I keep getting asked why I am doing keto. Like, was being gluten-free not βstrict enoughβ?
For clarity: I have been gluten-free for nine years because of an allergy, not because of a trend. Keto is not a lifestyle experiment, a cleanse, or a weight-loss phase. It is a medical decision.
The ketogenic diet was originally developed for epilepsy. Not for abs. Not for before-and-after photos. For brains that misfire. That context seems to get lost now that βketoβ has been folded into wellness marketing and moral panic in equal measure.
I am glad people have improved their health on keto or other low-carb diets. Truly. My brother is one of them. He was severely obese, in constant pain, and struggling to function. On ketoβno surgery, no weight-loss drugsβhe has lost 50 kilograms in three months. He can walk again. He is back at work and is off most of his medications.
That is not vanity. That is metabolic disease being addressed, not shamed.
Metabolic disorders are not a willpower issue. Neurological disorders are not a vibe problem. Bodies are not interchangeable.
I am not judging what anyone else chooses to do with their body. I just wish the same grace applied in reverse. I am tired of having to justify why I eat in a way that keeps me functional.
I am a reluctant omnivore. I was vegan or vegetarian for most of my life. I wanted that to work. I believed in it deeply. But year after year of low-fat, high-carbohydrate eating made me sicker, not healthier.
When my body entered ketosis, something fundamental changed. My brain cleared. I could comprehend space again. I could orient. I could think.
I do not know why my body works this way. I have stopped trying to argue with it.
This is not about purity, discipline, or ideology. It is about choosing the option that gives me the best chance at stability, mobility, and a life that feels inhabitable. Keto is not fun. It is not glamorous, it is effective.
I am not asking anyone to agree with me. I am asking not be interrogated for surviving in the body I have.
The trickiest part is remembering that keto is fat-forward, not protein-obsessed. I learned that the hard way. I tried Atkins once. It was protein on protein with a side of protein and some truly cursed peanut butter cups. I made it a week. That was not ketosis. That was a hostage situation.
Keto, done properly, is not punishment. It is just different math. Once the math clicks, the rest gets easierβand occasionally even enjoyable.
I will also say this, because it is true and it matters: I am genuinely glad keto took off.
Not because of influencers or miracle claims, but because it means I can buy or make food that actually works. Almond-flour tortillas that take minutes and do not taste like regret? A small miracle. No weird gums, no alchemy, no praying to an obscure god and hoping the humidity is just right. They just⦠work.
The gluten-free alternatives I lived on for years were fragile, fussy, and deeply committed to disappointment. Keto ingredients, by comparison, are refreshingly honest. Fat, structure, heatβdone.
I can happily skip most sugar substitutes, but I am willing to experiment. I will try allulose and see if it behaves itself. I am not chasing desserts; I am chasing food that does not fight me.
A quick historical note, because this keeps getting misrepresented:
The ketogenic diet was not created for diabetes.
It was developed in the 1920s as a medical treatment for epilepsy, particularly in children whose seizures did not respond to medication. The goal was to mimic the seizure-reducing effects of fasting in a way that could be sustained long term. This work was formalised at Mayo Clinic, where the ketogenic diet was named and studied as a neurological intervention.
Its later use in diabetes and other metabolic conditions came decades afterwards, once clinicians noticed that altering carbohydrate intake and insulin dynamics could dramatically affect blood sugar regulation. That does not make those applications invalidβbut they are secondary. Weight loss, aesthetics, and lifestyle branding came much later still.
Keto did not start as a diet culture invention. It started as a way to stop brains from misfiring.
My neurologist said it could take a year or it could take three⦠and that feels sane and reassuring to me. Not a shrug but an acknowledgement that nervous systems change on biological time, not motivational time. Especially with myoclonic epilepsy, where thresholds, glucose stability, sleep, stress, and dopamine all braid together like mischievous gremlins.
No instant results, more like statistical kindness. No effort is being wasted. I am not pushing a boulder uphill for philosophical reasons. I am giving my brain an environment in which it historically behaves better and letting plasticity do its slow, unglamorous work.
And slow is not failure. Slow is repair.
Right on neurological time.
