Your brain on glucose

[akgirlsrock]

I Thought this was interesting glucose and how it causes nflammation.

youtu.be/uNqw5TC7nGs(Not working as expected?)

[Smittybear7]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[reedboat2]

This is precisely why I jumped on the keto train four months ago. In March my wife was diagnosed as pre-diabetic. She signed up for a 16 week keto program supervised by our family physician. My own blood glucose was stable, and I did not need to lose weight. But I thought the Keto diet could possibly help me with PD. In the induction period I lost 15 lbs really fast. I was weak for a while - that was Phase 1, the autophagy phase of the program, when the old fat stores are burned off. In phase 2, firmly in Ketosis, I started adding calories (fat) to the diet for energy. Phases 3&4 involved further transitions which I won’t describe here. Let’s just say it gets technical. Now 4 months out Keto is a big part of my Back to Health strategy. I have no plans of going back to carbs.

[MarionP]

I was under the impression that without glucose one cannot have a brain at all.

It's good to have a sense of proportion about these things.

[kaypeeoh]

A typical western diet keeps the liver and muscles filled with glucose. Once a ketogenic diet is started the body first burns off the sugar. Glucose needs fluid. When glucose is getting low fluid is being released to the kidneys. SO the first 10-15 pound lost is all water, not fat. Once the glucose is gone fat starts to be used for energy. Then weight loss drops to 1 pound per week. At that point the breath is foul. Muscle cramping is common. The brain mitochondria are forced to use fatty acids for energy. Some do it well and some don't. Initially ketones can be tracked in the urine. But ketones are energy and ultimately the body will use them and no longer wastes them in urine. At that point ketonuria stops and people get frustrated with the slow weight loss and often quit the diet. At least that's how it went for me.

[amykp]

Yes! Read that six years ago, been on keto diet ever since, and I think it's the best thing I ever did. I did lose weight, and kept it off. I'm not still losing, though I could, easily. But I'm seven years into my PD diagnosis, still stage 1, still don't need dopamine replacement, and I THINK it's keto that's doing it.

BTW, your body does need a tiny amount of glucose, but it makes what it needs. Any more than that is (imo) basically slow poison for those of us with PD.