Ketogenic Diet For Anxiety

Today I’m starting a strict ketogenic diet to find out what, if any, it will do to my anxiety and depression. I have been suffering from anxiety for about 20 years. Nowadays I have it mostly under control but, for some reason, this spring it seems like it wants to make a comebak. It’s not that bad but still…

…a little more than I would like it to be so I thought this would be perfect for conducting an experiment.

Now, I have tried the ketogenic diet for anxiety before, but honestly, I did not do it for a long enough time to really see what it could do. I have tried it a few times but only about a 3-4  weeks or so BUT…

…those weeks did indeed reduce my anxiety levels even though I did not follow the diet 100% strictly. So now I want to find out if I will gain even more benefits if I follow it for a longer period of time.

DAY 1

• Bodyweight: 88,6 kg
• Anxiety levels in general today: 40%
• Mood: 50%
• Focus and concentration: 60%
• Confidence: 40%

I will document my days  this way to make my experiment more interesting to follow. Of course the % are only my best estimate because there is no way to quantify the results other than that…

..I mean how do you get exact numbers for “confidence”, for example? =)

Why would the ketogenic diet even work for anxiety or depression?

Many things happens in the body when we change our fuel source from sugar to fat. A few ways that a keto diet might work for anxiety is because it increases the levels of GABA in the brain. GABA is a calming neurotransmitter, often called the natures valium.

And, of course, the lack of sugar eliminates the spikes in blood sugar. The quick ups and downs. Every time the blood sugar drops too fast the body responds with an adrenaline release, in order for it to shoot up again….

…well, excessive adrenaline, and other stress hormones, is something that we do not want if we are prone to anxiety and often the quick drop in blood sugar is enough to give us a full blown anxiety attack on its own.

Then we have the fuel source. The ketones. Ketones are a much cleaner fuel than sugar and the brain loves using ketones. Anything that the brain loves will surely also help with mental and cognitive issues…

…there are more  factors why a ketogenic diet might work well for reducing anxiety but I’ll touch on those in another post. I will update my posts 2-3 times per week.

I plan to not use any other tools during the keto experiment

Those who are familiar with my website know that I have a lot of tools and tricks I use for my anxiety. For example the anxiety supplement Provanax works very well for me BUT, I am NOT going to use any of the tools during my “ketogenid diet for anxiety experiment” because I want to see what the keto diet really can do….

…and this is best done by eliminating all other variables. Then we are down to just one problem (anxiety) and one tool (the keto diet).

Ketogenic diet for anxiety
Summary of Day 1

DAY 1

• Bodyweight: 88,6 kg
• Anxiety levels in general today: 40%
• Mood: 50%
• Focus and concentration: 60%
• Confidence: 40%

Ok, so my first day on the ketogenic diet did not do anything for my anxiety. Didn’t make it worse and it didn’t make it better. Now, of course nothing can be expected this soon, and in fact, I was expecting things to be WORSE today due to my brain not getting the glucose it is use to…

…so I was expecting some kind of “withdrawals” and heightened anxiety to go along with that. Perhaps that will come tomorrow. We shall see.

My mood was pretty low during the day. A bit lower than it use to be. Other than that, I did not notice anything “special”.

I should also mention that I will document my bodyweight as well as  I am a bit heavier than I would like to be right now. My ideal weight is about 80 kg’s and I know from experiences that the ketogenic diet makes it easier for me to lose weight. The focus of these blog post will, however, be on the anxiety and how I feel the ketogenig diet for anxiety is turning out.

My foods on Day 1

I started the day with 15 minutes of cardio followed by a 3 minute ice cold shower. After that I drank a cup of coffee with coconut oil in it. For lunch I had 2 eggs and salad. When dinner rolled around I ate a sausage, salad and, again, two eggs.

As a the last meal for the day I made myself a LCHF pizza, made of cauliflower instead of regular flour.

It actually tasted really good and I can see myself getting use to it. Cauliflower is way more healthy than regular flour so just knowing that makes me feel even more satisfied when eating it…

…alright, that’s it for Day 1. Time to hit the bed and get a little rest before Day 2 begins.

I’ll make my next update on Day 4 or Day 5.

Thanks for reading!

-Bob-

Go to: Day 5
Go to: Day 15 Conclusion and Final thoughts