A Miraculous Recovery: The Power of the Ketogenic Diet in Mental Health

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Dr. Christopher M. Palmer (@chrispalmermd) is a Harvard psychiatrist and researcher working at the interface of metabolism and mental health.

Dr. Palmer is the director of the Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education at McLean Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. For over 25 years, he has held administrative, educational, research, and clinical roles in psychiatry at Harvard. He has been pioneering the use of the medical ketogenic diet in the treatment of psychiatric disorders—conducting research in this area, treating patients, writing, and speaking around the world on this topic.

He has developed the first comprehensive theory of what causes mental illness, integrating existing theories and research into one unifying theory—the brain energy theory of mental illness. You can learn more in his new book Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More.

Please enjoy!

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[07:14] How a woman overcame her 53-year streak of chronic paranoid schizophrenia.

[11:16] The backstory of Brain Energy‘s dedication.

[16:31] Chris’ thoughts on DSM-5 diagnostic categories.

[21:51] Chris’ first exposure to the ketogenic diet.

[28:35] Metabolic psychiatry.

[30:33] How ketosis affects the human body (e.g., sleep, mood, weight).

[39:35] Examining the mood elevation of ketosis on a bio-cellular level.

[44:24] When ketosis can be dangerous.

[46:44] How mitochondrial dysfunction can trigger a host of ailments.

[58:07] Dietary methods for sustaining ketosis over the long term.

[1:04:54] Common ketosis mistakes.

[1:07:53] Psychiatric medications, metabolism, and controversy.

[1:15:29] Indications that a medication impairs more than improves a patient’s condition.

[1:18:06] Resources to share with doctors open to conversation about these issues.

[1:20:41] Why quitting psychiatric medication cold turkey is a bad idea.

[1:23:20] Thoughts on the efficacy of exogenous ketones.

[1:30:32] Ketogenic diet as treatment for schizophrenia.

[1:38:34] Why you need to take radical ownership of your own health advocacy.

[1:40:33] Physical exercise for optimizing mitochondrial health.

[1:44:59] A cautionary note for people using medication for off-label results.

[1:48:49] Parting thoughts.

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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.

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