tegid’s BodyBlog

I haven’t performed this diet in a way that deliberately targeted fat loss. Fat loss just happened to be one of its side-effects.  My approach to this diet was to establish something that could be maintained long-term so it was introduced slowly, allowing my body to adapt without going into any dangerous ‘reactions’ that could send me straight into unstoppable epileptic seizures.

In its original format, the ketogenic diet was developed at the John Hopkins hospital in the 1920s, to treat children that had incurable epileptic seizures. It involved an initiation phase and then a maintenance phase. The initiation phase involved fasting until 10% body weight reduction had occurred. Initially this was done through a 25 day starvation and after complaints (are you surprised??) it was reduced to 36 hours of no food at all.  The ketogenic ‘ratios’ of macronutrients were introduced gradually - as it takes a good 14 days for the body to adapt - namely the bran cells’ mitochondria and the liver (which converts fatty acids into ketones)

There were a small number of patients (kids!) that developed hypoglycemia - and I had very strong evidence to suggest that hypoglycemia triggered my epileptic seizures.  So I had to adapt the John Hopkins system - the last thing I wanted was to be killed by it..  They recommend starting with 75% of total daily kCals coming from fat.  The other 25% come from carbohydrates and protein combined.  What they are trying to do is ’starve’ the brain into using ketones for energy - rather than carbs.  Put simply, as a fuel type, Ketones act like diesel - more mpg but poor acceleration. Carbs are like regular gasoline - better acceleration and faster top speed.  Converting between the two is always going to be complicated.

In an adult, the body will release all the glycogen stored in the liver and muscles for the brain to use, before the brain will use ketones.  So initiating ketosis it depends very much upon how rapidly you can use up all your stored glycogen.  For me, it was at least two weeks and the second week felt ruddy awful, as the glycogen drained out of me. My weight plummeted as stored water was also released.

I didn’t start with 80% of my total kCal coming from fat.  I started at half this - and changed things gradually, over 2 week intervals. A HUGE thanks to Dom (dpd555) for all the comments he made during this. I admit that things weren’t always perfect and corrections have been made along the way BUT I’ve been seizure free for 14 weeks. And I feel so much better than I have over the past 8 years. It has been complicated, obsessive (I still weigh and analyse every gram I eat) and initially I was petrified this might kill me if I got it wrong.

My rationale was also guided by the lifestyles of the Inuit and Sami people that live above the Arctic Circle.  During the winter they traditionally have no carbs so I wanted to mimic what they go through during one of their autumns because I know that they survive perfectly OK (I used to be involved in Arctic Research, long ago).  Hence I reduced carbs and increased protein (way too much protein, in retrospect) initially.  I then reduced protein and increased fat.

The other thing that I have not investigated yet is how to STOP the ketogenic diet. I suspect that it involves equally complicated manipulation of diet macronutrients.  I know that the brain will always grab carbohydrates for fuel if it gets the chance, owing to the fact that only carbs can get through the brain-blood barrier very rapidly.  Hence after a certain threshold level of carbs in the blood, the brain will instantly ’switch over’ to carbs.  At that moment, fat is no longer required for fuel and I assume it gets stored (270g fat a day = a LOT to store!).  

There is an element that I have not investigated, yet – and which is very important (thanks FireMedicMike for pointing this out). How does insulin and the endocrine system respond to chronic ketosis?  I want be check this out very soon.  There are suggestions that the pancreas gets affected and this could lead to hypoglycemia - leaving me back in the firing line when it comes to seizure triggers. For others - it may leave you with type II diabetes. I will try to get regular checks for diabetes. I will also try to get hold of medical data from the Norsk Polar Institute to see if diabetes is noted as being higher in the Sami peoples that live above the Arctic Circle.

As ever - I couldn’t have done this without my guardian angels: Adam247, CarlaHampshire, dpd555, mk2004, FireMedicMike and xxx666. Thank you!

-Introduction-

It’s nearly 8 years since my first epileptic seizure. Many types and doses of drugs have been prescribed but none have worked.  The side-effects got so bad that I brought myself of all meds in November 2007.

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Back in March, I got an interesting message from Dom, telling me about a doctor that he knew who had experienced encouraging results for people with difficult-to-control epilepsy when they followed the ketogenic diet. Well that’s my category of epilepsy. Dom has been brilliant, listening to my concerns and directing me to helpful information. He got me wondering if the ketogenic diet was possible in my case.

I had a disastrous meeting with a senior neurologist in May who discredited any dietary changes being able to influence epilepsy. He also said that I was likely to die in the next 8 years.

A month later, MK2004 tracked down medical research showing that the ketogenic diet had been researched in the UK for the past 7 years in its top children’s hospital. The research showed that the ketogenic diet certainly did work, although its exact process was not understood.  Not long after this, Adrian (the therapist at the gym) figured out that I had reactive hypoglycemia – which means that I have sudden ‘bursts’ of insulin, which send my blood sugar levels down very low – and that this was triggering my epileptic seizures.

So, the thought of a low carb/high fat diet in somebody my age and with my conditions seemed not only illogical, it was also dangerous - as it could leave me having unstoppable seizures.

I knew that following the same macronutrient proportions as used with the children’s keto diet would be inappropriate for my situation.  I’ve had a high carb diet for the past 24 years and it would cause a huge ‘jolt’. I was scared that I’d end up losing muscle mass.  So I looked at the ketogenic diet used by bodybuilders while they reduced body fat preparing for contests. The macronutrient amounts that they used seemed to make more sense to me, given my age (and need to avoid saturated fats) and lifestyle (the gym!) All I had to do was survive the initial transition while body glycogen stores ran down and keytones started up. This was the point at which low blood sugar was likely to hit me.

Luckily for me Adam was preparing for contest at the same time, so he was ketogenic while these thoughts were flying around my head. All credit to Adam, as he was the one that figured out what makes me tick and how to get me to stop worrying and start the diet.  He had two conversations with me, where he asked some soul-searching and horizon–grabbing questions that asked what fundamentally makes me ‘Mike’: he pointed out it wasn’t epilepsy. And he’s right.

The deal I made with Adam is this: if the ketogenic diet works and controls my seizures, I’ll compete. That’s right – I’ll find some natural bodybuilding contest here in England and do something else that scares the living daylights out of me – appear on the stage.

I started the ketogenic diet on 15 July…  Watch this space.

I want to say a huge, huge thanks to Dom and Adam because already they’ve brought me 10 days of freedom from seizures.