t_spacemonkey
Well-Known Member
it is complex for sure. i think the recomp effect is real, i would guess that it mainly has to do with calorie restrictions though and not thyroid up/down. on pure carnivore, which is the way to go with keto IMO, you just eat less. i had a hard time getting 2000cal in (at 3200 maintenance). i think the mental clarity aspect, while may be related to ketones in brain, could also be due to elimination of inflammatory foods to some extent. I found the mental benefits on keto vs saladino very negligible.Awesome, thanks for all this! Very helpful! The main benefit I was hoping to get from carnivore, if I ever tried it, was the amazing mental clarity and energy that most people report on carnivore/ having the body and brain run off of ketones mainly, instead of glucose. Did u notice any improvements in those two areas while on keto?
That’s very interesting to hear that ur ketones are are still at the same level that they were while on keto. The two things that make me hesitant to put too much weight into ur experience on keto, vs now, is that keto and carnivore are two completely different things. While on keto, u can still eat a ton of processed/ inflammatory junk, vs carnivore that cuts out all that stuff, and just consists of healthy animal based foods. So I would imagine that most people doing keto don’t get to experience some of the benefits that people do on carnivore. The other thing is that while on keto, ur ketones were just above the lowest point where u would technically be in ketosis. So I wonder if u would have noticed bigger differences in mental clarity/ energy, on keto, if u got ur ketones up higher. Seems like people on carnivore have much higher ketone levels than u had, on average.
That’s a good point about TSH tho. I agree, if thyroid receptors were more sensitive, on carnivore, and required less circulating thyroid hormones to fullfill the bodies thyroid requirements, I would also assume that we wouldn’t see TSH increase, on no/ low carb. Again, good observation. An increase in TSH does indicate that the brain is asking for more circulating thyroid hormones. The weird thing is that most people that go carnivore report an increase in energy/ mental clarity, and usually are able to recomp their bodies very easily. Which would all indicate that their thyroids are working just fine. So not sure how much of a net negative it is to see thyroid labs sometimes drop a little, and see a bit of a rise in TSH, while doing no/ low carb. All very interesting stuff tho. The body is such a complicated, yet completely fascinating, machine
And I agree that many do keto very badly, I was one of them, eating tons of nut butters etc.
my personal latest for body recomp is targeted keto. I would still eat 100-150g of carbs around workout time, before noon (gym 7am) and do red meat rest of day. i pair the fruit with creatine+carnitine which do like glucose for best functioning.
long term on keto you do become somewhat 'carb resistant' and it is best to stay in a highly flexible state. i would also recommend supplementing NDT if you do pure keto, that seems to help the most with energy.