Yes, the ultimate goal is to keep your body in the ketosis state long enough (6-8 weeks) through strict keto meals to have the body adjust to being fat adapted. This WOE has shown some really nice results for various life challenges such as the one you list above. I use it to control diabetes which it has all but reversed with all pills gone. Others use it to control migraines, pains etc. Plus this will make you lose a lot of weight if done right.

Few quick important notes for this WOE (diet is a bad word as it has a stigma of being temporary).

Protein is a minimum - you need to hit and exceed your grams daily.
Carbs are a limit - around 20-30 grams. Don't go over it and shoot to be under.
Fat until satiety up to the limit - this differs for everyone but should not be a number you try to hit.

You are in the right place as the folks here are great.

I had optic neuritis back in July and had so many tests and procedures done on me since then checking for everything and anything. They have yet to be able to diagnose me with anything. My vision has somewhat came back but I continue to have terrible migraines since then. They are chopping it up to hormonal migraines for now. I've seen where keto has helped with all of this and I can say it has definitely helped me. I've been keto off and on for months but have been strict this time for 2 months. Good luck and you have came to the right place for help!

You might want to read from The Charlie Foundation website or go to the John's Hopkins site and search keto and epilepsy. Also if you have time to spend on YouTube, Dom D'Agostino's talks are a bit more medically inclined.

I'm surprised at these neurologists saying "try a ketogenic diet" and not offering a referral to a registered dietitian. There are several medically therapeutic ketogenic diets. They're somewhat similar...but different.

My experience with keto was a "medically therapeutic" version and unfortunately it wasn't helpful. May your luck be better than mine.

My grandfather gets migraines without the headache - he basically goes blind for a day once every few years, it's so odd.

For me, I was having migraines with headache 5 days of out any given week and they would only sometimes respond to medication - it was miserable and totally challenging to have any kind of life. Plus, I was very concerned about long term brain damage, there's no way something that painful can be harmless.

The recommendation for migraines is a 2:1 ratio of fats:protein+carbs. That's where I started, but that's a challenging diet to eat and since I lift weights it caused problems with recovery probably due to the limited amount of protein. I switched to 1:1 ratio with about 100g of protein for a while, and currently I'm just keeping carbs low, eating lots of protein, and just letting fat fall where it may. It's still working. I've been keto for 15 months now. I immediately had a reduction in migraines, but was still having migraines when triggered (monthly or food triggered) for about the first 100 days. After that, I have been totally migraine free even when I eat my normal trigger foods, and even at all times of the month, and even if I go totally off the diet for a few days - last I tested 5 days was my time limit that I could eat high carb before symptoms would return.

I think the biggest tip I have is just keep at it. The longer you stay on it the more benefit you will see as it does seem to have some cumulative effect over time. So, if it doesn't seem to be working in the first month, that's ok, stick it out for at least 4 months and get past that 100 day mark to really see full benefits. Salt is super important, but I think many folks have already pointed that out.

In children with epilepsy the neuroprotective benefits of keto are permanent after 2 years...they can switch to a standard low carb diet without a return of symptoms...to my knowledge no one has studied the permanence in adults. My plan is that after the 2 year mark I will switch to LC and see if the migraines stay away. I can eat keto for the rest of my life if I need to, but I get better results from my lifting if I have more carbs and it's harder for me to lose weight with keto than it was with LC.

I do it for migraines. Mine were bad. Pain, yes. Vision loss/blurring, yes. Nausea, every time. Light and sound sensitivity, you betcha. As I got older, they reduced in number. I still got 2-3 a year. Manageable enough to stay off drugs. And I got an aura well enough in advance to call out or leave work/school.

I went keto. Then carnivore. I don't worry about macros. I have had one in 5 years. One! And it was because I cheated and ate off the diet. It was life changing. I no longer even think of myself as someone who gets migraines or worry about missing something because I have one.

I started low carb (100gm per day), 4 years ago, to lose weight and noticed that my headaches and migraines (pain, blindness, and flashing light aura type that I get Botox injections for) improved. Then decided to drop the carbs even more to see if I could get better results, and I did. It was just on a whim that I began low carb and it morphed into Keto when I recognized the health benefits. I’m also a chronic pain patient (fibromyalgia and cervical dystonia) and the decreased inflammation helped me decrease my use of pain medication. Then I was even able to return to work (part time) after ten years of not being able to work.

Read what you can, as you can. I would begin right where you are though. The people here can teach you a lot even with some minor differences of opinion on a few things (there will always be that among groups anywhere). Ask questions when you feel you need to because no question is dumb.

Wishing you the best of health on your journey! Welcome!

qweck3 wrote: »

Yes, the ultimate goal is to keep your body in the ketosis state long enough (6-8 weeks) through strict keto meals to have the body adjust to being fat adapted. This WOE has shown some really nice results for various life challenges such as the one you list above. I use it to control diabetes which it has all but reversed with all pills gone. Others use it to control migraines, pains etc. Plus this will make you lose a lot of weight if done right.

Few quick important notes for this WOE (diet is a bad word as it has a stigma of being temporary).

Protein is a minimum - you need to hit and exceed your grams daily.
Carbs are a limit - around 20-30 grams. Don't go over it and shoot to be under.
Fat until satiety up to the limit - this differs for everyone but should not be a number you try to hit.

You are in the right place as the folks here are great.

Great info!

No bread.
No pasta.
No rice.
No root vegetables.
No crackers.
No beer.
Very few fruits.
Very little baking.
Read labels.
Weigh and measure until you get a feel for serving size.

Good Luck.
It works.

That looks just fine.

You may be able to eat a bit more too. 1200 kcal is the minimum suggested intake for weight loss. Some find that is too low and leads to hunger making weight loss less sustainable. If you have a hungry day, feel free to eat more as needed.