Less sleep, more energy on ketogenic diet

I am normally pretty strict about how much sleep I get, since adequate sleep is just as important as diet. Well, since going on a fully ketogenic diet (a carb restricted diet where the body uses ketone bodies from fat as opposed to glucose for energy), I am finding that I am sleeping less while having more energy than ever before. Since turning my health around, I have made it an imperative to get at least 8 hours of sleep per day. Since going fully ketogenic, I am finding that I can get by just fine on 5 hours of sleep without getting tired while awake. It is absolutely amazing. And the thing is, I didn't even know going into this diet that the need for less sleep is a pretty common occurrence for people on ketogenic diets. This article below talks about the science behind it and how ketones (not glucose) are the brain's optimal fuel.

http://www.sleepwarrior.com/use-ketosis-to-train-your-brain-to-sleep-less

I am also learning a lot about how the medium-chained fats in coconut oil and MCT oil are being used to literally reverse Alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions.

I am also learning more and more each day about just how poisonous sugar is to the entire body (especially the brain).

 

i get by just fine with 5 hours of sleep as well, without having to restrict my food intake. i just don't want to. i like sleep, 10 hours a day preferably.

yeah i don't buy that. brain uses glucose, it is its main source of energy. i haven't seen a neurological text to offer otherwise. brain starts using ketone bodies in the absence of glucose. it's its last resort, not the first choice. ergo, i can't see it being more optimal.

this ketogenic diet thing is mainly used in epileptic patients for whom it reduces the seizure occurrence. healthy individuals don't really benefit from it in a significant way. a balanced diet that includes carbohydrate intake is still the best choice for a healthy adult.

 

And science has shown that brains which use glucose as their primary source of fuel are susceptible to all sorts of degenerative diseases, not limited to just Alzheimer's disease. All the emerging science is showing that the brain works better on ketones as opposed to glucose. It coincides with increased energy, clarity of thought, etc. For the longest time in human evolution, humans were probably in a ketogenic state most of the time since this was long before the advent of processed, refined, carb-laden junk food which comprises so much of people's diets today and has made them chronically sick as a result. Back in paleolithic times, people were eating real food like meat, nuts, eggs, and green leafy vegetables which are relatively low in carbs. A ketogenic diet is not necessarily a no carb diet, just a low carb one that is limited to under 50 grams a day. A person can eat lots of certain vegetables and still maintain ketosis. I don't see it as a restrictive diet, but one that is in accordance to the way people should be eating.

 

My diet isn't 100% the same as yours- but it's not that different. I always used to need at least 8 hours sleep per night and often could sleep for 9 or 10 and still feel tired.

Now I sleep for exactly 7 hours every night and wake up at the same time on my own and am not tired (when getting up anyways).

 

this is laughable, since everybody's brain uses glucose as its primary source of energy. we don't have a human being whose brain does not use it.

and by the way, the fact that you are on a low-carb diet does not mean your brain is not using glucose. you don't need carbohydrate intake to have sufficient levels of glucose. your body synthesizes its own glucose, all that it needs, from food intake. this is how glucose is not an essential nutrient. you don't need to put glucose or other carbohydrates into your body for it to be there, your body makes its own. it is made from non-carbohydrate intermediaries, (one example from which glucose is synthesized is fatty acids), by a process called gluconeogenesis. the only times you are deficient in glucose, and when your brain will start using ketone bodies is when you're fasting. when there is no food intake.

so, your brain on your alleged ''ketogenic'' diet is still using glucose as its primary source of energy. it's a high-fat and protein diet. fats are used for glucose synthesis in your body. do the fucking math.

the actual ketogenic diet, when implemented as a medical treatment (read: done correctly) has a number of adverse effects including but not limited to hypoglycaemia, acidosis, and raised blood cholesterol levels. long term use produces stunted growth (medically this treatment is only used on children), bone fractures and kidney stones.

i'm guessing you're not doing it medically or under the supervision of any person with a medical license. you either read about it and tried it (not knowing how it's done correctly), or some nutjob told you about it or their experience with it, also not knowing how it's done correctly.

in long term the real ketogenic diet has debilitating effects. stop spreading bullshit that it's some miracle cure when you're not even on it! all your cure is in the placebo effect. which goes a really long way as we can see; convincing people they now need less sleep and feel better with less sleep, when in fact nothing is different from before they tried whatever caused the placebo. any damn adult can get his shit together and feel good with 5 hours of sleep daily even on a longer term basis if they want to! Napoleon did it already 200 years ago.

 

Fat is not, I repeat, NOT converted to glucose by way of gluconeogenesis or any other process -- protein is. Fat is converted to ketone bodies by the liver, hence the very word KETOSIS. It is not converted to glucose and does not cause an insulin response. When the body is in ketosis, a person can eat a moderate amount of protein while still maintaining ketosis. They can also eat carbs and remain in ketosis as long as it is under 50 grams (30 grams until keto-adapted). Gluconeogenesis is a temporary process a person must go through before reaching ketosis, but once a person is in ketosis, they are using ketones instead of glucose as their primary fuel for energy. PERIOD!!

And when you get most of your calories from fat following a low-carb ketogenic diet.

When you are in a fasted state your body burns fat for fuel, so essentially you are in a state of ketosis when you have not eaten in 10 or 12 hours. When you eat a high fat diet, your body remains in ketosis until you eat too many carbs or too much protein, since fat is still the primary fuel source even in the non-fasted state.

By definition, a ketogenic diet is a HIGH FAT, MODERATE PROTEIN, LOW CARB diet. Too much of either of the latter two can throw a person out of ketosis. As long as a person consumes at least 50-60% of their calories from fat, they will remain in fat-burning mode (ketosis) while in a fed state.

You obviously don't know what ketosis is if you're claiming a person is using glucose as their primary fuel on a ketogenic diet, while in a ketogenic state. I suggest you look up 'ketogenic diet' on Google.

You speak with an inordinate amount of confidence for not having a clue what you are talking about.

 

I'm on the paleo diet like you are and I would like to ask, how much fats and oils to you need to consume by volume or grams to get > 50 % calories?

 

I don't think too much about it. I simply make sure I keep my carbs low, my protein moderate, and the rest comes from fat -- mostly from cheese, heavy cream, grass-fed beef (the fattier cuts), butter, eggs, etc. You don't need to rely too heavily on oils if you're getting your fat from good whole food sources.

 

PR, what foods exactly does your diet include?

 

I've went over it so many times (including the post above), but mostly full-fat dairy (cheese, heavy cream, butter), wild-caught fish (salmon, sardines, tilapia, haddock), grass-fed beef, eggs, avocados, green vegetables (broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts, field greens), some oils (coconut, olive, MCT), some fruits (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries), etc. Occasionally I will eat nuts (macadamias, walnuts, pecans) and dark chocolate (90% cocoa). That is basically the full extent of what I eat.

To drink, it's water, green tea, coffee, water, water....

 

Slightly off topic here, but is ketogenic pronounced with a long or short e sound?

 

Long e. Pronounced key-toe-genic. It is in reference to ketones that are produced from fat metabolism.

 

It's nice to have it concisely again, so thank you, and if I remember correctly, you do not eat bananas.
so basically ....no starch, rice, sugar....etc.


No brown rice, either?... as that is part of the macrobiotic diet.

 

No bananas for me (too high in sugar). No brown rice, either. White rice is actually better it contains less toxins than brown rice. Brown rice is full of lectins and phytates, which are anti-nutrients that bind to vitamins and minerals and prevent them from being absorbed.

I will occasionally eat a very small amount of white rice post-workout, usually in the form of sushi.

But yeah, no starch and sugar for me, with the exception of the sugar that comes from fruit (mostly berries) and occasionally dark chocolate, which is low enough in sugar to not throw me out of ketosis when consumed in moderation.

 

I find when I take X, I can get by on no sleep and have tons of energy, also, look at all the pretty colours

 

You got speedbombs mate, MDMA is nearly drowsy.

 

Hi there,

I'm really glad you corrected him on the many points because as you rightly said, he doesn't have a clue what he is talking about.

However i just have one issue with what you said about fat not being converted to glucose via the gluconeogenesis pathway because whilst technically correct, the glycerol backbone of triglycerides (when broken down for ketone production) is one of the substrates (pyruvate, lactate, glycerol, and glucogenic amino acids) for endogenous glucose production. But this process does not incur the wrath of any real/significant insulin response that can kick you out of ketosis. Rather the endogenous glucose production whilst on a nutritional-ketosis/ketogenic diet meets the bodies (very low and minimal) glucose requirement as and when needed (hence the very low/minimal insulin levels in a ketogenic state). But like you said, too much protein than the bodies protein replacement needs and the excess is converted into glucose at a rate faster than the body requires and hence can raise blood glucose levels, cause an insulin spike which can then incur the wrath of being kicked out of optimal ketosis.

Fyi, i can get by with 5-6 hours of sleep and feel amazing as well on a nutritional ketosis diet. I used to need 10-12 hours and would still feel like crap 9 out of 10 times and for the entire day zombified (foggy head syndrome). Doesn't happen on a nutritional ketosis diet.

 

Yes, you are absolutely correct.