Low Carb Diet for Bipolar

Interesting article on mood and extreme low carb/Atkins/Keto/Paleo type diets:
http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/bipolar-di ... arb-diets/

Great site on how to eat low carb:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

I'm going to give it a try. You do have to be careful about your medications and losing weight and water weight especially with Lithium toxicity.

Here is my food list:

Best (Eat Frequently)
Eggs, meat, cheese, cottage cheese
Greens: spinach, chard, arugula, baby kale, bok choy, collard greens,
Oil, apple cider vinegar, mayo
Veggies: broccoli, avocado, asparagus, cucumber, celery, pepper, onion, mushroom, olive

Okay (Moderation)
Nuts: almond, pistachio, walnut, brazil nut, pumpkin seed
Berries: blue, black, rasp, straw
Coconut milk, heavy cream
Wine/liquor on the rocks

Worst (Avoid)
Sugar/candy/dessert/chocolate
Flour/pasta/rice/bread
Processed food/fast food/junk food
Ice cream/chips/cookies/beer
Milk

Of course you have to also watch your calories with this diet and exercise frequently.

I am on the Keto/low carb diet, trying to lose weight from mirtazipine and seroquel. It does help in weight loss but hasn’t really helped my mood except for the relief when I step on the scale. It is worth a try especially for weight loss. I recommend you ease into it and take a multi vitamin and magnesium with it. They say weight training works best with it but I can’t due to injury. Remember that fat is a filler and not a goal. Many think you can eat unlimited fat, especially bacon.. that has been disputed and I agree. Your carb craving will decrease. I’m only doing this short term because of weight gain due to meds. Mirtazipine had me eating a bag of bread with a pound of butter a day and pasta like crazy.

I think it's a good diet long term and not just for temporary weight loss. More of a lifestyle. Carbs and sugar are worse than they thought. In the 90's it was all low fat and that turned out to be bad science. Protein and fat are good building blocks for lean muscle. I agree that weightlifting is good for keto diets or really any diet. I think it is the best form of exercise. For one thing, your body continues to burn calories after you're done. I always laughed at the keto diet like how could you give up pasta and bread and beer and dessert but now I see why especially with the meds we have to take.

Can confirm that the keto diet is great for weight loss and my moods are even more stable thanks to no sugar spikes. Once you get "fat adapted" you can do intermittent fasting until dinner time and really lose weight. Lots of youtube videos and a great forum for the keto diet online. If you can commit to it, it really works. Best part is that I'm not that hungry and I can eat good food when I am hungry. Some people even recommend extended multi day fasts but that's possible for me because I have to have food with my night time meds.

The main reason why keto diet is good for weight loss is because you can't eat anything or you'll end up eating too much carbs. that's the main way youre losing weight, lol. which is why I just water fast and avoid carbs and sugar from time to time. its unrealistic to never eat carbs again just like its unrealistic to water fast forever. longest I ever water fastest for was 27 days. Was pretty cool. So I was in true ketosis that entire time. Honestly, again it's unrealistic to think youre not gonna eat carbs ever again so its a silly experiment.

Just for example on the list of items you say to eat frequently... One medium onion is 10g of carbs. That means eating 2 medium onions will be 20g of carbs which is max carbs before you are no longer in ketosis. So you would only be able to eat 2 onions max that day and nothing else, lol. That's only 88 calories. So guess what you'll lose a lot of weight!

justpostingafewtimes wrote:Just for example on the list of items you say to eat frequently... One medium onion is 10g of carbs. That means eating 2 medium onions will be 20g of carbs which is max carbs before you are no longer in ketosis. So you would only be able to eat 2 onions max that day and nothing else, lol. That's only 88 calories. So guess what you'll lose a lot of weight!

Yes some foods you have to eat sparingly and count carbs. I eat a small amount of diced onions in recipes now. Who eats 2 whole onions everyday?
Many people are having great success with this diet and there are some studies that say it's good for mental health too. If you think about your mood going up and down frequently, many people are also eating lots of carbs and sugar that spike your insulin levels up and then you crash. This diet keeps you fairly baseline not to mention many people with bipolar end up getting diabetes and dying younger. So you can enjoy your cake and ice cream, but don't expect to be healthy while taking psych meds.

z7z wrote:

justpostingafewtimes wrote:Just for example on the list of items you say to eat frequently... One medium onion is 10g of carbs. That means eating 2 medium onions will be 20g of carbs which is max carbs before you are no longer in ketosis. So you would only be able to eat 2 onions max that day and nothing else, lol. That's only 88 calories. So guess what you'll lose a lot of weight!

Yes some foods you have to eat sparingly and count carbs. I eat a small amount of diced onions in recipes now. Who eats 2 whole onions everyday?
Many people are having great success with this diet and there are some studies that say it's good for mental health too. If you think about your mood going up and down frequently, many people are also eating lots of carbs and sugar that spike your insulin levels up and then you crash. This diet keeps you fairly baseline not to mention many people with bipolar end up getting diabetes and dying younger. So you can enjoy your cake and ice cream, but don't expect to be healthy while taking psych meds.

I personally am starting to throw out bread I get with meals or chew and spit the bread out. Today I had half a snickers candy bar and chewed and spit out the other half. I usually chew and spit out breads and sugars and eat the meat it comes with even if it has fried breading on it which is carbs sadly. so im still eating carbs but im never gonna eat a bag of chips again or a bunch of sugary candy. gonna always chew and spit that out. so im low carb but still most of the time probably not in ketosis but bordering it. i try to eat one meal a day so maybe i am in ketosis part of the day. most of the calories do tend to be in the bread and sugar and when you remove the bread and sugar you end up eating a fraction of any meal you get and a whole lot less calories. I wouldn't personally be on a strict keto diet. you miss out on too much and end up being limited too much. seen thosep eople eating butter sticks and raw meat lately lol.

Well I started back on a carbohydrate rich diet for the holiday and my anxiety got much higher although I suppose typical holiday stress could be contributing. Had a panic attack / deja vu today and an impending doom feeling and dizziness. I think it's back to the keto diet for me. Evil sugar! I had a beer rather than Klonopin to relax. I really don't want to get hooked back on benzos.