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[Sgl9x]

Thanks for the explanation mike. I'll try eating more fat for calories.

Based on your first post here, where you say you are eating about 20 g carbs, 90 g protein, 150 g fat, that comes out to 1790 calories, with carbs being 6%, protein being 19% and fat being 75%. For your height, you should likely be eating more protein to maintain your lean body mass, and your fat % is already up there, so I would add protein instead of fat. If you were to add 25 g more of protein, that would be another 100 calories. As NF52 said, everyone is individual when it comes to diet. Give this a test for a week and see how you feel, and take fasting blood sugar to see how that is affected.

I'll give it a try.

[mike]

Even then you would only be around 1900 calories, so you could likely go up to an extra 50 g protein if you wanted, which would give you 140 g protein and closer to 2000 calories. At your level of carbs, this protein shouldn't raise your fasting glucose, but best to check. If you do see it going up, you could try just 25 g protein and add another 15 g fat to give you about 2025 calories. But don't worry about small / short-time blips to glucose levels - it takes a long time for that to adversely affect you. Better to have adequate energy for the brain and slightly elevated glucose than "normal" glucose and not enough fuel for the brain, at least in my opinion. For now, we want to find a diet that keeps the brain fog away.

[Sgl9x]

Even then you would only be around 1900 calories, so you could likely go up to an extra 50 g protein if you wanted, which would give you 140 g protein and closer to 2000 calories. At your level of carbs, this protein shouldn't raise your fasting glucose, but best to check. If you do see it going up, you could try just 25 g protein and add another 15 g fat to give you about 2025 calories. But don't worry about small / short-time blips to glucose levels - it takes a long time for that to adversely affect you. Better to have adequate energy for the brain and slightly elevated glucose than "normal" glucose and not enough fuel for the brain, at least in my opinion. For now, we want to find a diet that keeps the brain fog away.

Thanks mike, I'll work with it.

[Sgl9x]

I myself make whole milk kefer that I let go long to make sure the sugars have all been converted. I have it every day - make a protein shake with whey. I very rarely ever get diarrhea.

How long do you let the kefir ferment? Since I am going to try eating more protein, your protein smoothy with no lactose makes sense for me.

[mike]

How long do you let the kefir ferment? Since I am going to try eating more protein, your protein smoothy with no lactose makes sense for me.

You need to find an active milk based culture. (we got off Craigs list) You put the grains into organic whole milk and let it go until it separates. Most folks prefer the texture before it separates, but that leaves too many carbs, and once in shake, doesn't matter anyway.
We have it set up to be a daily process, but the time depends on heat and how many grains compared to milk. Once ready, we put it in a strainer to get most of the kefir out, then you put the grains in a new jar and add more milk. We use big mason jars, with a paper towel screwed down over the top to keep bugs out, but let air in. After a few times, you will want to cull some of the grains - once you get everything timed right. I use fairly expensive whey protein that we order online, but I would think whatever the best that they have at Costco would be okay. I put in double the the normal dose for my morning fast. There are some carbs in the protein, if I remember correctly. Speaking of which, you say you are getting about 20 carbs, and you mention a few good vegies, but you do realize that carbs are in most things? Butter, eggs, carrots, onions, etc. Are you counting ALL net carbs?

[Sgl9x]

Thanks for the info mike,

I count total carbs, not net carbs. I may be a little over 20 counting the protein but not much. This is the way I have always counted carbs so I have a baseline to work with and what works for me.

[floramaria]

Carbs: around 20 grams a day of all non starchy vegetables. (usually broccoli, cauliflower, and Kale)

Hi Steve,

First, an admission: I am somewhat obsessed with microbiome health these days. So I can’t help but look at your post through that lens. At one point some time ago, I heard a microbiologist on a Microbiome Intensive webinar say that ketogenic diets are bad for the microbiome. He said that the microbiome does’t do well long term on a high fat diet. This bothered me tremendously since my personal belief is that a healthy microbiome is essential to overall health.

His comments stuck in my mind and distressed me because i am following a ketogenic diet for the benefits to my brain but don’t want to undermine my immune system and other systems related to the microbiome while pursuing what is optimal for my brain. So i wrote to him. I had described my LCHF diet, including the enormous range and quantity of plant material I consume. (That day, i had made a salad with 15 distinct plant foods.). My carbs are not as low as yours but still low enough to keep me in low level ketosis most of the time.
Remarkably, he answered, thoughtfully and at length.
Part of his reply was “..if you are eating a lot of vegetable and plant-based foods, your microbiome should be fine.”
He also said while requirement for ketones for the brain is one important consideration , “the other issue is LPS Endotoxemia driving plaque formation in the brain”.

given your bouts of diarrhea (and my currently unavoidable lens of “what’s going on with the microbiome?” ) I wonder if you have considered your gut health and potential benefit of a more diverse intake of low carb vegetables to support a diverse microbiome.

[Sgl9x]

Hi floramaria,

I put a lot of importance on my biome as well. I believe it is part of my problem now. Having diarrhea for so long has definitely damaged it. I eat 3 cups of vegetables a day and every other day or so I eat whey and collagen protein with inulin in it. For now, I'm also eating a little coconut oil and yogurt every day, as well as a probiotic. Once the diarrhea is corrected, I'll stop the yogurt and coconut oil and possibly make my own kefir without lactose like mike says. Hopefully this will be enough to fix my brain fog as well.

Going to the neurologist Monday to get another MRI and see if my brain has changed since 5 years ago. (I had one back then for brain fog as well)

[Sgl9x]

How long do you let the kefir ferment? Since I am going to try eating more protein, your protein smoothy with no lactose makes sense for me.

You need to find an active milk based culture. (we got off Craigs list) You put the grains into organic whole milk and let it go until it separates. Most folks prefer the texture before it separates, but that leaves too many carbs, and once in shake, doesn't matter anyway.
We have it set up to be a daily process, but the time depends on heat and how many grains compared to milk. Once ready, we put it in a strainer to get most of the kefir out, then you put the grains in a new jar and add more milk. We use big mason jars, with a paper towel screwed down over the top to keep bugs out, but let air in. After a few times, you will want to cull some of the grains - once you get everything timed right. I use fairly expensive whey protein that we order online, but I would think whatever the best that they have at Costco would be okay.

Which whey do you buy online?

[mike]

BlueBonnet 26 g protein per serving and I add 2 to the kefir. I get the 2.2 lb size. 3 g carbs per serving.