I will admit, working full time, being a parent, and getting stuck in a loop of bad eating habits has caused me to gain weight over the years. Since a young teenager, I’ve always watched what I’ve eaten and trained my muscles with weights. I’ve always been well-built and athletic, but as I moved further into my twenties, my weight bloomed gradually. I first noticed it when I was twenty-four. I’d stopped training and was focused instead on work and being a parent. Looking after my shape or health just didn’t seem as important as those things were. I wouldn’t consider myself obese, in fact, I’m probably where I need to be for my size on the BMI scale, but it’s the extra padding in certain that bothers me.
I’ve often cut back on fatty foods and carbs in the past to try and lose some of this extra padding. I’ve seen some of my weight disappear, but as soon as I’d eat badly for a couple of days, the weight would come back on. Sometimes, more weight than before would come back on. I put it down to the fact that I’m getting older, and therefore my metabolism is slowing down.
Little did I think that I could actually alter how my metabolism works to some degree. I am lucky in the fact my genes allow me to lose weight quickly in terms of body fat, but I also lose muscle mass quickly too. The opposite is also true to me, in the fact I gain weight quickly, muscle or fat.
I would consider myself somewhere between a mesomorph and an endomorph. I’m not ‘big’ but I’m also don’t possess a thin waist, due to my genes. After over a decade of searching for ways to lose body fat I stumbled across the Keto diet on Reddit (seems to be where everyone finds it) and took a closer look at it to find out more.
Every single person who talked about the Keto diet said that they had dramatic weight loss, even in the first week, just by increasing the fact that they ate and lowering the carbs they took in. I was obviously interested in this and so I decided to look at how I could also follow this ‘magic’ diet.
But I wasn’t just looking at this diet for its fat loss benefits. I wanted to see if this way of eating would affect my mood and any anxiety in my daily life for the better.
To give better context, let’s first off look at what the keto diet is for those looking to reduce body fat;
What Is The ‘Ketogenic Diet?’
Without going too deep into the science, the Ketogenic Diet is a diet high in fat, moderate in protein and low in carbohydrates. Using a high-fat diet, the idea is to train your body to start using fat as it’s fuel source instead of sugars from carbohydrates. This often leads to rapid fat loss when done properly. The idea is simple – You eat carbs all day long, maybe they make you sluggish, but they definitely spike your insulin level, and if you’re sedentary for most of the day, those carbs and sugars will get used for bodily functions and the rest will get stored in your fat cells.
The problem with the standard American diet is, people are eating too many carbs and sugars and not moving enough, leading to rapid weight gain. The carbs they’re eating aren’t being used as fuel, and instead, are being stored as fat.
Ketones are produced in the liver at a higher rate than usual and signal the body to turn to its fat cells for energy, vital energy for all bodily functions including brain functions.
So what’s the link between using ketones instead of glucose for mental health? Although I can find no literature on this subject that seems to be real evidence, you’ll find plenty of Keto websites talking about ketones being ‘cleaner’ than carbs and sugars. Therefore, your brain has a ‘cleaner’ fuel source.
Speak to anyone utilising the Keto diet and they’ll tell you the same things; they have better focus, energy, and improved mental clarity.
The Keto Diet For Mental Health
Another side effect of living a sedentary lifestyle in the west can be a reduction in cognitive function. I’m talking about brain fog, loss of concentration, and always feeling tired mentally and physically. We put so much sugar into our systems without even realising it every single day. I wanted to look into the diet, not just for the extra ‘padding’ I had earned on my hips, but also to see if it could alter my mood and focus.
For example, it was clear that after eating a high carb meal like a big bowl of noodles I would become extremely exhausted and weak. I’d never really thought about it before, but reading up on keto, it all kind of made sense why. I remember being told that carbs gave you energy, but always felt tired after eating them. Was I just different? It’s more likely that I just wasn’t then using those carbs to exercise or put them to use in any form. So instead of using the glucose, it was just soaking into my fat cells, ready to be used at a later date.
Those who had tried this way of eating reported better cognitive function in terms of the things mentioned above.
The problem with these claims is that there is no concrete scientific evidence and each claim is purely anecdotal to each person. The idea is, the brain works at a better, cleaner capacity when it has a ‘purer’ source of fuel – ketones, instead of harmful sugars that cause dips in energy and make you lethargic throughout the day.
Way back when and up to the present day, this way of eating has been used to control epilepsy in some patients and has shown to reduce seizures. Although this is not relevant to me, and luckily most people, I thought that this was interesting enough to think there might be something to this. I thought there must be other cognitive benefits to eating higher fat, lower carb diets. Have carbs been interfering with our emotions this whole time?
Could I control the groggy moody me and anxious me by lowering my carb intake?
Here are some of the cognitive benefits of a Ketogenic diet (as reported by users);
- Improved focus
- Better concentration
- More energy
- Less brain fog
With lots of people claiming that removing carbs from their diet helped to improve mental energy, I wanted to find out myself if I could benefit. However, it’s important to note that we all have different and unique genes that will respond differently to different foods, so certain ways of eating aren’t always going to benefit everyone like a blanket rule.
I also don’t believe in so-called ‘diets’, and instead, believe that lifestyle changes are the only way to get long-term results. That’s why eating little to no carbs might be possible for some, but unrealistic for most people because it interferes with their lifestyles.
Regardless of this, I thought I’d experiment with this way of eating myself for a short while and see if I could also feel any mental benefits or see any physical benefits.
What I was Trying To Achieve;
Without an easy at-home way to measure things like brain fog or anxiety, this experiment is completely personal and I’m measuring it by how I feel in general. Each week I eat this way, I plan to give a good explanation about how I feel physically but also mentally in full honesty as the weeks roll on.
The Changes I Was Looking For Mentally;
- Better energy in the mornings but also throughout the day (especially at lunchtime)
- Better focus on general things like work or driving
- Less brain fog and better mental clarity
- My motivation levels as the weeks roll on
- My levels of general anxiety (especially in the morning)
- A better sense of ‘get up and go’ when I would usually feel like relaxing
Week One Keto Diet
The first week of trying the Keto diet I was super psyched up. I’ve never found it difficult to drop certain food types so I thought it was going to be really easy. I was sick of being a bit overweight and mentally foggy and was motivated to go in hard.
At first, I found it difficult to find meals that I could make for lunch that were high in fat and low in carbs. I’d spent the last few years filling my lunch box with unholy amounts of pasta or very large sandwiches. So I had to go back and do some more homework online about the next keto lunchtime meals.
Once I realised that I could have some chicken cooked in garlic olive oil, nuts and avocado I was set. As I said before, I have never had a sweet tooth but my real weakness is savoury foods. I love pasties, bread and pasta. I don’t like the idea of avoiding a certain food source altogether, but I was willing to give it a go.
I guess I’m also quite lucky that I don’t mind eating the same thing every single day.
For breakfast, I opted to eat bacon and loads of eggs.
The first couple of days felt very easy, and I found myself looking in the mirror with my shirt off hoping to see an instant change. Obviously, I didn’t, and by the fourth day (Thursday) I started to feel incredibly tired. I also had headaches, as if I had a bad cold. On top of this, I also felt like I was mildly drunk which was odd to me. If you do a lot of driving, I would try to avoid it in your first week of keto eating if you can.
After the first couple of days, I felt rubbish and had more brain fog than before. I soon realised that this was due to the lack of carbs I had been eating after a lifetime of filling up every day. It was a big shock to my body not to have any of those carbs.
This was the ‘sickness’ known as the keto flu. Apparently, not everyone gets it, but it’s thought to be the result of neglecting carbs. My strength also suffered during this time. I felt heavy and weak and that wasn’t good because I was planning to start using my weights again.
So in summary, week one wasn’t a great week, but I managed to stick to the food each day and eventually found it easier to fill my lunch box with dense fatty foods and protein.
Week Two Keto Diet
At the start of the second week, I still felt lethargic and a bit under the weather. However, on Tuesday I started to feel like myself again. I was still hammering away at the fat and protein and still enjoyed the food. Some of the lunches I had been eating included bacon with salad and oils, eggs and veggies and chicken or beef with veggies.
Around this time I started to hit a problem though. I wasn’t eating breakfast. With a busy schedule, and never being able to stomach breakfast anyway, I knew I was not getting enough fat in each day. So I started to give myself more time in the morning to cook a good breakfast.
On Friday of that week, I decided that I wanted to go for a good hearty meal. For some reason, I found myself picking up my phone and booking a table at the local Italian restaurant. I was craving pizza and mussels. It was as if I was possessed. Needless to say, I enjoyed my meal that evening and even had some cheesecake for dessert which is very unlike me.
After the meal and several glasses of wine, I felt a slight guilt come over me. I knew that meal would have thrown me out of ketosis if I even was in it before, but I really didn’t care. It seemed as if my body needed a brief injection of glycogen and sugars. Again, I don’t believe in depriving yourself of all food entirely.
Once home, I crashed into bed, as if in some kind of sugar coma. I passed out quickly.
Even though I felt guilty afterwards, the next day I was back on track and reminded myself of my belief that indulging every now and again is good for shocking your body, if not to get it out of any plateau it might be in.
Now that the ‘keto flu’ was over, I started to get my energy back up. I also felt more awake and a little more positive than usual. It’s difficult to say if this was because I was so focused on my new ‘thing’, or if eating fewer carbs was having a positive impact on me mentally.
I believe that because I was in a good place mentally with being on a path to better health, I naturally felt happier and more positive. My focus and brain fog also seemed to be better in week two alongside the constant bloating disappearing. All in all, I felt good physically and mentally and my meal prep was getting easier.
Week Three Keto Diet
When I hit week three, I found myself facing the same problem – I wasn’t eating breakfast again. I’ve always seemed to have a hard time eating breakfast because I’m almost never hungry in the mornings. Interestingly, the only times I feel like I’m starving in the morning is when I’ve had a big meal the night before.
And so feeling like I couldn’t eat in the morning, I turned to something I’d dabbled in before to add to my regime – Intermittent fasting (IF).
Intermittent fasting is basically only allowing yourself to eat within a specific time frame, for example, between 12 in the afternoon to 8 in the evening. This is commonly known as the 16:8 ratio. There are also people that restrict that time even further. The idea is simple – restrict the hours you eat and let your body turn to your fat stores for energy.
Here are some of the mental benefits associated with intermittent fasting;
- Increased focus
- Increased mental energy
- Reduced brain fog
- Reported reductions in depression
- Reported reductions in anxiety
And so after doing some further deep research into IF, I thought that combining it with the keto way of eating would be win-win.
This was ideal for me because I found it hard to eat breakfast. However, it’s not for everyone and can be dangerous if you’re pregnant or have an immune condition for example.
What I did – I cut out breakfast and got my meals in between 1 in the afternoon and 9 each evening. When I ate my meals, I was still cutting out simple carbs almost completely. I decided to do this from Sunday the week before, all the way to the end of the week.
Here’s how this made me feel in week three;
- I had more energy after lunchtime but I did notice a dip still
- I found it hard at first to ignore the hunger in the morning but drank plenty of water to overcome this
- My focus improved at work
- I felt less anxious (possibly due to not having the slug that comes after eating a meal)
- I found it easier to concentrate on people talking
So with all these positive benefits I experienced in week three, it’s difficult to say whether it was because I was eating healthier or because there was something happening with my hormones from eating at set periods of time in the day.
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This post was previously published on Projectenergise.com.
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