Interesting Hypothesis posted in a response to the latest Ketowoman podcast.
This is just an hypothesis, but an interesting one. Starting from the premise that ketosis is anxiolytic … or reducing of anxiety … while avoiding the morbidity … ummm deathiness … of starvation.
The hypothesis is that ketosis, and it’s ability to reduce anxiety, is the primary benefit sought by someone with anorexia nervosis and they have found starvation and exercise useful in generating ketones. That is that people with food anxiety disorders may self medicate that anxiety by generating ketones through starvation and exercise.
So this may be why nutritional ketosis appears to be a legitimate alternative treatment, because it fills the same need as the behavior being replaced.
Also interesting her discussion of how they create rodents with anorexia. They put rats in a cage and decrease their eating time, some (mostly young and female) react by increasing time on the wheel and decreasing their food intake, eventually stopping eating altogether and eventually starving to death.
One study tested 51% carb diet vs a diet with no carbohydrates. In the high carb fed rodents 8/10 starved to death. In the high fat one, 1/10 died of starvation.