Topic Guide
What Is Ketosis?
Ketosis is a subject covered in depth across 3 podcast episodes in our database. Below you'll find key concepts, expert insights, and the top episodes to listen to — all distilled from hours of conversation by leading experts.
Key Concepts in Ketosis
Peak span
The period of life during which an individual maintains at least 90% of their peak function across various biological markers, such as muscle mass, bone density, and cognitive ability. The episode stresses that while peak function typically occurs around age 25, lifestyle interventions can significantly extend this 'peak span' by mitigating age-related decline.
Visceral fat
A dangerous type of deep belly fat that surrounds internal organs like the liver, kidneys, and intestines, unlike subcutaneous fat which can be pinched. It is metabolically active, secreting inflammatory molecules and causing insulin resistance, significantly increasing risks for early mortality, metastatic cancer, and metabolic syndrome, even in lean individuals.
Insulin resistance
A condition where the body's cells (in organs like the liver and muscles) no longer respond effectively to insulin, the hormone responsible for transporting glucose from the bloodstream into cells for energy or storage. Visceral fat is a major cause of insulin resistance, leading to elevated blood glucose, fatigue, cravings, and increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (edcs)
Man-made chemicals, commonly found in plastics and other consumer products (e.g., BPA, phthalates, PFAS), that interfere with the body's endocrine (hormone) system. They can mimic or block natural hormones like estrogen and testosterone, leading to hormonal imbalances, reproductive issues, developmental problems, and accelerated aging.
Metabolic switch (ketosis)
A physiological transition where the body shifts from primarily burning glucose (carbohydrates) for energy to burning fatty acids and producing ketones. This switch occurs after liver glycogen stores are depleted (typically after 10-12 hours of fasting) and is associated with enhanced cognitive function, reduced anxiety, and activation of cellular repair mechanisms.
Resistant starch
A type of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine, feeding beneficial gut bacteria. The episode notes that cooking a potato and then cooling it converts some of its starch into resistant starch, which can also help improve sleep quality.
What Experts Say About Ketosis
- 1.Accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) compresses months of conventional TMS treatment into an intensive one-week protocol, involving hourly magnetic pulses for 10 hours a day.
- 2.The Saint protocol, developed at Stanford, has demonstrated 70-80% durable remission rates for depression in many patients.
- 3.The speaker experienced a significant reduction in severe anxiety and OCD symptoms (from 8/10 to 0/10 initially, and later to 1-2/10) through accelerated TMS.
- 4.Pre-dosing with descloer (DCS), an antibiotic that acts as a neuroplasticity catalyst, can significantly enhance the effectiveness of accelerated TMS, allowing for potentially equivalent results from a single day of treatment.
- 5.The effects of accelerated TMS can sometimes have a delayed onset, as experienced by the speaker in his first treatment, where improvement appeared 2-3 weeks post-treatment.
- 6.Intermittent ketosis and principles from metabolic psychiatry are presented as additional effective strategies for addressing psychiatric and psycho-emotional issues.