Restore Metabolism to Repair the Mind
My Lived Experience
After watching Game Changers, I followed a strict whole-food plant-based diet for ten months. During that time my depression deepened to the point that hospitalization was discussed. After failing more than ten medications across multiple classes, my psychiatrist offered three options: electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), or ketamine infusion therapy. I chose ketamine to avoid the risk of memory loss. The treatment produced rapid and meaningful improvement.
However, the infusions also produced adverse effects. I developed tinnitus at any dose, and at higher doses experienced progressive muscle rigidity. At 95 mg IV over 40 minutes, I had transient full-body rigidity. These reactions were concerning and felt toxic in nature, consistent with serotonergic sensitivity. (See separate webpage on serotonin research.)
I continued searching for non-drug approaches.
I continued to have months-long stretches of depression. Sleep deteriorated to four hours a night, which confounded everything. It became impossible to tell what was illness and what was exhaustion.
In autumn 2022 I stumbled across a video by psychiatrist Chris Palmer describing a metabolic theory of mental illness. The idea was simple and radical: stabilize brain energy first. I watched all of his videos, then bought his book, Brain Energy.[1]
I tried to implement a ketogenic diet, but I struggled. Sugar cravings, brain fog, inconsistent sleep, and a parade of supplements that often made things worse. Several triggered what felt like toxic reactions — muscle spasms, agitation, and poor sleep. Progress was uneven at best.
By late 2024 I made a decision to simplify. I tapered off medications with medical supervision and focused only on sleep, light exposure, and food. Around the same time I learned more about benzodiazepines and how they fragment sleep architecture. What I had thought was “treatment” to help me sleep may also have been part of the problem. Recovery has been slow, but steadily improving.
Eventually I stopped trying to engineer the perfect diet and reduced everything to basics: beef, eggs, sometimes yogurt with a few berries. Reduced decision fatigue. Fewer variables. Fewer reactions. More stability.
Over months, my mood steadied. Brain fog lifted. Sleep lengthened. No drugs. No sleep supplements.
Nothing dramatic. Just metabolism, quietly beginning to work again.
Dr Chris Palmer
The idea of ketogenic nutrition for therapy isn’t entirely new. Ketogenic diets have been used since the 1920s to treat medication-resistant epilepsy. In some children, seizures simply stop when brain fuel shifts from glucose to ketones. The effect is reliable enough that it remains standard therapy today.
Palmer has described a young man in his clinic with severe schizoaffective disorder whose progress in therapy had plateaued. The patient also wanted to lose weight, so Palmer suggested an Atkins-style low-carbohydrate diet.
To his surprise, psychiatric symptoms improved along with the weight loss. The patient became more verbal and more stable in sessions, and over time achieved remission. Palmer later began offering similar dietary approaches to some of his most treatment-resistant patients.
These are still early days, but formal research is now underway in the U.S. and Europe.
Psychiatrist Chris Palmer argues that many cases of bipolar disorder are rooted in impaired brain energy metabolism rather than purely psychological causes.
Resources
[1] Palmer, Christopher M., MD. Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health–and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More. BenBella Books, Inc. Dallas, TX. 2022.
Early research results
One family’s story
Dr Christopher Palmer’s theory
Andrew Huberman, PhD and Christopher Palmer, MD