I can definitely see, without a doubt, why many have turned to nutritional ketosis to improve symptoms of an array of brain conditions such as alzeimers, parkinsons, epilepsy, autism, anxiety, depression and cancer. The clarity and sharpness that is experienced when the brain fuels primarily on ketones is completely astonishing. So many people talk about the eveness of moods, their positive outlooks, weight loss and the melting away of brain fog.
In desperation to clear the mental fog and anxiety, I decided to turn my body into a fat burning machine. Let me share my journey.
I am a mom who happens to have quite a few things on the go. As with every mom out there, every day requires a huge amount of mental super power to maintain composure in daily life. And for those Moms out there who also face the juggling act of balancing work and home, even greater is the importance of ensuring you are on your game every moment of every day. I will be the first to admit, it is a huge task to carry this kind of responsibility, especially when you don’t feel up for the challenge.
My story begins shortly after I had my son, I found myself in a place I had never been before. High stress consumed nearly every facet of my life, and I felt like I was losing more battles than I was winning. Mixed with postpartum hormones, lack of sleep, extreme stress and horrific anxiety, I began experiencing a totally new level of intense, unrelenting exhaustion. As any Mom will tell you, you don’t have time to feel like this. I found myself desperate for a serious overhaul and knew where I needed to start, my diet. Being gluten free and relatively dairy free for many years, I know the adjustments in diet can have a huge impact on mental well-being. What I didn’t know is what to do about it.
During my search for a balanced paleo diet, I stumbled upon Leanne Voguel’s site and purchased her Keto Bundle. This was the most life changing decision I’ve made. Within 2 days of reading both books, I was armed with enough knowledge to start eating low carb, high fat. Thanks to the amazing Leanne Vogel and her knowledge, experience, and informative books Fat Fueled and The Keto Beginning, I began my own journey.
The first day was no problem, I knew what I was going to eat and had everything ready to cook. Wasn’t entirely sure I was eating enough fat so I ate a ton of olives and bacon with nearly every meal. Day 2 was a tough one, I’m not going to lie. My electrolytes were imbalanced but I knew I just needed to down salt water. But then the craving for sugar started. It was intense and not quite expected. Thanks goodness for coconut milk, cacoa powder, and a dash of stevia, I quashed the intensity to feed my body glucose. It was a pretty good battle and when I woke up on day 3, it felt like a light switch was turned on and my body and my head had changed… for the better.
After a mere 4 days, the changes in brain function were astonishing. I can’t quite put into words how totally shocking and welcomed the experience was. Mental clarity restored significantly in just a few days and by the first week I could see significant changes in my emotional state.
I remember turning to my husband and declaring to him my anxiety was just simply gone.
With each day that passed, I started to realize how much energy I was expending battling the ups and downs of my blood sugars. Free from the crashing and binge eating, my body finally felt at peace and boy, this new energy was refreshing! Accomplishing many things in my day was making me feel like I was actually truly productive! At about 3 weeks in, I recall trying to think back to a time in life where my brain felt like it wasn’t under stress and dealing with brain fog. For me, it truly felt like I had gone back in time to about age 16, with of course a bit more wisdom and a few grey hairs.
No longer do I experience mental exhaustion. I feel no more panic in my chest. My head is strong, focused, and ready to face my days without struggling. The energy, both mentally and physically, is so even. I have the same energy in the morning that I do at 4 pm or 8 pm. It’s the most empowering feeling, knowing that I’ve eliminated the background buzz of fatigue, stress, and anxiety so I can focus clearly on the things that mean the most.
Nutrtional ketosis has given me back my life.
I hope this was empowering to those thinking about taking the dive into a keto lifestyle. There are so many reasons why people are turning to nutritional ketosis to heal an array of conditions but for me, mental wellbeing was the true motivator.