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my experience with Ketogenic Diet and Extended Fasting

Keigan

Keigan

Restless Mind
V.I.P Member
I’m 54, male, now less than 200 pounds, high functioning and alexithymic. Very easy to research a ketogenic diet, defined as <40g carbs with good fats and protein.

I’ve been Keto for about two years, basically I do not eat sugar and I avoid all carbs. Last month I decided to go through an extended Fast as I wanted to experience the results of autophagy, which is cell regeneration and elimination of toxins.

My fasting lasted 21 days, no food other than water and salt, coffee, some coconut oil.

Results:
- I lost almost 30 pounds
- all my clothing now fits differently

- my mental focus greatly improved
- my experience of calm and quiet mind was significantly improved
- my circular and repetitive thinking almost stopped, reduced enough that I can manage with ease
- my negative thinking and rage thinking greatly reduced and almost eliminated
- significant uplift in good and balanced mood
- amazing increase in energy levels
- better cognitive thinking and problem solving
- reduced anxiety to the point of no anxiety
- noticeable increase in happiness
- elimination of body aches caused by inflammation

Obviously, your results would vary.

Reference:
“The science of fasting” which can be found on YouTube and other sources
 
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Just for clarity....

There is no cure for ASD, a neurological condition.

My diet and fasting experience did clear up and provide a new baseline for my traits. In that after the 21 days of fasting I had clear and clean blood chemistry and brain chemistry which altered the electrical uptake at the synopsis levels. It is amazing.
 
Wow, that is amazing! I could not live without carbs, that is for sure. I have a terriblly narrow diet because of the chrom 6 troubles, so I have to get by with what I CAN eat. Not much choice. But you are amazing!
 
For me, the lower carb I go, the better my body likes it. I have done 24 hour fasts. Herbal tea and coconut oil are my go-tos if I am skipping meals.

Dr. Fung has pioneered this approach for diabetes and kidney disease. I really enjoyed his book, The Obesity Code, and he has a podcast of the same name.

Congrats on this boon to your health!
 
OkRad said:
Wow, that is amazing! I could not live without carbs, that is for sure. I have a terriblly narrow diet because of the chrom 6 troubles, so I have to get by with what I CAN eat. Not much choice. But you are amazing!
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what you could do is fast on fruit and veg for 24 hrs ,better if its raw , milk has simple carbs i dont know the level in almond milk or soy/soya.
 
WereBear said:
For me, the lower carb I go, the better my body likes it. I have done 24 hour fasts. Herbal tea and coconut oil are my go-tos if I am skipping meals.

Dr. Fung has pioneered this approach for diabetes and kidney disease. I really enjoyed his book, The Obesity Code, and he has a podcast of the same name.

Congrats on this boon to your health!
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Intriguing.
How does one prevent becoming too thin doing this? And are you able to maintain muscle mass?
 
kestrel said:
Intriguing.
How does one prevent becoming too thin doing this? And are you able to maintain muscle mass?
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We were born with our bodies consuming ketones as fuel, since that moment society and other influences have been steering us towards carb based foods for glucose/insulin as fuel. Ketones are always present in the body, just not plentiful when carbs >40g per day.

If you alter your diet from carbs to fat+protein based, your body takes about 18 to 24 hours to consume your stomach and glycine stored in the liver. Then the body kicks up the production of ketones from your fat stores, but your brain has not converted its fuel consumption from glucose/insulin to ketones until another 24 to 48 hours as the body enters ketosis.

Once the body enters ketosis, then your brain is consuming 75% of it’s fuel from ketones while the liver produces small amounts of glucose from protein. Based upon one study I found, it sounds like the brain only needs about 50g of protein to produce the glucose for the brain. So the loss of muscle mass is very easy to accommodate and prevent.

When fasting, the body goes into a defensive mode to countermeasure starvation after 48 hours. This is a good thing and this is when autophagy begins, the shedding of toxins and re-generation of cells.

If the body is in ketosis (4 days +) and then enters fasting, then the body is consuming stored fat while producing ketones easily for three weeks. After three weeks the muscles will want to stop using ketones and the liver will produce more glucose from protein. This is why I stop my fasting at 21 days.

Answering your question more directly, fat+protein still adds up to an amount of calories based upon Height and Weight and Activity levels. Once in ketosis, people find that the body gains efficiency by consuming ketones and the daily fat+protein calories can be lower than a carb based diet to maintain weight.
 
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I envy those of you who did this diet successfully. I tried for three months and felt very ill, and then read that people with my condition (ME/CFIDS) either do wonderfully on this diet or become much worse. Unfortunately I was one of the latter. It turns out that my body does not transform to ketosis efficiently and that I need to keep carbs in my diet. However, I did eliminate rice, gluten, other grains and sugars. I only eat Ezekial bread which is sprouted wheat, and can also eat air popped corn. Fats used are coconut oil, clarified butter, olive oil and sunflower oil. I eat nuts, proteins and vegetables. I have a few fruits like blueberries, strawberries, plums and apples. I gave up oranges, grapes, and other highly sweet fruits as well.

As a result I have lost around twenty pounds very slowly, since Spring of last year. I am continuing to lose slowly but I have heard that this is a good way to lose weight. There are days when I fast naturally as I listen to my body; when I don't feel hunger, I don't eat, and simply have liquids.

Another thing is that I have read that men can do this diet a lot more easily than women!
 
garnetflower13 said:
I tried for three months and felt very ill, and then read that people with my condition (ME/CFIDS) either do wonderfully on this diet or become much worse.
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My husband has ME/CFIDS and I don't think he could do it either. However, he does try to keep his carb intake lower than he used to, and it seems to help.

Have you ever been tested for the MTFHR genetic mutation? I only ask because of the three people I know who have ME/CFIDS, they all test positive.

If you are positive, it is important to stay away from enriched foods and processed foods; they contain forms of vitamin B which cause problems.
 
WereBear said:
My husband has ME/CFIDS and I don't think he could do it either. However, he does try to keep his carb intake lower than he used to, and it seems to help.

Have you ever been tested for the MTFHR genetic mutation? I only ask because of the three people I know who have ME/CFIDS, they all test positive.

If you are positive, it is important to stay away from enriched foods and processed foods; they contain forms of vitamin B which cause problems.
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I think I will get tested for that, it sounds interesting!
 
Dear Keigan and others,

Can you describe the phases you have been going through during fasting. I have been eating paleo for years now but still have (think) yeast overgrowth, low stomach acid, bad nutrient uptake. Questioning myself if longer fasting would help and how long.
Thank you!
 
Reef said:
Dear Keigan and others,

Can you describe the phases you have been going through during fasting. I have been eating paleo for years now but still have (think) yeast overgrowth, low stomach acid, bad nutrient uptake. Questioning myself if longer fasting would help and how long.
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Yeast is naturally in our bodies, though it can become overgrown and cause the symptoms that you described.

Fasting can remedy many things in the body.

My diet has always been low carb and no sugar, so stepping into a fast is easy for myself and I don’t have carb based withdrawals.

Fasting timeline/phases:
- It takes approximately 8 hours for the stomach to empty it’s stores.
- At approximately 18 hours the liver has emptied its stores of glycyme.
- there will still be some nutrients in your intestines for approximately 3 days before the contents of the intestines have been expelled.
- depending upon the nutrient load within the body, at some point between 24 hours and 3 days of fasting, the body will go into a defensive mode to mitigate starvation - this is actually very good. Science is now proving that this starvation mode places the cells into a state of re-generation and they start to consume themselves though autophagy, the cells consume and shed proteins and toxins that should not be there,
- autophagy results peak at 36 hour into the starvation mode
- cancer patients on chemo can recognize significant benefits if they get their bodies into this starvation mode for 48 hours prior to treatment - the good cells are defensive and the cancer cells are are not in a defensive state, helps to further target the chemo and reduce the affects.
- at approximately 48 hours into starvation mode, the body is increasing the production of ketones as a fuel
- at approximately 96 hours into starvation mode, the body has dropped glucose/glyceme/insulin as the primary fuel and replaced with the consumption of ketones as fuel - at this point the body is consuming stored fat and producing ketones for fuel
- from here there are tremendous benefits from fasting for up to 21 days and beyond, after 21 days the muscles stop consuming ketones as fuel and will revert back to glucose/glycemic/insulin as naturally produced by the liver and pancreas as the body consumes small portions of protein from muscle mass

Search for “the science of fasting” on YouTube or other streaming sites.
 
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Carb withdrawal symptoms (Keto flu):
- headaches
- foggy thinking
- muscle cramps
- hunger pangs
- irrational thinking
- significant gas and bowel movement as yeast dies off and other toxins exit the body

Carb withdrawal mitigation:
- drink lots of water
- add salt to your water consumption
- eat an avocado at four days into the fast, the fiber will help to cleanse the digestive track and the fat is good fuel
 
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Yeast overgrowth: look at your tongue in the mirror, if it is white then the body has yeast overgrowth.

One remedy is the consumption of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV).
 
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