Keto Question from Q&A Researched

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I was shocked to be chosen on Q&A today, and I asked specifically why Keto seemed to give me more clarity, energy, and less brain fog. I've done Keto back in 2023 successfully and kept off the weight, but now I go on and off again...but I find what a difference it makes in my clarity, mood, and energy. Since then, I've found out I have ADHD, and I was only on Keto at the beginning of this year. Jim gave great advice (as usual), but didn't directly answer my question as to the science behind Keto, because he admitted - he didn't know. But I looked it up, and here it is if you want to know:

When you do a Keto diet, you are putting your body into a state of ketosis, which means your body will start burning fat rather than sugar. You lower the sugars in your body to a point that they have no other choice, and that's when ketones are released. When that happens - being in the states of ketosis - it give the ADHD brain stealer a fuller and more balanced brain chemistry.

The ADHD brain tends to struggle with dopamine regulation, energy consistency, and inflammation; Ketosis helps with all three of these, and here's why:

You get more stable brain fuel, which typically runs on glucose, but that spikes and crashes you. ADHD brains are already sensitive to fluctuations, so they can cause brain fog, distractions, and irritability. BUT...when in ketosis, the brain now runs on ketones, which provide steady energy, don't spike and crash you, and cross the blood-brain barrier easily so it makes for clearer thinking, longer focus, and fewer mental dropouts. This is why the ketogenic diets were originally used for neurological conditions like epilepsy in children - look it up. It was developed by a doctor over 100 years ago!

Since ADHD also struggles with low or poorly regulated dopamine levels, ketosis helps dopamine signalling by improving the mitochondrial function (brain energy production), reducing dopamine receptor resistance, and stabilizing blood sugar, which affects dopamine release. Therefore, it gives fewer cravings, less impulsive eating, and better task persistence.

It also reduces brain inflammation because they are anti-inflammatory molecules, so they help calm inflammatory pathways in the brain, improve neuron signaling, and protect brain cells. It's why Keto is currently being studied with patients who suffer from alzheimer's, parkinson's, depression, and bipolar disorder.

Let's talk about better executive function: planning, starting tasks, finishing tasks, impulse control - all improve activity in the prefrontal cortex for these, so you get easier task initiation, less procrastination, and more mental stamina.

And when I was on Keto, I noticed the most-appetizing and impulse control. ADHD dopamine-seeking brains lead to sugar cravings, snacking, binge eating, but being in ketosis naturally helps lower hunger hormones, stabilizes blood sugar, increases satiety hormones, which results in fewer food distractions and more consistent energy.

So in the end, let me way, when I was in my many months of being in Ketosis, not only did I lose weight fast and keep most of it off, I found I had fewer cravings, more energy, more clarity, and just felt overall better and more confident. I didn't know I had ADHD - I just wanted to lose weight, but it gave me more than I realized, and I had no sugar cravings, and my hunger went down. The only reason I started to eat sugar was because of the holidays (Thanksgiving/Christmas).

Now, I'm NOT saying this is a cure for ADHD, but I'm AM saying, it's worth a try (with fasting - and yes, I'm post menapausal) to help with brain optimization for some people who struggle with focus, moods, mental endurance, and impulsivity

I also have information on ADHD brains and fasting, if you are interested...but Keto for now. I did my research...

Any thoughts?

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