Recently I have been trying a number of things that either cught my eye or I have been interested in for a long time. Things like the neti pot or cold showers. Since I have felt quite a bit of success with these changes, I also looked for other things that might improve my lifestyle.
I heard about the keto diet on a youtube channel called What I've learned. While I am not particularly interested in losing weight (most of my life I was more interested in gaining weight) I was caught by the mention of mental clarity and energy that it might provide.
So far, without having gone 'full keto' I have been able to verify that this diet gives me enough energy and it lasts. I feel much more comfortable being hungry on this diet whereas before I used to feel like I was dying when I got hungry. I also lost mental clarity in an instant, and my mood deteriorated rapidly. Now I keep my mental clarity much better, and my mood is also much better when I am hungry. in short I am not afraid of hunger while on this diet.
I am losing weight. I don't want to. I lost 2.5 kg in the first two weeks. Then it stabilized. Recently I ahve not been able to eat as many boiled eggs (two) per day and I think that has spurred the extra loss of another 1.5 kg. I am not considering modifying the diet somewhat to regain weight.
The problem is, on the same youtube channel I watched another video about people with gluten sensitivity. As part of my experiment with reducing carbohydrates I went almost completely off wheat based foods. No bread. To my surprise, I think that is a big part of the increase in my good feelings. I was worried for years about having the 'leaky gut' syndrome as I was also diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis many years ago. I think now that I was sensitive to gluten and that dropping it from my diet has elevated my mood. The problem is it is an easy and yummy source of energy. I kind of miss bread. I am happy staying off it for the mood improvments and other benefits (general health) but I am a bit concerned about the losing weight thing. I am contemplating alternatives and plans now.