Artemisia
Senior Member
- Messages
- 360
What I wish someone had told me many years ago before I experimented with restricting carbohydrates (essentially starving myself of glucose):
Use extreme caution with any low carb diets. Our cells run on glucose, and if you're not eating glucose, your body has to convert fat and protein to glucose which is inefficient. The last thing we need is more roadblocks in energy production as ME/CFS sufferers.
The brain has the biggest glucose demand and must have it at all times. If there's not enough glucose stored in the liver as glycogen, this is a crisis situation. The body will spike cortisol to break down muscle tissue and convert to glucose to keep your brain functioning. This is what I learned from my anatomy and physiology professor years ago, confirmed by reading Ray Peat, and ultimately confirmed by my own experiences.
Keto / low carb diets often hurt thyroid function, among other problems related to constantly high stress hormones. It's especially hard for women due to our differences in physiology.
A very low carb diet led to a severe decline in my health. If you're having problems on keto, consider adding some carbohydrate you tolerate.
Of course everyone should eat how they want. But since there's so little criticism of low carb diets, I thought I could give mine in the hope it's helpful to someone.
Use extreme caution with any low carb diets. Our cells run on glucose, and if you're not eating glucose, your body has to convert fat and protein to glucose which is inefficient. The last thing we need is more roadblocks in energy production as ME/CFS sufferers.
The brain has the biggest glucose demand and must have it at all times. If there's not enough glucose stored in the liver as glycogen, this is a crisis situation. The body will spike cortisol to break down muscle tissue and convert to glucose to keep your brain functioning. This is what I learned from my anatomy and physiology professor years ago, confirmed by reading Ray Peat, and ultimately confirmed by my own experiences.
Keto / low carb diets often hurt thyroid function, among other problems related to constantly high stress hormones. It's especially hard for women due to our differences in physiology.
A very low carb diet led to a severe decline in my health. If you're having problems on keto, consider adding some carbohydrate you tolerate.
Of course everyone should eat how they want. But since there's so little criticism of low carb diets, I thought I could give mine in the hope it's helpful to someone.
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