The spirochete that causes Lyme disease is highly dependent on glucose (glycolytic). A ketogenic diet restricts its primary fuel source while also stimulating the body's adaptive immune response, offering a two-pronged metabolic approach to managing the disease.
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Similar to muscle memory, your body develops a "metabolic memory." Repeated periods of ketosis make your system more efficient at fat oxidation, allowing for quicker adaptation, fewer side effects, and greater benefits during subsequent ketogenic phases.
Many cancer cells rely heavily on glucose (the Warburg effect) and cannot efficiently use ketones. A strict ketogenic diet may starve these tumors while nourishing healthy cells. In one case, it led to a 70% reduction in cancer markers in six weeks, far exceeding chemotherapy's expected 30%.
Ferriss points to the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry, where dietary intervention is used for severe mental illness. He cites cases where schizophrenia patients, after years of failed medications, get off all prescriptions by adopting a ketogenic diet. This approach stabilizes the brain by providing ketones as a clean energy source.
The goal of fiber is to feed gut bacteria that produce butyrate, a key acid for gut health. However, you can bypass this. Being in a ketogenic state directly provides beta-hydroxybutyrate (a ketone) to the gut, strengthening the microbiome without requiring high fiber intake.
Adopting a daily intermittent fasting routine before starting a ketogenic diet can eliminate the difficult 'keto flu' adaptation period. Fasting trains your body's metabolic machinery to use fat, making the switch to full ketosis much smoother and without energy dips.
Beyond being an alternative fuel source, the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) functions as a signaling molecule. It acts as an HDAC inhibitor, which can activate genes that enhance the body's antioxidant and cellular defense mechanisms, a pathway of interest in cancer therapy.
Research published in Nature Medicine indicates that ketogenic and vegan diets impact the immune system differently. While a vegan diet tends to enhance the broad, non-specific innate immune system, a ketogenic diet was shown to augment the more specialized adaptive immune system (T-cells and B-cells).
High protein intake can disrupt ketosis, but this is managed by slowing its absorption. Consuming protein with fat, fiber, and salt delays gastric emptying, preventing a rapid influx of amino acids and buffering the gluconeogenic response from the liver.
Ketones are a more efficient energy source than glucose, producing less metabolic “trash” (oxidative stress). Crucially, they can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and fuel brain cells even when they've become resistant to insulin, directly combating cognitive decline and brain fog.
The time required to enter ketosis varies dramatically. A healthy person might take a few days, but someone with years of high insulin resistance could need over two weeks of strict low-carb dieting to deplete their massive glycogen stores and begin producing ketones. This manages expectations and prevents premature failure.