Is anyone here doing keto to treat/help their mental illness? I just started keto for my bipolar and I find it really hard. I need some motivation to keep going. Let me know your experiences and success stories please!
in my opinion, the primary benefit a ketogenic diet could give regarding mental health and wellness is that, if a person really experiences deep food cravings and mood instability from sugar, becoming keto adapted will have a stabilizing effect. The benefits they talk about with GABA and things like that are more tangential. And then there's what everyone goes through on keto adaptation, which is that the cravings often become a little worse before they become better. Hang in there, give it time at least 3 weeks and hopefully 6 to 8 and see if you noticed any changes then
Tgank you. I ate a very healthy diet before and didn't have food cravings or blood sugar instability. I also lost 10 kgs just by regulating portion sizes and exercising regularly. For me, going keto is only about improving my mental illness and hopefully being able to decrease meds and thereby side effects.
I wish you success on your journey! And also, when I was thinking about this, I was thinking that weight loss will efect the serum levels of the chemicals you're on. A family member was recently diagnosed with bipolar and weight was always a struggle for them and now it's compounded by sleepiness. I would love to see them try keto but they are very resistant to it. Anyways, I trust you will be sensitive to changes in how the drugs effect you but just an fyi which you are probably already aware of, losing weight on keto will make it difficult to tell what effects are keto and what effects could be related to the way you now metaboize and "hold" the drug in your tissue
Thank you that makes a lot of sense. I am fortunately at a healthy weight atm and weight loss is not my intention with keto. Thankfully, I have blood work done every two to three months to make sure my meds are at the right levels. So far no changes.
My anxiety symptoms of bipolar are noticeably improved when I'm keto.
My chronic sinusitis vanishes on keto.
I don't experience low blood sugar hangries.
Once fat adapted for exercise, I can now exercise and do long endurance activities for hours and hours without fatigue. I'm 49. I'm the one in long events rolling my eyes when the 20- and 30-something carb burners call for a stop to "refuel". I regularly do 4-6 hour morning events fasted without any issue. As long as I keep up my electrolytes and water, of course.
while exercising I get about 500mg of sodium and 500mg of potassium per half hour or so of really sweaty activity. Less sweaty activity would be about half that. I don't know exactly what product you're referring to or what it contains. I make my own for pennies per day using salt and liteSalt.
On sedentary days I get about 3500mg of potassium and 5500mg of sodium, or there abouts.
You're on the right path. For therapeutic keto, its good to track ketone level with a keto mojo meter. You want to be at 2.0+ mmol for therapeutic keto.
Check out Metabolic Mind on YouTube, lots of good info there.
Thank you! I have a blood ketone measurer and I usually am between 1-2 mmol. Maybe I should aim for higher levels. I've also watched a ton of videos from metabolic mind, what an amazing resource!
The mental clarity from keto is one of the main reasons I've done it for so long. I'm just exceptionally sharp, have gigantic banks of information in my mind on a variety of subjects, have a way better memory in general, etc. Case in point:
Neurologically speaking, ketones are a powerful form of brain fuel. If any of your issues (or mine) are caused by poor brain-glucose utilization, then ketosis will help. You see this condition with Alzheimer's, dementia and stroke damage -- basically there's sugar around for energy but the brain has a form of insulin resistance and won't take in the amount it needs, so brain health goes down in one way or another. Ketones bypass this and provide a different source of energy, and also proliferate mitochondria which allows your brain to use even more energy. This is valuable information for someone with bipolar, see this for example:
Difficulty on keto tends to come down to two main factors:
The inconvenience of cooking everything, or even meal prep or whatever.
The limited food choices, focus on getting enough protein (or maybe fat too in your case), trying to hit nutrition targets somehow, etc, which doesn't leave a whole lot of room for enjoyment.
Fortunately, with some work these problems are both fixable. And it's important to fix them -- if you're doing keto therapeutically (like I am), you're going to be on it for the long haul.
first month I noticed some symptoms of depression and disregulation but then I become more and more stable ☺️ hope it helps. also be kind on you and don't try to be super super perfect is Okey to fail and have cravings... but keep going!!!
in my opinion, the primary benefit a ketogenic diet could give regarding mental health and wellness is that, if a person really experiences deep food cravings and mood instability from sugar, becoming keto adapted will have a stabilizing effect. The benefits they talk about with GABA and things like that are more tangential. And then there's what everyone goes through on keto adaptation, which is that the cravings often become a little worse before they become better. Hang in there, give it time at least 3 weeks and hopefully 6 to 8 and see if you noticed any changes then
Tgank you. I ate a very healthy diet before and didn't have food cravings or blood sugar instability. I also lost 10 kgs just by regulating portion sizes and exercising regularly. For me, going keto is only about improving my mental illness and hopefully being able to decrease meds and thereby side effects.
I wish you success on your journey! And also, when I was thinking about this, I was thinking that weight loss will efect the serum levels of the chemicals you're on. A family member was recently diagnosed with bipolar and weight was always a struggle for them and now it's compounded by sleepiness. I would love to see them try keto but they are very resistant to it. Anyways, I trust you will be sensitive to changes in how the drugs effect you but just an fyi which you are probably already aware of, losing weight on keto will make it difficult to tell what effects are keto and what effects could be related to the way you now metaboize and "hold" the drug in your tissue
Thank you that makes a lot of sense. I am fortunately at a healthy weight atm and weight loss is not my intention with keto. Thankfully, I have blood work done every two to three months to make sure my meds are at the right levels. So far no changes.
I get significantly fewer migraines on keto.
My anxiety symptoms of bipolar are noticeably improved when I'm keto.
My chronic sinusitis vanishes on keto.
I don't experience low blood sugar hangries.
Once fat adapted for exercise, I can now exercise and do long endurance activities for hours and hours without fatigue. I'm 49. I'm the one in long events rolling my eyes when the 20- and 30-something carb burners call for a stop to "refuel". I regularly do 4-6 hour morning events fasted without any issue. As long as I keep up my electrolytes and water, of course.
Wow! Well done! Thanks for sharing
How much electrolytes is recommended in keto? I use one packet per day of Iv hydration
everyone has different needs.
while exercising I get about 500mg of sodium and 500mg of potassium per half hour or so of really sweaty activity. Less sweaty activity would be about half that. I don't know exactly what product you're referring to or what it contains. I make my own for pennies per day using salt and liteSalt.
On sedentary days I get about 3500mg of potassium and 5500mg of sodium, or there abouts.
While I am unintentionally losing weight for other reasons, I have noticed the following generic benefits from going keto on my situation:
There are others but I'd rather not be too specific. Best wishes for your health journey.
Thank you for sharing!
See Georgia Ede's book change your diet change your mind.
Thank you! I've seen interviews with her on YouTube, she seems very knowledgeable
You're on the right path. For therapeutic keto, its good to track ketone level with a keto mojo meter. You want to be at 2.0+ mmol for therapeutic keto.
Check out Metabolic Mind on YouTube, lots of good info there.
Thank you! I have a blood ketone measurer and I usually am between 1-2 mmol. Maybe I should aim for higher levels. I've also watched a ton of videos from metabolic mind, what an amazing resource!
I recommend watching the diary of a CEO interview with Georgia ede - it's very encouraging:)
Thanks! I've seen some interviews with her already, she's great
The mental clarity from keto is one of the main reasons I've done it for so long. I'm just exceptionally sharp, have gigantic banks of information in my mind on a variety of subjects, have a way better memory in general, etc. Case in point:
Neurologically speaking, ketones are a powerful form of brain fuel. If any of your issues (or mine) are caused by poor brain-glucose utilization, then ketosis will help. You see this condition with Alzheimer's, dementia and stroke damage -- basically there's sugar around for energy but the brain has a form of insulin resistance and won't take in the amount it needs, so brain health goes down in one way or another. Ketones bypass this and provide a different source of energy, and also proliferate mitochondria which allows your brain to use even more energy. This is valuable information for someone with bipolar, see this for example:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667242123000337
Alternately, make it less hard. See points #2 and #3 in my guide here:
https://old.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/1esdlq4/how_to_make_a_keto_diet_sustainable_over_the/
Difficulty on keto tends to come down to two main factors:
The inconvenience of cooking everything, or even meal prep or whatever.
The limited food choices, focus on getting enough protein (or maybe fat too in your case), trying to hit nutrition targets somehow, etc, which doesn't leave a whole lot of room for enjoyment.
Fortunately, with some work these problems are both fixable. And it's important to fix them -- if you're doing keto therapeutically (like I am), you're going to be on it for the long haul.
Thank you so much! Will read for sure
I’ve been doing it for almost 2 years now for my ADHD. If I can stay above 2mmol blood ketone levels my ADHD symptoms completely fades away.
It has almost the same effect of medications without the side effects.
However if I cheat, my symptoms (distraction, irritability, mood swings, dreaminess, impulsivity, rejection sensitivity etc) comes back fully.
I realized that I can shut down or restart my adhd symptoms on demand with ketosis 🙂
I came to conclusion that my adhd is an allergic reaction to carbs
That sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing!
I heard it can help with it.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6GEZVm18mwx76rWJueFHGj?si=mTFp8wZFQtGYHTmJYm4dMg&t=3121 Did you listen to this ?
Yes I have but thank you :-)
Keep going! I just wanted to lose weight but saw a complete difference with my anxiety!
It has done nothing for my ADHD.
Thank you for your honesty!
There is a great podcast on the Huberman Lab with Chris Palmer on this topic.
Yes it's really good
first month I noticed some symptoms of depression and disregulation but then I become more and more stable ☺️ hope it helps. also be kind on you and don't try to be super super perfect is Okey to fail and have cravings... but keep going!!!