I’m looking forward to taking a low-carb high-fat break today. I think it’s going to be good for my mental health, literally. Here’s some background on what I mean by that. I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Treatment is working well, so my mood has been even. Bipolar disorder, including my case, is often treated with medications originally developed to treat epileptics. Epileptics are often treated with a ketogenic diet. A ketogenic diet is a low-carb high-fat diet. The ketogenic diet used to treat epileptics resembles the induction phase of the Atkins diet in that it is recommended that patients consume 20g or less of carbohydrates. The resulting diet can get as much as 90% of its calories from fat. There is some conjecture in scientific circles that since a ketogenic diet works for epileptics, it just might work for those with bipolar disorder, too, since the medication is often the same. Tests in rats have shown promise, but the theory has not yet been formally tested in humans. I have tried a ketogenic diet before and felt quite good on it. Since a ketogenic diet works well for weight loss, too, this should not hinder me that way.
References:
El-Mallakh RS, Paskitti ME. The ketogenic diet may have mood-stabilizing properties. Med Hypotheses. 2001 Dec;57(6):724-6.
Murphy P, Likhodii S, Nylen K, Burnham WM. The Antidepressant Properties of the Ketogenic Diet. Biol Psychiatry. 2004 Dec 15;56(12):981-3.