Ketosis Mental Clarity

Eat Fat Get Skinny & Ketogenic Kickstart Ebooks

Can you really eat fat and get skinny? Low-carb diets have gained popularity over the past 40 years and research supports the sustainability of the results compared to calorie restricted or low fat plans. Beyond weight loss, a very low carbohydrate diet can play a beneficial role in brain health, gut bacterial reset, and hormonal balance. Learn about the process of ketosis, how to achieve a ketogenic state and how to monitor success, benefits of ketosis and how to use it as a tool to create optimal health outcomes. These two Ebooks contain supportive materials for your ketogenic journey as well as recipes to help you take control of your health and get the benefits of ketosis beyond weight loss! 50+ Ketosis-friendly recipes to jumpstart your weight loss success including: Key Lime Keto Bites Cinnamon Keto Coffee Cacao and Coconut Shake Caramelized Onion, Turkey and Kale Egg Muffins Smoked Salmon Scramble Broccoli Cheddar Soup Spinach Artichoke Dip Deviled Eggs 3 Ways Carnitas Burrito Bowl Shrimp and Cauliflower Grits Rustic Pot Roast Truffled Cauliflower Mash Zoodles 3 Ways …and more! A Whole Food protocol to sustainable metabolic change including: Why ketosis? Why are CARBS concerning? Breaking up with sugar Why quality of fats and proteins matters! What is ketosis? The metabolic progress What is Intermittent Fasting Getting Started: Your Lean and Clean 10 Week Challenge Supplement Recommendations 7 Day Meal Plan Grocery Lists for Phase 1 & 2 of your challenge Candida Quiz Adrenal Fatigue Quiz “This program is truly sustainable. The practitioners teach and guide you to make educated choices for yourself related to shopping, cooking and eating mindfully. This program has been easy to incorporate into my day to day lifestyle, which makes it sustainable. I still have Continue reading >>

The Ketotic Brain Compared To The Glycolitic Brain1 [studies And Anecdotes]

I’ve briefly touched the subject of ketotic brain metabolism in some of my past posts. I’d say there’s much more to this subject than what I wrote before. Here I will discuss additional research findings along with a few personal experiences (anecdotes). My focus is on GABA and glutamate mediated effects. I’ll begin with some personal reports: Ever since I started experimenting with ketosis back in 2013 I noticed a dramatic shift in my mental condition. Prior to ketosis I was following a normal diet (glycolitic). I remember experiencing post-meal energy crashes that would last for a few hours and would render me mildly mentally incapacitated (exaggerating claim). If I were to engage in cognitive tasks of any kind, it would not have been easy to get through. With ketosis that was not the case. Stable morning-to-evening energy levels, sharp-focus all the way, mental clarity – my new norms. What’s even more important is that once engaged in a task I would be deep into it until deciding to switch. Switching between tasks with immediate regain of focus on the new task was another pleasant and surprising finding. The combination of these effects made me stick to ketosis ever since. My approach to ketosis, however, has been altered almost continuously since 2013. In the beginning I was following a conventional high fat ketogenic diet – 80%+ of calories from fat. Gradually, I shifted towards ketosis without having to consume exaggerated amounts of fat – thus allowing the body to burn more fat from endogenous sources – provided that carbohydrate intake did not impair the process. I’ve discovered through personal experience that I can remain ketotic if I choose my carbohydrates appropriately. Intermittent fasting provides additional support to this. Besides me Continue reading >>

8 Reasons The Ketogenic Diet Is The Ultimate Productivity Diet

If you’re ambitious and want to do big things with your life there is no better diet than a well-formulated ketogenic diet. Here are 8 reasons why a ketogenic diet is the ultimate diet for productivity. 1. Consistent Energy Inconsistent energy levels were a major reason I first started looking for a better diet. Trying to create consistently is difficult enough without swinging between being distracted by hunger and feeling tired and unmotivated after eating. The good news is evolution solved this problem for humans a long time ago by making fat our primary fuel source, we’ve just forgotten over the last 10,000 years or so[1] (a drop in a pool of evolution). There are many reasons why evolution has shaped us into fat-burning machines but here are two major reasons being ketogenic provides consistent physical and mental energy: a. Giving you quick access to your body’s massive fuel suit (body fat): When you’re in nutritional ketosis your body has quick access to the abundant energy stored in your body fat. A 180lb person with 16% bodyfat has over 100,000 calories of energy attached to their body.[2] What this does is fill in energy gaps between meals allowing you to work in a sweet spot of high energy for hours at a time without being distracted by hunger or bogged down by digestion, it is the perfect state to create. b. Your brain now runs primarily on ketones instead of glucose: This is huge because not only does your brain do better on ketones,[3][4] but ketones are primarily a product of your liver as it burns fat.[5] So what this means is that when you’re ketogenic you have a practically endless supply of energy from fat that your liver then converts into energy on-demand for your brain! 2. Mental Clarity, Acuity, and Focus People are beginning to take not Continue reading >>

Mental Clarity In Ketosis

As a cognitive scientist, I’ve been fascinated by the concept of mental clarity ever since I started experiencing it as a major benefit of living in a state of ketosis. Since no scientific definition of mental clarity exists and I don’t intend to invent one, here’s a bad analogy: Ketosis is to consciousness what glasses are to myopia, bringing blurry images into focus. Thus my first hypothesis: Mental clarity augments the vividness by which you see cognitive structures in your mind, enhancing your conceptual lucidity, your focus on the elements of thinking, your ability to discern mental representations. When I have a meal that contains over 250 grams of carbohydrates, the effects on my mind are striking. Thoughts start buzzing, making me feel dizzy, and I find myself becoming too tired to think straight. With my brain running on carbs, thinking becomes more effortful, and it’s more difficult to imagine ideas and concepts distinctly; like reading in dim light, it’s strenuous and exhausting. This was less of an issue back when I was used to carbs. I was following a high-carb meal plan with 600-700 grams of mainly complex carbs a day for half a decade and, despite the typical tiredness after a large meal, I did quite well, both physically and mentally. So my mental performance depends mostly on what I’m used to eating, as long as I get enough calories from high-quality foods. However, my experience of mental performance—let’s call it “mental life”—seems to have been positively affected by my brain running on ketones. From my personal experience, I’d say that more mental clarity doesn’t necessarily mean that I can use my brain better, but it’ll feel better when I’m using it, as my mind is in a perfect balance between sleepy and hyperalert, bet Continue reading >>

Ketosis: Anti-brain Fog. Neurotransmitters, Dietary Protein, And The Gut Microbiome.

Treatment for dietary protein-induced brain fog: dark chocolate with 3% GOS and 10% MCTs. Who’s in? #IntermediaryMetabolism (bear with me here) Ketosis from liver’s perspective: increased fatty acid influx & [partial] oxidation causes acetyl-CoA levels to rise dramatically. Concomitantly, gluconeogenesis redirects oxaloacetate (OAA) away from combining with acetyl-CoA via TCA cycle citrate synthesis and toward gluconeogenesis. Since the acetyl-CoA doesn’t have much OAA with which to couple, it does itself to make acetoacetate. Ergo, ketosis, and fortunately liver lacks ketolytic apparatus. Brain is singing a different tune. Ketones provide ample acetyl-CoA and are efficiently metabolized in the TCA cycle. Ketolysis is not ketogenesis in reverse, else liver would consume ketones. Teleologically speaking (and I don’t really know what that word means), ketones are meant to spare glucose for the brain by replacing glucose as a fuel for peripheral tissues like skeletal muscle and displacing some brain glucose utilization. The former is vital as one of the few sources of “new” glucose is skeletal muscle amino acids, and they would be exhausted in a short amount of time if skeletal muscle kept burning glucose –> incompatible with survival. Getting some of that fuel from fatty acids, ie, ketones, is just way better. Thus, the “glucose sparing effect of fat-derived fuel.” And by “glucose,” I mean “muscle;” and by “fat-derived fuel,” I mean “ketones.” There are numerous intracellular signaling events and biochemical pathways pwned, but that’s the gist of it. Running brain on ketones considerably impacts amino acid metabolism, or more specifically neurotransmitters. Ketogenic diets –> neuroprotective and improve cognitive function, improve beh Continue reading >>

Interview With Jimmy Moore About His New Book “keto Clarity”

Keto Clarity: Your Definitive Guide to the Benefits of a Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet Dr L: What is Ketosis? Jimmy Moore: Put simply, ketosis is a metabolic state that happens when you consume a customized low-carb, moderate-protein, high-fat diet that causes your body to switch from using glucose as its primary source of fuel to running mostly on ketones and fatty acids. Ketones themselves are produced when the body burns fat, and they’re used as an alternative fuel source when glucose isn’t available. In other words, your body changes from being a sugar-burner to a fat-burner. It’s a completely normal and natural state that happens within a few days to a few weeks in most people who reduce their carbohydrate intake, moderate their protein consumption, and consume dietary fat, especially saturated fat, to satiety. Dr L: What is a ketogenic diet all about and how can ketosis be used to deal with many chronic health problems? Jimmy Moore: Traditionally people have looked at the ketogenic diet in one of two ways–a natural therapy for treating epileptic seizures or for weight loss. However, there are so many more conditions that a low-carb, moderate protein, high-fat, ketogenic diet can help with. Shifting the body from relying on glucose as the major fuel source to one that uses fat and ketones for fuel has been shown in solid research over one year in length to help not just with epilepsy and weight loss, but also Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), GERD and heartburn, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). There’s good evidence of less than one year that this way of eating is beneficial for people with Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, schizophren Continue reading >>

Why I Drink Bulletproof Coffee

I first heard about putting butter in coffee a couple years ago. Only recently, did I first try what everyone now knows as Bulletproof Coffee. I have to tell you, after the first morning, I was hooked! Many cultures have put butter fat in their coffee for centuries. Dave Asprey, learned about the practice while drinking yak butter tea in Tibet. He brought the idea back to the US and experimented until he was able to replicate the fantastic energy boost and mental focus afforded by the mixture. Bulletproof Coffee was born and has swept around the world. What got me hooked? I felt amazing! Bulletproof coffee quickly produces a mild ketosis, which can be combined with regular intermittent fasting. The result is – more daily fat burning, improved mental focus and extended satiety (not feeling hungry). Here’s how it works. What is Ketosis? Humans are kinda like hybrid cars, in that, our bodies can select from two sources of fuel. The first, and go-to, fuel is glycogen. The second is ketone bodies, also called ketones. Most cells in the body can use both glucose and ketone bodies for fuel. The state of burning blood glucose for fuel is called glycolysis. The state of burning ketone bodies is referred to as ketosis. Ketones are a type of fat produced by the liver. They are only present when the body is burning fat for fuel. A person burning ketones is said to be in ketosis. Our bodies enter ketosis and begin burning ketones when liver glycogen has been depleted due to a consistently low level of carbohydrates. But don’t humans require a certain amount of carbohydrates to function? Actually, we don’t. Dr. Perlmutter says, “While we definitely require protein and fat, the human requirement for dietary carbohydrate is none, none whatsoever. In glycolysis, the higher lev Continue reading >>

How To Use The Ketogenic Diet For Productivity And Mental Performance

Beginning in the 1920’s, the ketogenic diet, or “keto” diet — which involves eating mostly fat and protein as an energy source with low intake of carbohydrates — has been used by many for weight loss and in helping patients with diabetes or epilepsy. But there’s another less-talked about benefit of this diet: ketosis for mental performance. If you’re experiencing brain fog, lack of productivity, or poor mental performance, ketosis might be a solution for you. We’ll go over some of the ways ketosis can have a positive effect on cognition and may help you be more productive throughout your day. KETOSIS FOR MENTAL PERFORMANCE First, let’s start with a little refresher around ketosis and energy. The basis of the ketogenic diet is that it uses specially designed macronutrient balance to get a certain response from the body. Those on the keto diet eat normal amounts of protein, higher amounts of fat than the average person, and they keep their carbohydrate intake very low, less than 50 grams per day. When carb intake is this low, it triggers a response in the body that is similar to how it would act during starvation. Instead of simply utilizing glucose, the primary source of energy, the brains pulls from its alternative energy source: fat. But before fats can be used by the body, the liver has to first convert them to ketone bodies. Then, these ketone bodies are used as energy for the body and brain when there is lack of glucose. This is how ketosis works. Now that we’ve understood that, let’s talk about how ketosis might be used as an advantage for your mental state and productivity. KETONES IMPROVE BRAIN FUNCTION The standard Western diet is deficiency in many areas, including the very important essential fatty acids. This is detrimental to health bec Continue reading >>

The Ketogenic Diet

As I’ve said many times before, I’m eating for ketosis. Here’s why I do the ketogenic diet and why you should go keto. What is it? It’s a low carb, high fat, moderate protein diet that makes your body use fat as a primary fuel source instead of glucose. There are a lot of benefits to being in ketosis and eating keto. I’ll go through them and give you the reasons why I do the ketogenic diet. #1 Burning Fat for Fuel The first most obvious advantage is that your body will begin to burn its own stored fat – that blubber around your waistline – as fuel. Ketosis isn’t magical and you still need to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight. But it’s much easier to do it on keto. How? Because being in ketosis produces ketone bodies – they’re fat molecules created by the liver – that give 25% more energy than glucose. This keeps your body and brain constantly satiated and reduces hunger quite significantly. The foods eaten on keto have a lot of fat, fiber, and protein, which are the most satiating macronutrients so you can easily undereat without even noticing it. But I’m not trying to lose weight. I’m building muscle and gaining strength but I still choose to do the ketogenic diet to do so. Why? #2 Enhanced Brain Power With Ketones Because ketones keep my brain energized. If I don’t get hungry and if I have constant mental energy, then I can direct that mental clarity into other things, such as writing, editing videos, reading or focusing on anything more important. For optimal cognitive performance, keto is probably the best diet out there because ketosis protects against inflammation and neurodegeneration. It’s used to treat epilepsy and Alzheimer’s as well. #3 More Energy on Keto The reason for this is increased mitochondrial density. The mitoc Continue reading >>

The Fat-fueled Brain: Unnatural Or Advantageous?

Disclaimer: First things first. Please note that I am in no way endorsing nutritional ketosis as a supplement to, or a replacement for medication. As you’ll see below, data exploring the potential neuroprotective effects of ketosis are still scarce, and we don’t yet know the side effects of a long-term ketogenic diet. This post talks about the SCIENCE behind ketosis, and is not meant in any way as medical advice. The ketogenic diet is a nutritionist’s nightmare. High in saturated fat and VERY low in carbohydrates, “keto” is adopted by a growing population to paradoxically promote weight loss and mental well-being. Drinking coffee with butter? Eating a block of cream cheese? Little to no fruit? To the uninitiated, keto defies all common sense, inviting skeptics to wave it off as an unnatural “bacon-and-steak” fad diet. Yet versions of the ketogenic diet have been used to successfully treat drug-resistant epilepsy in children since the 1920s – potentially even back in the biblical ages. Emerging evidence from animal models and clinical trials suggest keto may be therapeutically used in many other neurological disorders, including head ache, neurodegenerative diseases, sleep disorders, bipolar disorder, autism and brain cancer. With no apparent side effects. Sound too good to be true? I feel ya! Where are these neuroprotective effects coming from? What’s going on in the brain on a ketogenic diet? Ketosis in a nutshell In essence, a ketogenic diet mimics starvation, allowing the body to go into a metabolic state called ketosis (key-tow-sis). Normally, human bodies are sugar-driven machines: ingested carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, which is mainly transported and used as energy or stored as glycogen in liver and muscle tissue. When deprived of d Continue reading >>

The Ketogenic Diet And Mental Health

Inflammation is one of the most powerful factors which determines health and illness. Levels of inflammation in the body are very strongly influenced by dietary choices. In my holistic practice of psychiatry, one of the most important conversations which I have repeatedly with my patients, is the fundamental importance of following a non-inflammatory diet. This conversation must be had repeatedly, because diet is one of the very hardest things for most people to change. For optimum health, I believe that a Ketogenic Diet, one that is high in fat, adequate in protein and low in carbohydrate, exerts the most anti-inflammatory effect. This combination changes the way energy is used in the body; instead of deriving energy from carbohydrates which convert to glucose, energy is sourced from fats which convert in the liver into fatty acids and ketone bodies. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the blood, a state known as ketosis, is correlated with myriad health benefits. In contrast, elevated levels of glucose leads to inflammation, insulin resistance and accelerates aging. Research on the impact of a ketogenic diet for Cancer, Autism, Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, Parkinson’s Disease, Traumatic Brain Injuries, Sleep Disorders, Headaches, Bipolar Disorder, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease is emerging, and I anticipate that we are going to be hearing much more about its health benefits and novel applications. The ketogenic diet was used very effectively to treat epilepsy in the 1920’s, until anti-convulsant drugs were introduced in the 1940’s, when it fell out of favor. It’s easier to take pills than to follow a restrictive diet, and the pharmaceutical industry’s lobby is very influential. Pharmaceuticals, as opposed to dietary changes, remain the standard of care Continue reading >>

Fat Burning Mode - What You Need To Know About Ketosis

I'm very grateful for this week's blog post, which comes from Paddy McCay, who is my guest blog poster for this week. Paddy is chief biohacker and coach at the Nutrition and Productivity blog. He is on a relentless mission to optimize his productivity and wellbeing through nutrition, exercise and tech. Paddy wrote a blog series on ketosis and it really builds upon my previous blog post Fasting with Bulletproof Coffee. I'm sure you will find this fascinating: What is ketosis? Imagine being in a state of high energy and high mental clarity where you’re burning fat and you don’t feel hungry. Sound like a good state to be in? This is what it’s like to be in ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state where the body switches to burning more fat in the form of ketones rather than just burning glucose (a sugar). Ketosis is great- but hard to get into (if you don’t know how). How do you know if someone does cross-fit, is married or is in a ketotic state? They’ll make sure to tell you all about it. Ketosis kicks in either when the liver has exhausted it’s supply of carbs (glycogen). Or when stimulated from a dietary source. Fats (triglycerides) are converted to molecules called ketone bodies in the liver. Ketones are burned as fuel in place of glucose by “cellular batteries” mitochondria. Ketotic benefits Not only does ketosis burn fat, it has the following benefits: Increased healthy cholesterol levels. It can improve HDL levels (the good cholesterol) [1]. Keeping hunger at bay. Ketosis regulates the levels of the hunger and satiety hormones ghrelin and cholecystokinin (CKK) [2]. Improved brain health. It reduces brain fog by promoting healthy neurotransmitter levels (gaba) and also up regulates mitochondrial production thereby increasing thinking power [3]. Stable en Continue reading >>

Why Low-carb Diets May Be Ideal For Most People, Including Athletes

The Western diet biases you toward using carbs for fuel. Low- non-fiber carb diets work because they help you escape this carb-based metabolism that depends on insulin to drive blood sugar into cells and use carbs for fuel A common misconception is that low- non-fiber carb diets are high–protein diets. In reality, a ketogenic diet needs to be moderate in protein because excess protein is anti-ketogenic Low- non-fiber carb diets can help you shed body fat, improve metabolism, boost energy levels, promote longevity, protect brain function, boost mental clarity, improve athletic performance, and more By Dr. Mercola Jeff Volek, Ph.D., and registered dietitian and professor in the Human Science Department at Ohio State University, has done enormous work in the field of high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets, investigating how it affects human health and athletic performance. Volek has published many scientific articles as well as several books, including "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living," and "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance." Both of these books were co-authored with Dr. Stephen Phinney, a physician and true pioneer in this field, who has studied low-carb diets even longer than Volek. Starting out as a dietician, Volek was taught that low-fat diets were healthy and that saturated fats and cholesterol should be avoided. But in working with diabetics, he kept feeling that something was "off." Why should diabetics eat so many carbs? "In essence, it drove me to want to understand metabolism and nutrition at a much deeper level," he says. "I was also into self-experimentation ... I was at the time into very low-fat diets, thinking that was how I would optimize my own health. But I decided to experiment with a very low-carb diet." Low-Carb Diets Can Continue reading >>

Everything You’ve Always Wanted To Know About Ketosis But Were Afraid To Ask.

Do you know what the similarities are between epilepsy, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), heartburn (GERD), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, mental illness, schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, narcolepsy, and sleep disorders, treating cancer, autism, migraines, chronic pain, brain injury, stroke, and kidney disease? They can all be positively effected by a low-carb, high-fat, ketosis diet… …and my guest today, Jimmy Moore, is going to tell you all about it. Jimmy is world’s leading low-carb diet blogger and podcaster. Last year, he wrote the book Cholesterol Clarity with coauthor Dr. Eric C. Westman, a practicing internist and low-carb diet researcher, and I interviewed him about that book in the podcast episode “The Shocking Truth About Cholesterol & Why You Probably Don’t Even Need To Test For It.” Well now, Jimmy’s back with a new book that pretty much answers everything you’ve always wanted to know about ketosis but were afraid to ask. The new book is called Keto Clarity: Your Definitive Guide to the Benefits of a Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet and in the book, Jimmy shows you how a low-carb diet can be much more than simply as a means to lose weight, and how ketosis produces not only a powerful therapeutic effect on a wide variety of health conditions (that most people think requires medication to control) but can also be a pretty incredible biohack for both physical and mental performance. The book includes interviews from twenty of the world’s authorities on low carb and ketosis diets, along with a step-by-step guide to help you produce more ketones and track your progress, real li Continue reading >>

Are Carbohydrates Holding Us Back From Our True Potential? Exploring The Possibilities Of A Ketogenic Diet.

It is hard to avoid carbohydrates in the world we live in today. Since the industrial age 100-200 years ago, factories have been able to produce large quantities of sugar and white flour to feed the masses. Really though, foods high in carbohydrates (such as pasta, bread, rice, and potatoes) have only been available to us since the rise of agriculture, approximately 5-10,000 years ago. Prior to that, humans assumed a hunter-gatherer lifestyle where our diets consisted primarily of animal products and low starch vegetables; this was basically whatever we could find in nature without growing ourselves. According to Stephen D Phinney, simply due to circumstance, it is likely that the hunter-gatherer era of humans followed a high fat, moderate-high protein, and very low carbohydrate diet [6]. This has become known as a ketogenic diet, named after ketosis, a natural metabolic state the body undergoes when carbohydrates are nearly eliminated from one’s diet. A typical ketogenic diet might be proportioned into 70% fat, 25% protein, and 5% carbohydrates. While in ketosis, the body utilizes fatty acids as an alternative source of energy due to the glucose deficit. To accomplish this, acetyl CoA, which is normally oxidized into H2O and CO2 as part of the citric acid cycle, is converted by the liver into acetoacetate and 3-hydroxybutyrate, also known as ketone bodies. These ketone bodies are now free to flow where needed and be used as fuel for metabolic processes. It is worthwhile to note that ketone bodies are very effective respiratory fuels; whereas 100 g of glucose generates 8.7 kg of ATP, 100 g of 3-hydroxybutyrate can yield 10.5 kg of ATP, and 100 g of acetoacetate 9.4 kg of ATP. Most areas of the body, such as the brain, will use ketones whenever provided to them (in fac Continue reading >>