Keto

[Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj]

Has anyone here experience with following a keto diet? Please share your experience!

[lacsativ]

I don't have experience with Keto, but I've been on the rather similar Zero-Carb (carnivore) diet for almost 7 months (3 months consistently followed by some more turbulent 4 months of constant cheating). 

I've had great results. I first learned about it from the "What I've Learned" Youtube Channel. I was in a pretty bad state health wise - nothing life threatening, but the quality of my daily life was really bad. I was very surprised to learn that there are people who only eat meat or animal products; it went against most of the common dieting advice I've known my whole life, but having very little to lose, I decided to give it a go. 

It was a really good decision and I can say it changed my life to some extent. 

• First of all it helped tremendously with my energy levels. I would almost always wake up tired and continue being tired throughout the day no matter how much sleep I got. I noticed a substantial difference from the second day of zero-carb: my body started to feel really light and doing light physical effort (hikinh, jogging, walking) felt really good and satisfying. This was life-changing for me as I had been in this state of constant tiredness for years prior to this diet.
• It almost cured my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) symptoms. Before going on this diet I had been dealing with IBS symptoms for over two years. Sometimes it was just constant sharp pains in my lower belly, other times it was a general sensitivity and a dull pain each time I applied pressure or strained the muscles in that area. There was also a constant feeling of bloating, like there was a swelling inside my bowels. Two weeks into the diet all of these were gone.
• It also solved nausea, brain fog, and, to some extent, general anxiety. I would occasionally experience nausea in the morning and after eating. I never experienced it once on this diet. I would also often experience brain fog, like there was this veil in my awareness which made it hard to focus and collect my thoughts. It went away on the second day. Anxiety was an interesting one and I didn't expect there would be any strong connection between it and nutrition. One week into the diet I realized that the general feeling of anxiety was largely coming from my stomach/bowels; I'm not sure how to describe it - it's like constantly having "butterflies inside the stomach", the sort of feeling you get when you are either excited or anxious about something. In my case it was almost always the latter, and it just went away after one week. I occasionally experience it again when I cheat and overdo it on coffee. 
• Weight loss. I wasn't really interested in this and honestly it was somewhat of a concern during the first month. I was pretty skinny to begin with (a bit of belly) and I started to lose weight during the first month to the point where people I know became somewhat concerned about my health. However, starting the second month my appetite stabilized and I began to eat more. My belly fat went away and I started to notice muscle growth. I started going to the gym and progress was easily noticeable after as little as one month of exercising one hour/day, four days/week. It almost felt like I was cheating. 
• Acne and resistance to cold. I've had moderate face acne since my late teenage years. Three months into the diet it became almost unnoticeable (but returned when I started cheating, especially with sugar). A couple weeks into the diet I also noticed that my resistance to cold weather increased. This was very helpful as I was in an Erasmus mobility in Norway at the time. My hands and feet in particular were cold most of the time, so I was happy to find that it also helped with that. 

Obviously, this is my own anecdotal experience. I resonated with this diet almost instantly, which I find a little funny because I never really liked meat. I know that most people need about a month or so to adjust, but I experienced improvements from day 1 and I'm really grateful. Feeling healthy is truly life changing and I plan to end my cheating spree as soon as possible. 

There were very few videos about it on Youtube when I started and that has changed. I see a lot of people who have had similar experiences, even now-former vegans/vegetarians. Goes to show that we need a lot more research on the subject of nutrition. I find this really interesting. It seems a lot of traditional knowledge we have on this topic is at least limited. I would really like to see a lot more long-term, open-minded research being done here. Here is a playlist of some interesting presentations of research data on low-carb diets from the University of Sydney. 

Good luck and stay healthy!

Edit: I recommend to all people who experience some sort of health related issue(s) to try it for a month and see if they notice any improvements. You might be surprised, I know I was. 

Edited March 25, 2019 by lacsativ