Awesome documentary - The Magic Pill

There is a wonderful documentary I saw on Netflix called The Magic Pill. I find it hope inspiring and have recommended it to many people I know who happen to have the illnesses specifically mentioned on it. It also has about  3 minutes talking with Joel Salatin who summed up the farming practices he uses beautifully. Highly recommended. If you don't have Netflix, there are other sources for watching it also.

None of the reviews mention a specific illness. I'm assuming it's epilepsy, a high fat diet has been recommended for epileptics for a long time.

As a person who has had to transition to a high fat/low carb diet recently, not as low as keto, but low. I'm finding it extremely hard to keep to, not very satisfying. Fat isn't nearly so lovely without carbs.

Joel Salatin stole the show in The Magic Pill! Loved the tour of his farm and his wonderful views on the spirit of food. The Magic Pill is a good doc for sure. One illness they focus on with success is childhood autism. Truly remarkable what happens when good food comes in and grabs hold of the children.

So, I tried to watch this, only got 1/2 way through. It's all over the place, switching between keto and paleo. The first "autistic" child obviously had co-morbidity issues like seizures, for which a high fat diet has been recommended for a very long time. Keto is so low carb that most of the pictured meals would never fit in. Paleo is not necessarily high fat. Without fat extraction and/or dairy, a meat and non-starchy veg diet is not likely to be high fat. Most, if not all of the followed people previously ate extremely poor diets.

In my research into keto, virtually all of the podcasts and blogs are by people recovering from eating disorders. While I'm glad that they have found something to help themselves, I'm reluctant to take nutrition advice from people with eating disorders.

There's a phenomenon I've experienced a few different times in my life.

I'm quite a "heady" person. I like to discuss and debate and investigate the world, but I find that I frame my understanding in a way that sets limits on what it is I actually do understand and what I am capable of understanding, because every new piece of information is interpreted through the lens of my previous experiences.

The phnomenon is that, I will become curious about a subject, research it almost religiously, spend days scouring various websites  until I feel I'Ve learned enough to consider myself something of an expert on the subject, able to answer other people's questions with confidence and accuracy, BUT it isn't until I actually put my acquired book knowledge into practice that I become aware of how much information was lacking.  I may have had my facts completely wrong, or even completely right, and yet I discover that it was all just theoretical and I don't truly understand anything until I begin to put it into practice.

This is how I feel about the ketogenic way of life.  I understood how it worked. I knew what foods can be eaten and what should be avoided. I could explain it to whomever asked. But I didn't KNOW it, not intimately, for almost a decade.

I didn't have any sort of eating disorder, I felt my life was active, my diet was healthy, and I was in decent shape.

Mentally, I wasn't prepared to give up my croissants or pasta or the various desserts I love so much.  I had no reason to, I enjoyed them.

But then I saw a friend I had not seen in a few months.  He is a doctor, and he was fairly round and heavy when I saw him last, but this time, he looked incredibly fit. He explained how he had switched his diet to ketogenic, and he proudly reported that in addition to losing so much weight (about 80 lbs. in my estimation) he also experienced heightened mental clarity. He proudly shared how he now had a six pack and an increased libido.

My friend also didn't have an eating disorder, before or after.

Pulling together some bits of information from various parts of my memory, I realized that although I am currently in decent health, I am likely on a path which leads to things like metabolic syndrome, diabetes, or heart disease. Although I have a fairly trim body, I felt like my belly was starting to expand and i looked bloated.

I decided to begin eating the ketogenic way, and I have to say, as much as I thought I knew, I really didn't know anything until I experienced it for myself.

I never would have believed you if you had told me that I would eat dietary fat and lose body fat.  I would have seriously doubted you if you had told me I could eat as much as I want, but would be completely full all day from one meal each day.  Yet these are my experiences.

When people ask me about the inches I've lost around my waist, and I tell them my eating protocol, they tell me that I am damaging my health, or that they would be hungry all day if they ate like I do.

I try and tell them, 'That's because you are using your current diet as a frame of reference" but mostly they just don't understand, while thinking they do.  As I did.

A person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with a theory.

I can only say, try it for two weeks. But also like me, most people are not willing to give up their pasta.

Meanwhile, when I pass by a bakery, I don't feel any draw to go inside, because I am still quite full from the meal I had the day before.

The science is in, but many people are too busy enjoying their dietary status quo to pay it any heed.

The ketogenic lifestyle has been shown to be effective for helping people with diabetes, multiple sclerosis, autism, cancer, epilepsy, and more.  In my case (and likely true for many other people also), I am eating as much food as I want, which is healthier and tastier, for less money.

Chad - I'm glad that you have found a diet that works for you. It didn't work for me, I was gaining weight, and my energy level was non-existent, and this was after months.

That being said, the documentary was too vague, and allowed way more carbs than would be appropriate for a keto diet (judging from the pictures shown).

Chad Sentman wrote:There's a phenomenon I've experienced a few different times in my life.

I'm quite a "heady" person. I like to discuss and debate and investigate the world, but I find that I frame my understanding in a way that sets limits on what it is I actually do understand and what I am capable of understanding, because every new piece of information is interpreted through the lens of my previous experiences.

The phnomenon is that, I will become curious about a subject, research it almost religiously, spend days scouring various websites  until I feel I'Ve learned enough to consider myself something of an expert on the subject, able to answer other people's questions with confidence and accuracy, BUT it isn't until I actually put my acquired book knowledge into practice that I become aware of how much information was lacking.  I may have had my facts completely wrong, or even completely right, and yet I discover that it was all just theoretical and I don't truly understand anything until I begin to put it into practice.

This is how I feel about the ketogenic way of life.  I understood how it worked. I knew what foods can be eaten and what should be avoided. I could explain it to whomever asked. But I didn't KNOW it, not intimately, for almost a decade.

I didn't have any sort of eating disorder, I felt my life was active, my diet was healthy, and I was in decent shape.

Mentally, I wasn't prepared to give up my croissants or pasta or the various desserts I love so much.  I had no reason to, I enjoyed them.

But then I saw a friend I had not seen in a few months.  He is a doctor, and he was fairly round and heavy when I saw him last, but this time, he looked incredibly fit. He explained how he had switched his diet to ketogenic, and he proudly reported that in addition to losing so much weight (about 80 lbs. in my estimation) he also experienced heightened mental clarity. He proudly shared how he now had a six pack and an increased libido.

My friend also didn't have an eating disorder, before or after.

Pulling together some bits of information from various parts of my memory, I realized that although I am currently in decent health, I am likely on a path which leads to things like metabolic syndrome, diabetes, or heart disease. Although I have a fairly trim body, I felt like my belly was starting to expand and i looked bloated.

I decided to begin eating the ketogenic way, and I have to say, as much as I thought I knew, I really didn't know anything until I experienced it for myself.

I never would have believed you if you had told me that I would eat dietary fat and lose body fat.  I would have seriously doubted you if you had told me I could eat as much as I want, but would be completely full all day from one meal each day.  Yet these are my experiences.

When people ask me about the inches I've lost around my waist, and I tell them my eating protocol, they tell me that I am damaging my health, or that they would be hungry all day if they ate like I do.

I try and tell them, 'That's because you are using your current diet as a frame of reference" but mostly they just don't understand, while thinking they do.  As I did.

A person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with a theory.

I can only say, try it for two weeks. But also like me, most people are not willing to give up their pasta.

Meanwhile, when I pass by a bakery, I don't feel any draw to go inside, because I am still quite full from the meal I had the day before.

The science is in, but many people are too busy enjoying their dietary status quo to pay it any heed.

The ketogenic lifestyle has been shown to be effective for helping people with diabetes, multiple sclerosis, autism, cancer, epilepsy, and more.  In my case (and likely true for many other people also), I am eating as much food as I want, which is healthier and tastier, for less money.

I love this response, Chad.
I just recently discovered the Keto forum on Permies and did a little happy dance! I too, am a lot like you in this regard. I am a healthy early 30's person, no health problems whatsoever. I also am an active athlete, been an athlete my entire life, very active. I hike, backpack, run, swim, workout at the gym, run marathons, at one point i did triathlons for a few years. I clime 14ers, its nuts. Did all this stuff in my 20's and still would have major energy issues, for whatever reasons. Went to the doc like hey doc whats going on, something has to be going on because i dont feel with all my healthiness and activeness i should be this tired and have these fairly extreme energy lulls. Ive always just eaten a very "healthy" diet with fresh fruits and veggies, meats, limited dairy, limited sugars, ate only "good" carbs. Ive never dieted before because why diet when you know you're already eating healthy? So of course, it couldn't POSSIBLY be my diet, right??
Needless to say the doc ruled out all possible health issues. I was perfectly healthy :)
Decided on a whim to start Keto about 2 years ago when i randomly stumbled on it and was intrigued by it for the actual scientific reasons (like ketones are a slower more sustained and cleaner source of energy, so on and so forth) And figured hell, why not? Ive never dieted before, im about to exit my 20's and am ready to make some changes to figure this out. A few days into my transition into ketosis i got "keto high" and was like "If this is the way im supposed to feel, ive been doing it wrong my whole life!!" But for real, unfortunately after a few days the keto high did go away and i was left in ketosis and felt that i could think more clearly than ever, and felt great, still!! It is a different feeling being in ketosis, for those of us who are sensitive to how we actually "feel" on different energy sources.
Needless to say, this diet absolutely cured my multiple times a day tired streaks. Although, its not magic, if i get poor sleep or run a marathon- i do get "tired" still. But its not the random everyday, didnt do anything and im ready for my damn nap! Falling asleep at my desk at work type stuff.
Since i am an athlete, i did actually at one point lose too much weight for my size, so i shifted to cyclical and occasionally targeted Keto, where i can rotate in more "good" carbs at times and burn them off working out. I personally do still have cheat days or weekends, and i absolutely can tell when ive kicked myself out of ketosis and i get those lazy tired spells, again! Imagine that :)
Im not a carb hater, ketovangelists get a bad reputation for that, since keto (next to Carnivore) are the two most carb limiting "diets" that exist out there. Doesnt mean we HATE carbs, we just limit them, with a very specific intentions.
Ive unintentionally gotten my parents and other family members (of their OWN volition) on keto, and they have been for over a year now, they all lost the most weight theyve ever lost (and needed to) and are living and feeling healthier than they ever have. Isnt that what matters? :)
To each their own. I just wanted to share my experience, too.

Cheers!