Is the mourning over? When can we discuss the pandemic in a keto context?

long-covid
#1

Too soon?

Did we all get through unscathed?

Did the pandemic change what you did/do with your keto lifestyle?

It’s a question of resilience of a way of eating through a testing time.

#2

I forgot about the whole thing years ago… There was the first 1-2 years when the topic was on my mind a lot but it was so long ago. And it barely affected me or my family so IDK what it could have done to my diet, probably not much, I need a good diet to feel right and I never could stick to keto anyway so off times are inevitable.
I guess for people who suddenly had to stay home (or got extra stress due to the pandemic. my family didn’t, well only a minimal amount), it was a good time to be able to stick to keto more - unless the siren song of carbs interfered. Things could go either way depending on the person in question and the circumstances. And many other factors for sure.

(Ohio ) #3

I actually have just started a thread on my long term covid issues. I don’t mention keto anything because it’s the bodies natural state and don’t talk with anybody else outside of that wavelength. Even doctors.

(Hugh Walter Jennings) #4

I wasn’t doing keto at the time but I did catch covid in the fall of 2020. I recovered at home and didn’t test positive for it. Doctor told me to stay at home and recover unless I needed to go to the hospital and to come in to the office after 72 hours without a fever. He tested me for antigens a month later and they tested positive for covid.

That bout with Covid did scare me enough to deal with my obesity, COPD from smoking, hypertension, diabetes. At that time my doctor told me I wasn’t a good candidate for ketosis. After I lost a lot of weight by switching the whole foods and a whole lot of walking I asked him again and he told me to go ahead and try.

Still took me a couple years to get into nutritional ketosis. Took a 32 hour fast to do it and three 24 hour fasts since to stay in ketosis.

(Bob M) #5

Any idea why your doctor said that?

(Hugh Walter Jennings) #6

Probably all the meds I was on combined with the fact that I had just progressed from pre diabetic to type 2.

Ketoacidosis and all that. I didn’t know anything about keto at the time but from what I gather now, high levels of blood ketones and high blood glucose don’t mix well.

I also had too high cholesterol and too high tryglicerides at the time.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #7

I just carried on with my keto/fasting eating habits. I did catch covid almost 3 yrs. ago. Having had shots, it was not as bad as some of my sinus issues during hay fever season. I tested clear after 4.5 days. I’m pretty sure I caught it in the TSA security line, they made us take off masks and stand by another person, who had no mask but did have slight cough. No issues afterwards.

#8

Too soon? That joke is a distant memory. 8 wks of not having my gym, and a couple months of nice traffic at work. Oh ya, and some sniffles and a sore throat for like 3 days. It literally changed nothing for me except killing DC commute traffic, which made my life easier at work.

#9

Jokes on the doc, because he doesn’t know why he said it either :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

#10

It broke my heart, but not my resolve. I ended up with a worse heart condition that I’m taking a few years to repair by using nutritional ketosis as one aspect. The pandemic just made the saying, “Don’t wait to get sick to start getting healthy”, a bit more real. Many of us didn’t realise that we were quite unhealthy at the start line.

#11

That’s all of us my man! Stay the course! You should look into the Heart Peptide Bioregulator Chelohart, I’ve never used that one myself, but used the eye on (Visoluten) and didn’t need my glasses for for a few years after. I wasn’t blind or anything, but driving at night was hard and I’d get headaches and had high eye pressure as well as it being hard to focus. All gone after Visoluten. The Bioregulators are nuts!

(Bob M) #12

I ate the same in the pandemic as I ate before and after the pandemic. While I think that keto helps the immune system, I don’t think it’s a magic bullet for any disease, including covid.

I’m thankful the place I work has continued allowing us to work from home 3 days as a week, as I lose 2.5 hours each day I go to work just sitting in a car. Useless, though I do like being at work. To make up some of the time, I don’t eat at work on the days I go.

And if you have the wrong genetics, I doubt keto will prevent bad effects for you with an illness for which you’re genetically disposed to have a bad reaction. MIght help, but not totally ameliorate everything.

(Ohio ) #13

I don’t think extended fasting is a magic bullet either, but it’s close. My angle is: Ketosis is the catalyst for extended fasting. Came in handy for Covid.

(B Creighton) #14

I have two sons who got covid in its first year, and they recovered decently. My wife and I both got the intial vaccine, but no boosters. I did finally did get probably omicron while doing keto in March of 2023 I think it was. Very mild - started with a slight sore throat and then moved to a slight ache in the sinuses behind my eyes. Symptomatic for 2.5 days. My wife got that from me and faired slightly worse. My wife got it again in Aug 2024, but I never got any symptoms and didn’t test. I know many people much more scathed than us - my brother for one, but we suspect it was actually his second booster that caused most of his nerve pains. etc. I know many people less fortunate.

No. Really, the only thing I did different is wear a mask to my allergy shot appts, or any other med appts. I had to at the gocery store a few times as well. I did not mask unless I was required to. I bought and ate the same foods, but I do feel my low carb lifestyle helped me fair significantly better than most, because I had no metabolic disease. I have learned more though since that time. Now I would probably either add more fresh nitrate foods or supplement more citrulline.

There may be future needs to address respiratory or metabolic health issues. I think we faired somewhat poorly as a society through covid, and hope we can do better if there is a next time in the next few decades. I hope as a society we can ditch most of the processed foods which cause virtually all of the metabolic disease - without these issues to deal with any future pandemic will be much less dangerous. So, in this regard the low carb/keto lifestyle would be very important IMHO. I also strongly feel I have equipped myself better to fight viral infections on multiple fronts.

(Ethan) #15

For me, I never got a Covid vaxx. I ordered Ivermectin and kept it here, and when I finally got Covid in 09/22 I took the Ivermectin and it was nothing. Literally gone in 8 hours. Practically never wore a mask and never consented to a test (so I never had anything stuck up my nose).

What Covid did for me is put me on a very steep curve for learning and getting knowledge. Lost a tremendous amount of respect for the medical community, and today I often don’t even think their opinions are worth hearing. Before Covid I knew very little, but today I think I know a fair amount.

(Edith) #16

I have elderly parents in very poor health and I still needed to visit them during the pandemic. I was very afraid that I would be the cause of their deaths, so I followed all the protocols, got both vaccinations, and I think I got the booster (not quite as sure about that one.)

I believe I keep psoriatic arthritis in check with my diet. Every once in a while, inflamed joints will rear their ugly head. After my last covid shot I was having a lot of joint pain. At one point I said to my husband, “I don’t think diet is working for me any more. I may have to go to the doctor for all of this joint pain.” Then I remembered that @FrankoBear had terrible joint issues after his covid shots and I realized it was probably the covid shot that had caused my pain. Luckily, the joint pain subsided after a few more weeks. I will never take another covid shot.

Interestingly, last year when I took my dad to his doctor for a check up, he recommended RSV and Flu vaccinations but did not recommend a Covid shot. The doctor was a little cryptic at the reasons and since it was my dad’s appointment I decided not to grill him about it, but he said for the elderly, taking Paxlovid a day or two into the infection was better than getting the vaccine and suffering its side effects.

I have had covid twice. I felt crummy, but for me it was like having a cold. Although, I did lose my sense of taste during and for some time following my first case of it. Using Nasacort helped my sense of taste come back.

I’m not sure how I will handle myself when there is another pandemic someday. I’m not sure closing everything down was the best idea, because I do believe society and our children are still suffering from the effects of that. But, do I know what the best solution is? Nope, and that is why I’m glad I’m not in charge. :crazy_face:

(B Creighton) #17

I never did get any ivermectin, but the international results with it seemed very strong to me, and strongly influenced me. My elderly mother got covid and the hospital basically gave her an antibiotic prescription and a steroid prescription and sent her home to die IMHO. When I talked to her on the phone she was extremely weak, and had stopped eating. I sprang into action to find someone willing to prescribe some ivermectin for her. The very first day she got it(the next day) she began to do much better, had started eating again and was able to talk with me on the phone without a pause after every phrase for a breath. I literally feel it saved her life. She was so weak, she probably would have expired at home alone without it, because the hosp prescribed meds hadn’t seemed to do anything.

I now strongly feel that the pharmaceuticals applied a lot of pressure to the media paid through their advertising to bad mouth ivermectin as “a horse dewormer” so that they could keep their emergency status of approval. Every single person I heard of that used it had awesome results - including my mother…thankfully.

(Ethan) #18

Sounds like you came through for your Mom extremely well. Congratulations!

(Michelle Dahlgren) #19

My husband and I started keto as covid was just starting and still an odd mystery disease. A friend got us ginger and it had amazing effects of us both losing weight and reduction of inflammation and chronic pain. I feel like covid made it easier for us to really get comfortable and committed with keto. Not much social pressure. I never realized how much social pressure there is about food. Now my friends and family accept it. I dont bring it up generally anymore because no one seems willing to make any effort or they think Im in some insane food cult that will ruin my health and social life. A doctor has said I have a condition like anorexia. Current doctor assumes keto means ton of saturated fat so its a death sentence. Ugh. Im not willing to go back to obesity and inflammation. I appreciate this forum.

(KM) #20

Ah yes, “orthorexia” diagnosis that breaks down to “you don’t eat what we eat therefore you’re mental”. But who’s fat and sick???

True orthorexia is crippling, making a person anxious about eating nearly anything. Avoiding Whole Grains and Fruit Smoothies doesn’t qualify. Keep calm and keto on. :v: