Shortly into week 5 of a strict Keto diet, instead of things getting easier, they became much harder. Not in terms of discipline but I began to get chronic migraines. To clarify, the last time I had gotten a migraine headache was over 20 years ago – that’s how rare they are for me.
At first I figured it was an electrolyte balance issue so I upped my Potassium Chloride – no effect. So I upped my Potassium Citrate – no effect. Upped my Magnesium Sulfate – nope. Finally I had some sugar incidentally from low calorie Gatorade… migraine gone. The next day, the exact same cycle.
So I’ve had to cut my Keto trial short of 6 weeks due to… presumably running out of some kind of resource in the body. I don’t think this diet is something I can acclimate to long term. I’m not sure ANYONE should unless they must for health reasons. At least in my case I believe something that comes from FRUIT is needed to function properly. I also tried taking supplemental Vitamin C during this diet to “cure” my fruit cravings.
At no point during this diet did I feel like I missed processed foods. Sure Pizza sounded good, but I didn’t miss bread, crackers, cake, or pure sugar. The only thing I felt a constant craving for was FRUIT.
I have very very bad Cholesterol due to genetics. On this diet in about 5 weeks I have lost at least 5-10lb (hard to tell for sure due to water fluctuations). I’m certain this is primarily due to incidental calorie restriction though.. I did not adhere to the proper level of calories during the diet. You can gain weight on a Keto diet – calories are calories. I know one person who has been on a Keto diet for many years for health reasons and without following the numbers strictly, they still gain weight. Keto is not a magic bullet as some people would have you believe.
That said, today I had my blood drawn to check my almost always horrible Cholesterol levels (LDL high, etc.) A pharmacy student actually tried to enter my numbers into a risk calculator and found they couldn’t go as high as my total cholesterol in the calculator – yes, I’m “off the charts” bad. I haven’t gotten the results yet, but will post them once I do.
So here’s my overall conclusion: if you want to do Keto, do it for periods of time similar to a fasting ritual. I don’t think it should be done long term though (unless necessary). Of course I’m speaking generally, but this is from my own experience.
Now let me get to the interesting part. When on a Keto diet, everything starts to taste sweet that didn’t before: nuts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini, etc. Even almonds or pecans start to taste like candy.
So after getting my blood drawn I went home and ate a Banana – one of the fruits I missed the most. It was disgustingly sweet – like artificial sweetener. That’s still not the interesting part though… I could feel a kind of “glaze” tingly feeling from the top of my head, slowly going down to my eyes, over my eyes, and slowly to my ears, etc.
I kind of feel like my nervous system is reactivating. No kidding, on Keto since the beginning I began to have mild nephropathy – the loss of some range of sensation… all my muscles were also prone to cramping. These symptoms even 5 weeks into the diet did NOT go away. The induction period for Keto is 1-6 weeks… if my body was to strike a balance, it would have happened by now most likely.
I think it’s possible some people cannot thrive on this diet and may even have serious complications from it. I blew off heart palpitations, mild nephropathy, and other mild symptoms, but I could not handle chronic migraines after 5 weeks. I know the Keto evangelists will say that I “Did not do the Keto diet right.” and that is the ONLY reason I had these issues. I’ll clue everyone in though: Nutritionally I did the best I could… I fixed chronic constipation, I took supplemental salts; I acclimated in every way I could as issues came up. I’m fairly confident I did better and researched more than the majority of people could. Meaning: I was fairly scientific about this diet and supplemented with vitamins/minerals to compensate for the lack of dietary sources.
I’m fairly convinced this diet is simply not compatible with my physiology. I also do NOT think this is a “natural” diet or the diet of our ancestors. If you’re going to cut something out, cut out refined carbohydrates. This diet taught me a lot about my body and was worth trialing.
As I’m typing this I feel like my brain is doing jumping jacks for the first time in 5+ weeks. My brain did NOT function better on Keto; my emotions were initially more flat-line but catastrophically negative thoughts began to happen every day after about 1 week; my mental clarity was NOT higher on Keto – my wife actually said I have had symptoms of incoherence the past few weeks.
I will point out one caveat when it comes to brain function; without getting into too much detail, my job (which I do most of the hours in every day) is very thought intensive. I am in the class of thinking similar to that of a Chess Master. I think and solve hard logical, mathematical, and strategic problems most hours of most days for multiple companies and industries.
So, brain function is very important in my daily life… I could still perform these functions, but more incoherently. After eating a single Banana I can feel some complex thought functions reactivating. I know that sounds like bullshit to almost everyone… I can feel my brain changing “modes” regularly. I believe this introspection comes from practicing meditation for so many years.
People who have not practiced deep meditation for years, think meditation is a load of crap like taking a nap. So unless you’ve meditated 1-2 hours every day for 10 years, you can keep your incredibly limited opinion on meditation to yourself. 😉
With meditation you can do “magic” tricks like turning nerves on and off, controlling heart rate, and overriding various autonomic functions. You can also develop awareness of parts of the body that most people are unaware of. So when I tell you I can feel my brain functioning differently despite operating from within “the simulator”, it’s true; but I am also aware that almost no one has a reference to such things and will happily call me out about it.
I look forward to seeing my cholesterol results and will share them soon.