WHAT IS KETOGENIC DIET
The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. The idea is that you can eat all the fat you want, never feel hungry again, lower your blood sugar if you have type 2 diabetes, and even boost your athletic performance.
My motivation to experiment with the ketogenic diet wasn’t driven by a desire for weight loss or health improvement. At the time, I studied “diet and nutrition,” and the keto diet contradicted everything I was learning. Great! I love contradictions. I question everything before I decide to obtain it as information.
So here I was, buying butter for the first time in my life, living on butter coffee, steaks, eggs, fish, brain octane oil, and lots of non-starchy veggies. It took about two days to get into the “keto flu”: physical reaction due to the lack of carbohydrates. The symptoms are headaches, foggy brain, fatigue, irritability, nausea, difficulty sleeping, constipation, and more.
The keto promoters claim that after overcoming “keto flu”( which might take up to two weeks), you will become “ fat adapted.” What do they mean by this term? They mean your body will adjust to use fats for fuel rather than carbohydrates. They also claim that there is no such thing as “essential carbohydrates.” But what about the fact that the primary source of energy in the brain is glucose? Rarely, in glucose-depleted situations, like fasting or a ketogenic diet, the brain can use ketones to some extent for a limited period.
Proteins can be broken down into glycogen, which can also be used for fuel by the brain, but not as efficiently as glucose. So it stands to reason that eliminating carbohydrates from the diet might reduce the brain’s energy source and affect brain function.
HOW DID I FEEL?
“KETO FLU”: the worst headache I have ever experienced in my life. I seldom get headaches, as I exercise a lot and don’t believe in skipping meals or deprivations( DIET) and “cheat days.” These headaches made me miss beautiful days as I was for hours in my bed in pain but determined to finish my experiment. I needed to know what’s on the other side. Are we all wrong? Is this “keto” something really smart or even brilliant? So I stuck to it, and eventually, after ten days, the headaches somehow vanished. However, my sleep was very disturbed. I felt all the time ON. I slept probably about five to six hours max, but never really profoundly. I couldn’t any longer complete my 10K runs; I just didn’t have it despite the enormous amounts of butter I was consuming. I was irritable and couldn’t produce enough of my happy hormones; I felt it. Then one month passed, I didn’t lose any weight (which was ok, it wasn’t my goal, I mention it for the record), and my hormones were out of whack, especially my thyroid hormones. Wow! I never had this problem before! After a week and more research on the topic, I read it’s OK if you refill on “healthy carbs” such as potatoes or rice and then return to “keto.” So I ate potatoes, it sounds funny, but I felt much better. Of course, I returned to keto after this one day of refill for the sake of my experiment. The second month didn’t go any better. My sleep was still not good, though I ate a honey spoon before bed to help me sleep, but it didn’t. My workouts continue to decline, and I reached the point where I had terrible calves crumps, despite all the salt I was wolfing down. I was clearly low on electrolytes! I can already hear those “keto advocates” that all I needed to do is take an electrolyte in a pill form, but if this is such a natural way of living, why do I need synthetic electrolyte in my life?
THE END OF KETO
I completed my two months of the experiment, and I will never forget the day I quitted it! This day I made a beautiful breakfast of oats, fruits, and nuts. The feeling was overwhelming! My brain was on fire, suddenly my creativity, my desire to think if you will was over the roof! I felt electrolytes shaking my body in a very, very positive way, and I wanted to go out and sprint, run and scream: I AM BACK!
My “keto experiment” was a great learning tool for everything I am passionate about: BRAKE OLD BOUNDARIES AND BELIEVES AND MAKE US, THE HUMAN RACE, LIMITLESS!
