My First 3 Weeks on the Paleo Ketogenic Diet Plan

I jumped on board with Paleomedicina’s Paleo Ketogenic Diet plan three weeks ago. It has been rather uneventful in my mind. I haven’t seen hair regrowth at all. Sadly, they didn’t seem to give me much hope that the hair will grow back. In fact, Dr. Clemens did mention she had two other alopecia universalis patients who hadn’t had regrowth after a few months.

My seizures have not returned, so that is great. My seasonal allergies seem to be subsiding a bit. Although, I should mention that a couple sneezes once or twice a day never really bothered me. When I was younger, my eyes would water and it would be awful.

The theory behind the Paleo Ketogenic diet is to fix intestinal permeability. I think my problem may have been in keeping dairy in my diet, but I did NOT want to give up butter. I discovered that bacon could help me overcome some of my butter cravings. Bone broth was great at providing me with plenty of nutrients and satiation. It is also the foundation of the GAPS diet.

It did feel like a bit of a hassle to fill out the ketone, glucose and weight measurements every day and follow up with Paleomedicina’s nutritionist. However, they were able to give me some insight on blood glucose fluctuation and how it can put me at risk of seizures. That was very beneficial.

Pros:

• Very easy to implement once you adjust to the amount of food intake.
• Meat and fat is very delicious!
• Keeps you satiated.
• Less expensive than buying produce and grains.
• Eating for survival rather than entertainment.
• Lost all cravings for junk foods.
• I look forward to my bacon and burgers.

Cons:

• Makes social events difficult. (Implementing during COVID is the perfect timing!)
• Holidays won’t include some of my favorite foods.
• I still don’t like organ meats, but have been enjoying liverwurst.
• It can be annoying to measure every gram of food.

Improvements:

• Blood sugar normalized below 80 in just a few days.
• Ketones remain above 2.0.
• Great energy
• Great sleep
• Slight improvement in nail ridging (this is a symptom of alopecia universalis, so maybe there is hope!)

Symptoms:

• Complete hair loss
• Occasional seizures that occur during menstrual hormonal fluctuation (will take more time to see if these improve)
• Seasonal allergies
• Loose stool during PMS

What’s Next?

So, now that I have been on the paleo ketogenic diet plan for 3 weeks, it is time to do some blood work. Specificially, they want to check out my vitamin D levels. Apparently, people with epilepsy and alopecia universalis (really most diseases) tend to be low in vitamin D. I’m hoping to be in the normal range. My last vitamin D test was about 27. Normal starts at 30.

While I didn’t supplement with vitamin D, there is vitamin D in pork lard and some in the meat. I tried to consume a bit more of the pastured pork lard this week to get my levels up. Also, without carbohydrates and fiber it should be easier to absorb the vitamins and minerals from the foods.

I’ll keep you posted on my blood test results! Stay tuned…