and eaten. Fresh fish was a vital part of the diet during these seasons, as the many rivers and streams were rich with salmon and many other kinds of wild fish.

Beef was not eaten during good weather, which led some travelers to conclude mistakenly that the Highlanders did not eat beef. But during the fall, many cattle, sheep and goats were killed, and their meat salted to provide meat during the cold part of the fall and during the long winter.

Every part of the animal was used for food, including all the internal organs. The famous Scottish dish known as haggis, made from innards and oatmeal cooked in the stomach of a sheep, originated in the Highlands.

Few vegetables were available (though onions and turnips could be found in season, along with some wild vegetables, such as nettles). The main fruit available was wild berries, in season. The only grains that could be grown in the Highlands were barley and oats, which were made into breads, porridges and cakes. Sugar was largely unavailable, though some honey could be found. Grains were usually eaten with raw milk, raw butter or raw cheese, or all of them. Oats were cooked and dried and carried in a pouch in wartime as a survival food.

It should be understood that the Highland cattle were not bred for giving huge amounts of milk, like modern dairy cattle. The amount of milk they produced was dependent on the quality of the plants they grazed on. In a bad year, when a particularly cold winter had damaged the native forage, they produced less milk. At these times, the Highlanders would take some blood from their cattle, and use it for food, often in the form of blood puddings.

This diet produced a group of people who were much stronger, larger and healthier than most other Europeans. Their incredible vitality even extended into old age. One Highlander in England enlisted in a Highland regiment at the age of seventy and fought in the French and Indian War, becoming famous for his prowess with the broadsword, when he led small parties of men into the thick brush to hunt down enemy sharpshooters.

 

[seek10]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

I suspect that hypoglycemia has pathological roots. I was diagnosed with it in 1970 (after my mother was diagnosed with it), and I finally controlled it last year. Doing that seems to have been a two-step process: 1) eliminate wheat and rice and heal for a while (hypoglycemia continued) and 2) lower carb intake to ~70 g/d, eliminating all grains (hypoglycemia ceased, immediately).

My working hypothesis is that bad diet causes inflammation which leads to pathology (including leaky gut), which can lead to hypoglycemia and/or other symptoms depending upon individual vulnerabilities. If things are working right (no pathology), I don't think that insulin will overcompensate.

In this hypothetical view, the underlying pathology could also be interfering with adrenal and/or thyroid function. What seems to have worked for me was to adopt a simple, low-inflammation diet and stick with it. I am planning some testing in the upcoming weeks to try to better understand what has changed.

Excellent points!

I began having hypoglycemia/hyperinsulinism episodes when I was 15. Basically, you go into insulin shock, that is, pass out, go unconscious, FAST. You essentially have two options: constantly eat carbs (but then you can have an episode at 3 am as I did because it has been too long since you ate) or eliminate carbs completely and just eat proteins that covert to glucose in the body and reduce the amount. The latter is what I did time and time again. I would go for 3 months or so without any simple carbs and get it under control and then think "okay, it's fixed, back to normal diet" and within a couple more months, I'd be back in the soup, so to say. The adrenals and thyroid went kaflooey, I was on thyroid medication, all other problems just escalated... and the answer was right there in front of me all the time: simply cut out the carbs. Well, of course, when I did cut out the carbs, it was just the simple ones, not veggies. No rice, potatoes, breads, cakes, cookies, fruit, etc. But I would eat plenty of veggies and meat and eggs which is why the other things were clearing up.

When I think how much smarter I could be if I hadn't killed off all those brain cells with "do-it-yourself shock therapy", it just makes me sick!

interesting points. I have a episode of passing out in school that led my teacher to take me to hospital . The first thing doctor said is to eat meat. but we are religiously vegetarians. so ended up with eating one egg a day. Looking back, Though i never passed out in school later , nutritional, thyroid issues are always there .

 

[Chu]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

I have to agree with others, monotomic. As a friend of mine used to say, “the only wall that prevents you from going beyond it, is YOU.” Very often this means paying with all we have to remove illusions, brick by brick. And committing to retrain our brain. Not blindly, but with knowledge. The last word is never spoken until we have tried it all. So, don’t get discouraged! I think it’s very good that you decided to open up. That last post of yours was a great start, IMO. We’re in this together. :)

 

[Chu]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Just to clarify, Ailen, do you do a full body workout using every muscle every 2 days? I would have thought that the body needed more rest time to repair fully, as most bodybuilders and strength trainers say. But if you are having continually good progress with this then maybe my current thoughts are wrong, or maybe things work differently in ketosis.

I think each person must be different. I work out every 2 days, but sometimes I skip an extra day if my body tells me it needs more rest. There isn't much rest over here, because we are having to do lots of work in the house on top of the usual. So, in "crazy" days, I might skip the workout. I think you have to find your own rythm.

As to using every muscle, I do about 7 different exercises. It changes. Some days can be more "lazy" than others, depending on how I feel. Try to find your own pace.

My routine is currently split into two. I do chest press, deadlifts, and tricep dips one day, and pull ups + shoulder press on the other day. I do multiple sets though, i.e. 5 repetitions with heaviest weight - 1 min rest - 5-8 reps with a lower weight - 1 min rest - then lowest weight.

If that works for you, it can be good. I personally find that it works better if I do all repetitions (heaviest, less heavy and lighter) at once, and then rest for 1-2 mins.

This is a very conventional way of working out, and in most of what we learn about conventional wisdom seems to be dead wrong. I seem to have stopped making progress in strength so I am guessing that I am doing something wrong.

Well, maybe we shouldn't trow the baby out with the bath water either. I think the key is to NOT do aerobic repetitions (with too light weights), but the rest depends on each individual. Maybe?

Where did you get your information about the specific type of training that you guys do in order to decide it the best one for you? Sorry if there was some discussion on this that I have missed.

We sort of combined what each of us knew, and with the machines we have. I know Laura and Ark have a specific routine, but some of us just vary exercises.

Again, I doubt there needs to be a specific rule as to how to workout. We just think that heavier weights, rest in between, and rest for at least one day, might be appropriate. But we're still experimenting. ;)