Ten years have already passed since I discovered the ketogenic diet in 2013. Ten years is no small thing in a lifetime, it's really "one big ketogenic slice" of my life. In 2013, at the age of 35, my life took a decisive turn towards the "Keto lifestyle". Today in 2023, at 45 years old, I share with you my review and most importantly, I answer the questions you have asked me about my entire experience.
(This testimonial was originally published in French on our French training website EatFat2BeFit)
For this testimony of 10 years in the ketogenic diet, it was necessary to do different from my previous testimony. So instead of repeating what I have already published, and that you can find on our site at 18 months in 2015, 3 years in 2016 and 5 years in 2018, I chose to let the readers of our website speak, offering them the opportunity to ask me directly their questions.
To begin, I think it would be helpful for me to give a little recap of this decade in nutritional ketosis myself.
At the beginning of 2013, I am fat, I weigh 105 kg (231 pounds) for 188 cm (6′ 2”). I have the beginnings of high blood pressure, regular migraines, blood sugar levels that are already too high in the morning, I have problems with energy fluctuations in my days and overall it is really starting to get worse. Here is a picture of what this disaster looks like.
That year, I discovered the ketogenic diet and nutritional ketosis through the reading of Dr.Atkins’ book, rewritten and updated by the trio of Drs.Volek, Phinney and Westman. It was this book that introduced me to the subject and made me want to learn everything. And that’s what I did afterwards through hundreds of books, and thousands of scientific studies acquired over the past 10 years, directly related to nutritional ketosis or indirectly as on micronutrients or lifestyle more generally.
My first years in the ketogenic diet allowed me to lose a lot of weight (quickly – 33 kg or – 73 lbs), to regain a young man’s tension. The few migraines that I knew occasionally then disappeared and especially the pain that I had on my left wrist following an accident in 1997 also disappears completely in less than a year. Here’s what I look like in 2015 with these 33kg less on the scale, Easily, without frustration, just eat low carbs and more fat… What I summed up in a humorous way in the TF1 50 minutes inside show came to meet me in: «keep the carrot oil in vinaigrette and remove the carrots».
Month after month, I have worked tirelessly to learn and understand all aspects of the ketogenic diet. Optimizing protein intake, choosing lipid forms, micronutrients and dietary supplements, I have spent considerable time mastering all aspects of a dietary choice that has radically changed my life.
In July 2015, with Nelly, we opened EatFat2BeFit. At first, a simple blog to share our experience and information related to the ketogenic diet, gradually, it becomes a real website. In 2017, we publish our first book “Le Grand Livre de l’Alimentation Cétogène“; in 2018, we open the Céto-Academy, the first online ketogenic diet training. Then in 2022, we publish our second book “Bonjour Keto“. Nelly has now published over 400 Keto recipes, and I have published hundreds of articles or lessons for the Céto Academy. Our experience is now recognized and known with an intervention at the Academy of Medicine in Paris or an appearance on the evening news of TF1 (first TV channel in France).
These 10 years have not been easy, we must admit. Traveling all over the world, accompanying professional athletes, an expatriation to Colorado in the USA in September 2020, all the while taking care of the daily management of EatFat2BeFit. But, when we look back, we have the satisfaction of having given the maximum of what we could do and of having shared with you all the keys so that you can succeed with your ketogenic diet as we did.
Today in 2023, at 45 years old, with 71 kg (156 pounds) for 188 cm (6′ 2” ), 34 kg lost (75 pounds), perfect health and a physical condition that allows me to practice Motocross again – the passion of my life – I am simply happy to share with you, what has been nothing less than the most important change in my life…
Key points from my experience :
- Age : 45 years
- Height : 188 cm (6’2”)
- Weight : 71 kg (156.5 pounds)
- Duration of ketogenic diet : 10 years
- Morning blood glucose : 65 mg/dL to 80 mg/dL (3.6 mmol/) to 4.4 mmol/L)
- BHB (β-hydroxybutyrate ketone body) in the morning : between 0.4 mmol/L and 1.2 mmol/L
- Morning blood pressure : between 11/6 and 12/7
- Resting heart rate : 44
- Sleep time (4-year average) : 9 hours
- Duration of deep sleep (4-year average) : 2h30
- Amount of carbohydrates per day : 0-50 g net (average below 20 g net/day)
- Amount of protein per day : 200 to 250 g
- Amount of fat per day : 80 to 300 g
Over the years, nutritional ketosis stabilizes at a low level, which is normal. Even in case of prolonged dry fasting, it no longer exceeds 1.2 mmol/L.
Despite an average intake of 12 g of salt (sodium chloride) per day, no hypertension
Your questions and my answers: I leave you the floor while answering your questions:
In September 2022, I gave you the opportunity to ask me all your questions about my 10 years in a ketogenic diet. They were many, I had to sort them out and sometimes gather them to make a synthesis and remain reasonable about the length of this testimony. With these answers – result of 10 years of keto lifestyle – I hope you will keep in mind that the ketogenic diet is simple, easy, sustainable, universal and nothing but common sense… With a little learning and a little will, you will arrive at the same result as mine !
Josiane wants to know what are the differences in my ketogenic plates, between my beginnings in 2013 and today in 2023
Ulrich: Of course, in the 10 years of the Ketogenic diet, my plates have been able to evolve as I discovered them while adjusting to my successive goals. First, a significant weight loss, with 33 kg lost in one go and then stabilization. Then, permanent micronutrient enrichment in search of the perfect plate at the highest nutritional density. On the macronutrient side, in 2013 the science of the ketogenic diet directed us rather towards a high ketogenic ratio (a lot of fat and very little protein/carbohydrates). Over the years, multiple studies have indicated that proteins are not the enemy of nutritional ketosis, on the contrary. Thus, while keeping the amount of net carbohydrates at a minimum remains the basic basis of a well-formulated ketogenic diet, time and experience have taught us that protein is a valuable ally for many purposes.
Over the years, I have developed a real passion for nutrition, especially micronutrients. Identifying them and understanding their roles, finding the right levels of intake and finding them in our food is a real treasure hunt. In fact, my plate keeps evolving in search of the perfect balance, the perfect plate that covers all my needs.
Christian asks me what is the greatest benefit that I have personally gained from the ketogenic diet
Ulrich: It’s hard to pick just one… Losing 34 kg effortlessly, while I’ve always had to struggle with weight before 2013, is frankly a kind of renewal in a lifetime. Of course, on the other hand, everything that goes with weight loss, such as migraines that disappear, a top immune system that gives me the experience of never being sick again, or totally stable energy levels are very pleasant benefits. My last flu, my last winter cold, was in 2013— Even if when I explain that with a well-formulated ketogenic diet, you don’t get sick in the winter, no one believes me, but everyone who has experienced it knows it. It is a very appreciable comfort and resilience. We cannot really imagine that we live in a “degraded” mode when we eat a lot of carbohydrates. You have to live ketogenic to really feel it and to exploit its full potential.
But if I have to choose only one benefit, I’ll talk about my left wrist. In 1997, following a crash in Motocross training on the track of Chevrainvilliers (Seine & Marne, France), I broke my left arm. A double open fracture of the radius and ulna that will require 2 titanium plates and 12 screws (which are still in place after the 2003 hardware removal failure). On top of that, I fracture the scaphoid (for the second time this one), as well as the semi-lunar. But, more seriously, I sever the ligaments that connect these wrist bones. As I am being operated on in an emergency (there was a hemorrhage), we cover the most pressing. Unfortunately, after four operations, a graft, a screw in the scaphoid, the mobility of the left wrist is permanently lost. Professor Christophe Mathoulin at the Jouvenet clinic in Paris, who operated on me twice, explained to me that in this situation, the window of intervention to do something for the ligaments is only 48 hours… So it was over for me. I lost 80% of the mobility and 80% of the strength in my left hand. In 1998, after several unsuccessful attempts, I ended my career as a motocross racer… It was over for me and I had to say goodbye to the passion of my life.
From 1997 to 2013, I had to live with a wrist in a very bad state, a very reduced mobility and especially a permanent pain 365 days a year. In concrete terms, Motocross is impossible, even a 2-hour bike ride is very painful for me, mountain biking is almost impossible.
Professor Mathoulin, having explained to me at the time, that it would progressively deteriorate into chronic osteoarthritis, with increasing pain, until the day when it would become unbearable with the destruction of the joint. It would then be necessary to perform a total blocking of the joint (called four-corner fusion) or a resection of the first row of carpal bones, i.e. a surgical removal of the first row of carpal bones. Whatever the choice, the aftermath is not a happy one… For those who know, this is the procedure that Ricky Johnson had to undergo in late 2022, with the same trauma that I originally had. So I develop with these 16 years of pain, a SLAC wrist (Scapholunate Advanced Collapse), a syndrome well known by orthopedists specialized on the wrist and unfortunately irreversible…
Then, in 2013 I discovered the ketogenic diet. At that time, I didn’t even pay attention to the pain in my left wrist anymore, since it was permanent. Then, after 9-12 months of ketosis and practicing the ketogenic diet, I find myself seeing that constant pain disappear intermittently. The more time passes, the more pain-free phases appear. I began to do specific research to explain this phenomenon and finally understood (in a simplified way) that the Western high carbohydrate diet is pro-inflammatory and that the well formulated ketogenic diet, as I had been stubbornly following it since the beginning, is exactly the opposite, i.e. anti-inflammatory. My joint tissues were rebuilding, moving me away from the osteoarthritis and joint destruction I was promised. This process did not replace the missing ligaments, but it did remove the pain and degradation of the joint (cartilage) ! In a very recent study from 2022, the process is explained through a key marker of osteoarthritis, which is the NLRP3 inflammasome. This protein complex is involved in a variety of inflammatory responses and has been identified to promote the release of inflammatory cytokines in osteoarthritis. The ketogenic diet (ketosis), attenuates the inflammatory response of osteoarthritis, particularly by reducing the NLRP3 inflammasome.
In 2015, I finished with these years of chronic pain and like an evidence, the desire to resume Motocross immediately returns… With time, I was able to develop a nutritional and micronutritional protocol very complete to optimize the reconstruction of these tissues, little or not vascularized. In particular by activating stem cells. In order to help reproduce what I obtained for myself, I hope to have the opportunity in the near future to publish my first article in a peer-reviewed journal.
I am therefore happy to testify of this path that allows me today to practice again the passion of my life, the Motocross! My left wrist is no longer painful, I will of course never be able to regain the lost mobility, but my left hand has been able to regain 90% of the strength of the right hand, which was normally impossible…
Magalie would like to know if, in addition to my weight loss, I was able to obtain a bonus that I did not expect
Ulrich: As I detailed earlier, the disappearance of my chronic pain in my left wrist is a real bonus that I didn’t even expect. Then there are other things like the end of tooth decay. It’s really nice not to dread your annual visit to the dentist, and then over time not even need to go to the dentist… Those of you who have read Weston Price, know that it is the high carbohydrate, low micronutrient western diet that provides 90% of the business for dentists today. But “shh!” you mustn’t say it, the business is juicy ! So juicy, that the sugar industry has teamed up with the dental care industry to keep the real culprit from being identified and the business continues. Continue to eat carbohydrates and be deficient in minerals and vitamins, the dentists love you !
Sylvain asks me if I’m still experimenting or if I’ve been sticking to the same routine for years ? And, if so, have I tried any experiments that didn’t give the result I was aiming for ?
Ulrich: I was already an experimenter at heart before the ketogenic diet. I’ve never been a fan of the road map, and once I understand how something works, I don’t hesitate to make my own way, with my own experience to go further. This is the only way to discover new things. Accepting limits means accepting that you can never go beyond them. So I never stop experimenting. I have to admit that in 10 years, I have been able to go around the ketogenic diet as such.
I was able to try every ingredient imaginable, I brought in things from all over the world. For example, ketone bodies in the form of Esters, which I was able to test as early as 2017 when they only existed in the form of very expensive prototypes. I was also able to test all the equipment available as soon as it came out, whether it was blood readers, ketone bodies with exhaled air, I had an Oura Ring as early as 2018, I was able to test sleep monitors, lactate readers, in short, as a Geek, all the new stuff passed through my hands. I was also able to test hundreds of supplements. I did it for myself in order to verify things by trying a molecule then performing a test or a measurement, and all these experiences have also become my job by bringing my expertise to professional athletes with whom I work.
I was also interested in plenty of methods, therapies such as all forms of hyperthermia thanks to different saunas, ice baths, different breathing methods such as the Wim Hof method, or the Buteyko method, different LLLT light therapy techniques under different wavelengths, HBOT hyperbaric chambers. It is an endless playground when you are looking to optimize your health, your sleep, your metabolic rate and your performance… There have obviously been failures, and there have been many. Molecules that, for example, work quite well in the context of a high-carbohydrate diet and no longer offer any effect in the context of a ketogenic diet. These are fascinating subjects, but one always has to go through the “experiment” to validate or invalidate what “in theory” should work.
As an anecdote, I was severely handicapped when I was a teenager with Achilles tendons. I had everything: adapted shoes, orthopedic inserts, antibiotics, everything ! Running were made impossible for me… Over time, I took it for granted until I was older. Then I got back into running on the ketogenic diet. I was also able to learn and understand that human beings were not made to wear shoes. This made me become a fervent supporter of the midfoot strike dear to my friend Solarberg Séhel and of Vibram FiveFingers. My first Marathon on a ketogenic diet in 2016, without refueling, I was able to finish it with shoes on my hands for the last 16 kilometers. This event finished in socks confirmed to me that shoes are useless. You learn from your mistakes, but now for the past seven years, I have only worn minimalist shoes and VFFs for running.
And, at the Jerusalem Marathon, I was again able to get the extra confirmation I needed :
Aurélien tells me: “Your scientific watch goes far beyond the small circle of the ketogenic diet, although it always seems to be focused on the search for optimal health. What are the topics that you are passionate about today ?”
Ulrich: What I am certain of is that life will never offer me enough time to study everything I am passionate about. In other words, by focusing on one area, I have to give up many others, which is very frustrating. To say yes to studying one area is to say no to dozens of others. At the moment, I have precisely 39 scientific monitoring themes. That is to say, every Friday, I scan the new literature of the week, then I get the PDF files and finally, I read the papers that I will keep and that seem relevant to me. It’s a huge job that I’ve been doing for years, but it’s also the only way to be as close as possible to the latest discoveries that won’t be put into books until years later. Let’s not even talk about the practical applications in medicine or in sports, which will arrive at best decades later… On this point, I must admit that it is very frustrating to see that science has been able to highlight things that will be used only much later, and even too late for many people.
At the heart of my research topics, there is of course the ketogenic diet and all its applications. But I believe it is essential to cross this field with all the other fields of research that can bring us other points of view or other very useful angles. For example, when we study the ketogenic diet for the fight against cancer, we must also study everything that can intervene on energy metabolism such as hyperthermia, ice baths, brown fat, sports, deuterium, chronobiology or all the molecules that potentially target the mitochondria. As I said in Bonjour Keto, my approach is global, I prefer to take a step back to see the big picture, rather than a microscope missing what is however right next to me. Sleep has also been a huge concern for me, especially deep sleep. Reading all the available science, I would argue that failure is guaranteed – no matter what the goal – if sleep is neglected. I have also worked extensively on chronobiology, exposure to natural light, protection from artificial light, electromagnetic waves, circadian resynchronization, all of this to always optimize our sleep, which in turn offers us optimal health. You can’t imagine what we can do, simply by working on our sleep.
Finally, one of the other areas that interests me and that keeps me busy is that of micronutrients. I am familiar with the world of agriculture and livestock farming, which today produces food that is increasingly poor in micronutrients. My research topic is therefore the production of food as rich as possible in vitamins and minerals. Fortunately, we have a huge playground to achieve this. I hope in the coming months to be able to take action in this field after having studied it at length, at least for my personal production.
Marc would like to know who I think are the “ketogenic pioneers” who matter, the ones who paved the way for what we are all doing today in science, medicine and sports
Ulrich: The pioneers of the ketogenic diet are very important to me. It’s not for nothing that I dedicated a page to them on EatFat2BeFit. Unfortunately, we are in a world that is moving forward blindly, with very little respect or recognition for the men and women who made the major discoveries that have allowed us to do what we do today. That’s why I wanted to shine a light on them from the founding of EatFat2BeFit in 2015. In the video I published in 2018 on books that matter in the ketogenic diet, I also highlighted the remarkable work of authors like Nina Teicholz, Gary Taubes or even Catherine Shanahan who were among the pioneers that I respect a lot… At that time, we were not yet in a world where 8 out of 10 books available on Amazon are the result of fake authors and fake reviews, that is to say, nothing less than “crap book” spreading misinformation.
It is impossible to start this tribute other than with Prof. Tim Noakes, who spontaneously offered us his sponsorship both for our site and for the foreword of our first book published in 2017 “Le grand livre de l’alimentation cétogène“. This great scientist has earned the respect of the entire ketogenic diet community after not hesitating to make a 180 degree turn in his career to become the standard-bearer of the ketogenic diet.
Next, I would like to recognize Stephen Phinney who has devoted his entire career to the ketogenic diet. He was already publishing in the early 1980s and was recruited as a huge ketosis expert when Virta Health was founded. Let’s talk about Sami Inkinen who is personally the hero of the documentary “Run on Fat” but above all the founder and CEO of the company Virta Health which he founded in 2014 with the ambition to reverse 100 million cases of pre-diabetes and diabetes in the USA. This daunting project is progressively succeeding as Virta Health is now the leader in the US for reversing type 2 diabetes with the ketogenic diet. Sami knew how to surround himself with the best from the beginning, with Stephen Phinney of course, but also Jeff Volek and Sarah Hallberg who passed away recently.
It is a difficult exercise to talk about and highlight these pioneers whom I respect immensely for all their work and what they have been able to offer us in terms of knowledge so that we can live the ketogenic diet today, as we are living it. Every detail counts, every research topic counts. When we see the level of propaganda and corruption of the pharmaceutical and food industry, bringing the truth to light sometimes takes decades to counter the billions that these powerful people pour into selling their toxic products… As for example with Fred Kummerow who dedicated his career to denouncing the evils of hydrogenated fats (Trans Fats) sold in margarine and industrial products. The same man who at the age of 100 sued the FDA and its administrative slowness to recognize it, shows us the extent of the convictions and the work of what I consider as heroes of nutrition. We live in a time when the latest nebbish on social media wins infinitely more attention and recognition than the great scientists who have moved the world forward, but I have always preferred and favored those who actually do the work behind the scenes, rather than the show people who only make noise. We have published an article on these issues of influence and influencers.
It is impossible not to mention Richard Veech and Kieran Clarke who, one in the USA and the other in the UK, have dedicated their careers to the study and development of ketone bodies. I am talking about decades dedicated to the study of β-hydroxybutyrate and its synthesis… Just studying the career of these two researchers is fascinating. How can we not then talk about Dominic D’Agostino who is of the new generation and who has taken up the torch of research on ketosis and its applications. If we talk about cancer and the ketogenic diet, names such as Thomas Seyfried, Miriam Kalamian, Adrienne Scheck and Rainer Johannes Klement, among others, should be highlighted as true artisans of the science of the ketogenic diet against cancer, just like Drs. Djikeussi and Schwartz in France. I can also mention Mike Mutzel who does an incredible job of disseminating information, or for example Peter Defty who is a pioneer in the sport for the use of fat as a fuel, like Zach Bitter who did not hesitate to support our site since its foundation. there are so many… Amber O’Hearn, Ivor Cummins, Mary Newport, Mark Cucuzzella, Michael Eades, Richard David Feinman, Phil Mafferone, Zoe Harcombe, Dave Feldman, Jeffry Gerber, Doug Reynolds, Amy Berger, Eric Westman, Marty Kendall, Richard K. Bernstein… Impossible to name everyone… But everyone was able to participate in the body of knowledge of the ketogenic diet that we have available today.
Once again, it is really difficult to talk about the pioneers, because we must not forget anyone. But, whether it is a question of fundamental research, doctors, or athletes, I would like to take this opportunity to simply and sincerely thank them for all of their discoveries that allow us to be where we are today. I strongly encourage you to take an interest in the pioneers of the ketogenic diet, their scientific publications and their books. It is only because of this legacy that we can build a well-formulated ketogenic diet today.
Sophie would like me to give her my assessment of the evolution of Keto in the French-speaking world, in light of these 10 years of experience. She would also like to know the differences between France and the United States where we have been living since 2020.
Ulrich: This 10-year assessment is contrasted in France. In 2013, when we started, there were very few books in French: five at most dealing with the subject. We had to quickly turn to English-language literature, especially from the United States, which already had a head start. I’m thinking of doctors and scientists, as well as authors like Maria & Craig Emmerich and others who had already published a great deal.
Gradually, all of that grew. We opened our website in 2015, with the desire to share our experience to expand the French community of Keto diet users. We created a group on Facebook, which we closed in 2019 with already more than 5,000 people, and then it was Instagram in 2020 that we left because of the massive censorship that we all could experience. All of this was able to grow gradually, year after year until 2020. Unfortunately, we saw a lot of misinformation coming from those who have a big financial interest in not seeing the ketogenic diet grow in parallel. We have also seen a lot of amateurism, i.e. people who want to make money quickly by presenting the ketogenic diet as a miracle diet to lose 50 kilos in no time for example. We even paid the price, with a smart guy from Nantes (France), who pirated our first book to make a PDF that he sold at 19 € in astronomical quantities thanks to a perfectly tuned marketing… This is unfortunately the world we are progressively entering with the beginning of the year 2020 as a hinge.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that I alerted you to a scandal that unfortunately did not make much noise: that of fake authors and fake reviews on Amazon. Did you know that 8 out of 10 books on Amazon, are not written by anyone? Since 2020, with massive censorship on all social networking platforms (except MeWe which we use), censorship in the media, by Google and even in scientific journals, we really see a setback in the evolution of the ketogenic diet in the French-speaking area. We can even testify to the censorship that a platform like Amazon practices on the reviews submitted for our latest book. For all these topics, we published a complete article, which unfortunately did not allow the awareness we were expecting. The ketogenic diet is frankly in danger and we have been warning since 2020!
Now, we have been living in the US (Boulder, Colorado) since September 2020. Here, the reality of the ketogenic lifestyle is very different. Keto products are everywhere, Keto magazines are plentiful at the supermarket checkout, and books on the ketogenic diet have three entire shelves at Barnes & Noble. Not a month goes by in the year without a major conference being held in one of the American states to discuss the ketogenic diet: San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, New York, Austin or even Boca Raton in Florida, to name only the largest. To put it simply, here you tell the restaurant that you are on Keto and the waitress already knows that she can offer you vegetables instead of fries. The ketogenic lifestyle in the US is ultra-easy. In addition, there is a real movement towards quality, free-range farming for all animals, regenerative agriculture that helps sequester carbon.
For example, in Boulder where we live, we even have Keto burgers that will be presented to you in salad leaves or a Keto bun, zucchini or onions instead of fries, beef fat for frying, keto ketchup and a sweetened Stevia drink or a Kombucha, while finishing with a milkshake made with A2 milk from cows that only graze on grass, all without sugar… Like what, you can even make Fast food without necessarily making Junk food…
The gap between Europe and the USA on the ketogenic diet is unfortunately widening. The same is true for the ingredients. We had visited 33 American states between 2008 and 2019 before moving to Colorado in 2020, since then we are at 41 states out of 50. So we have a good view of what’s going on here, whether it’s on the road, at a gas station, restaurant or supermarket. Keto is booming in the US. Here, we have access to ingredients on the kitchen side, which are always unavailable in France, or even forbidden to be imported in Europe…
As far as doctors are concerned, the situation in France is not very encouraging. For a long time, I hoped that the level of doctors would improve, but unfortunately, the more time passes, the more it is a real collapse. With 7 million French people taking statins every day to lower their cholesterol, you can’t expect many doctors to tell you that the lower your total cholesterol, the greater your risk of dying prematurely. Given the scientific literature available on the subject of cholesterol, I think it is criminal to continue down this path… As for diabetes, we are still in the prehistoric era, with doctors who are not even aware that the ketogenic diet can reverse type 2 diabetes in a few months… Despite the scientific literature available. As a reminder, the very first scientific article on the ketogenic diet dates back to 1920 and already proposed to reverse type 2 diabetes. Proof that the continuing education of physicians is lacking. Or maybe they are too busy receiving medical visitors who will “sell” them their latest insulin or hypoglycemic drugs? All this is a real criminal organization, no less… With the patient/taxpayer as the victim.
Unfortunately, the experience of the last 10 years shows me that we are not going in the right direction, on the contrary. I am proud to have been able to train a large number of doctors in the ketogenic diet, teachers-researchers, nurses, naturopaths who are now all convinced and perfectly trained in all the science surrounding the ketogenic diet, however, this is not enough to hope for the slightest jump. Since once introduced to the ketogenic diet, it is impossible for them to communicate about it for fear of being excommunicated by their colleagues.
The year 2020 has shown us that a good doctor is a doctor who obeys and not a doctor who cures; who for his part will be judged by a council of order whose role is no longer to guarantee “order”, but rather to obey the orders of politicians, themselves at the orders of the pharmaceutical laboratories! Since 2020, the subject of health and nutrition has been perfectly controlled by the authorities, by Google, by the media, and by the agri-food and pharmaceutical industries.
All of this leaves no hope for a significant change, at least in France. Our list of doctors who are sympathetic to the ketogenic diet has not grown much over the years, which is disappointing. France remains the only western country that has never organized a large public conference around the ketogenic diet. We have thought about organizing one for a long time, but unfortunately the French still don’t seem ready for it…
Jean-Michel would like to know what I propose to help promote the ketogenic diet in the French-speaking world
Ulrich: My position has always been the same. The best promotion of the ketogenic diet that one can do is simply its own success. When you lose weight massively, when you are free of treatments, when you regain full health where sometimes for decades you had lost it, then the questions from your family, friends, colleagues come.
In a “wild” way, it is said that “convincing is defeating jerks”. I agree. Convincing a person is an art in the sense of “winning” in a debate that is nothing more than a fight, as Arthur Schopenhauer taught us in “The Art Of Controversy Or The Art Of Being Right”. I don’t think you have to convince anyone. You can convince someone, who may be convinced again of the opposite right afterwards. There is no way out. As I often say, no one comes to the ketogenic diet without a specific goal, no one comes to it by accident. A person who has no weight to lose, no declared health problem, who is not looking to improve his or her sports practice, will only see the constraints of the ketogenic diet without the advantages. Finally, talking about longevity to someone who is 25 years old will not resonate with them.
So, in 10 years of practicing the ketogenic diet, I have only seen people who were already convinced that they needed to do something for their health, but I did not have to “convince” anyone. I have seen people who I have talked to about the ketogenic diet not give a damn and who came to me with dozens of questions the day they passed away with a countdown activated and the urgency of the change to be made in their plate for their health. It was impossible to convince them beforehand, but afterwards they were already convinced… It’s sad, we would all like it to be different, but it’s the reality.
Unfortunately, we live in a short term world where the pleasure of three loaves of chocolate in the street outweighs the diabetes that will arrive decades later. It is also easier for the diabetic to inject himself with insulin reimbursed by the social security than to make changes in his diet. I won’t even mention bariatric surgery for obesity, prescribed as easily as Tylenol, making thousands of new handicapped people each year (more than 60,000 each year in France), dependent on highly dosed food supplements.
So, I have to concede that I can’t answer the question directly. Between illness through passivity, and health through action, in my opinion, it is only a very small minority of people who will roll up their sleeves to take action and change their lives. Add to that the media censorship and propaganda, doctors who are – frankly – nothing more than prescribers for the pharmaceutical companies, and the censorship of Google and the major social networks, and I clearly don’t see what we could do to advance the ketogenic diet under these conditions…
Rebecca wonders how I got back on track after a lapse or discontinuation of the ketogenic diet :
Ulrich: At the risk of disappointing many, in my 10 years on the ketogenic diet, I have never gone “out of ketosis”. In fact, I’ve never had to go back to it. As I detailed in a long article about the dangers of carbs to our health, or the one about the “cheat day” on the ketogenic diet, I really don’t recommend anyone to go back and forth between the ketogenic diet and a high carb diet. Our metabolism can only adapt so fast and the consequences can be significant to our health.
Those who have taken the Céto-Academy training know from the module dedicated to blood sugar (Master 1), that many changes occur with ketosis and that an individual perfectly adapted to nutritional ketosis, is absolutely not adapted to receive large quantities of carbohydrates. So, in my everyday life, there have been sources of carbohydrates that I have been able to consume very occasionally, such as a small piece of country bread to go with a good cheese at a restaurant, or a nice peach picked off the tree in a Colorado orchard. But, these few sources of carbohydrates are part of a day’s total that is always under 50g of net carbs per day. So, I’ve never had my nutritional ketosis stopped because of foods that are incompatible with it. When you understand the health toxicity of carbs, you clearly don’t want to do that to yourself. Even blowing out your candles for your 40th birthday can be done in “full fat” mode! Pass the butter please !
Sébastien, Rebecca, Stéphanie, and many other people have asked me how I managed not to “flinch”, not to deviate in my nutritional ketosis
Ulrich: The reason for the absence of “cheat” or “cracks” is very simple: I don’t get frustrated on the ketogenic diet. I don’t miss anything. As a result, I have no cravings for any food that would interfere with my nutritional ketosis. I love meats and dairy products. I have already said that I lost all of my 34 kg by eating 1 kg of raw milk cheese per week. Christophe, my master cheesemaker in Fontainebleau (France), can testify to this with my two weekly visits. At this level of reading my testimony, “the ignorant”, who advocate the exclusion of dairy products without even distinguishing between raw milk and the others, had to “collapsed”. 😊 Yes, raw milk cheese fits totally into a well-formulated ketogenic diet; it does not interfere with weight loss and it is not “inflammatory”. I have dozens of top scientific publications to back it up in addition to my experience to confirm it.
I enjoy highlighting low-carb vegetables and if I sometimes feel like treating myself to a Keto dessert, pancakes, waffles, cakes, bread we have absolutely everything available to make very low-carb ones. I also love 100% chocolate, which I enjoy both as a snack and as hot chocolate, which I make in a “Full Fat” version. I really don’t see what could make me want to eat it since I have absolutely everything I like in the ketogenic lifestyle… So why should I “crack”? I don’t know…
Nathalie asked me if I took any supplements
Ulrich: In 10 years on the ketogenic diet, I have gone through several stages. First, the induction of the ketogenic diet for weight loss. In my various testimonials at 18 months and 3 years, I have published and said that I took several dietary supplements such as potassium, magnesium, vitamin D and omega 3 EPA/DHA. As I have explained in all my publications, between a deficiency and a supplementation, it is better to use a dietary supplement. It is not a failure to take a food supplement, unlike a deficiency !
But, as the years went by, after achieving my personal weight loss goals, I focused on micronutrients and especially their availability in our diet. I also looked at the right intake for each micronutrient in the context of nutritional ketosis. Because if the values given by the health authorities in the world, as well as those of the scientific literature, are in the context of a diet very rich in carbohydrates, our needs change radically in the context of a low carbohydrate diet. The striking example is, our vitamin C needs on a very high carbohydrate diet versus our vitamin C needs on a very low carbohydrate diet.
Years of research have led me to find the optimum for a human being in continuous nutritional ketosis. Over time, I was able to get rid of the supplements I was taking at the beginning. Whether it be iodine, potassium, magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin K2, Zinc or Copper, I have shared with you where to find the best micronutrient intake in a well formulated ketogenic diet.
Vitamin D is very important to me and today its deficiency is the cause of a considerable part of the ills that affect our modern society. On a personal note, I used a supplement, and I was able to test cod liver. Now I am fortunate enough to live in Colorado which allows me to get optimal levels of vitamin D from my sun exposure. So I don’t have any rules and I’ve always encouraged everyone to not have any rules, but to simply strive for their goal. If that goal requires taking a dietary supplement, take it! If you can do the same with food or sun exposure, then even better. But, never neglect your vitamin, mineral and trace element intake !
My personal priority is to get enough of each micronutrient in my food. However, if I can’t, then I look for the best form of supplementation to implement. I have also spent a lot of time trying different molecules for different effects. In my work as a Biohacker for athletes, I have to be able to explain to my clients which way to go for their goals and the best way to know is to have tested it myself.
Julie asks me how I deal with the detractors of the ketogenic diet: doctors, friends, colleagues, she asks me what I answer
Ulrich: At the risk of disappointing Julie, I don’t answer. It’s a posture I took a long time ago for the sake of efficiency. By 2015, I found myself with at least one article a day in the mainstream media, talking really rubbish about the ketogenic diet. Responding to these articles would have required hiring several people full time. Now it’s even worse, you really have to understand that we have entered the industrial age of stupidity !
I guess you think I’m exaggerating, so I have to bring some arguments. Nowadays, on the web, almost nobody really writes quality articles anymore. We make cheap crap. For example, you want a 600 word blog post on any topic ? No need to think about it, you pay 30 to 60 € and someone at the end of the world who knows absolutely nothing about your subject, will write you an article ready to be published in less than 24 hours. Companies like Fiverr offer matchmaking, and others take care of getting articles published on other sites to link back to yours and get you higher in the search engine rankings. Your SEO improves, but you are participating in the publication of thousands of crappy articles on the ketogenic diet. Under these conditions, it becomes materially impossible to respond to the tons of nonsense poured out every day on the web.
Secondly, on a more serious note, there are many detractors of the ketogenic diet. The corrupt doctors on the television, the journalists paid to misinform by the food industry and the pharmaceutical laboratories, the medical experts paid by the pharmaceutical industry. These people have far too much power and money to be confronted head on. It is a waste of time. As we have already explained in the Céto-Academy, it is important to understand that when you have billions to spend on marketing to make hundreds of billions in profits, you can do anything to pass off any lie as truth. You can even manufacture the scientific literature necessary to support your lies. If you have not read the book “Side Effects: Death. Confessions of a Pharma” by John Virapen, former CEO of Eli Lilly in Sweden, I encourage you to do so. You will know everything that is done from the inside. Thus, you will better understand that answering the detractors of the ketogenic diet is strictly useless ! It is a pure waste of time.
Eric, who is a athlete, asks me if I have also noticed the effects of nutritional ketosis on my perspiration :
Ulrich: Nutritional ketosis profoundly changes our energy metabolism. From the use of water-bound glycogen, we move to fatty acids that produce metabolic water. It’s very different, it’s a real fuel change, with a totally different operating mode. Before 2013, I was sweating a lot, with a huge loss of electrolytes and trace elements (for those who don’t know, sweat is not only water and salt, there are many molecules excreted). Then, about 18 months after I started the ketogenic diet, i.e. around 2015, I could see that my sweating had radically decreased. In my Keto athletic practice, I need to hydrate much less than I used to, so I need less electrolytes as a replacement. I admit that I tried many things during this transition phase, as the scientific literature was thin on the subject of hydration for the fat-adapted athlete. After much trial and error, I was able to find the right adjustments that are basically nothing but common sense. I would like to take this opportunity to draw attention to the extreme importance of replacing what you lose and it is not (once again) only water! The composition of sweat is individual with huge variations between people. If athletes are generally well aware of their sodium, potassium or magnesium intake, they often neglect many micronutrients and trace elements such as iodine, copper, zinc, etc.
Jérôme and Anaïs ask me how I managed during these 10 years in the Keto diet, social pressure, family meals, meals at work, how not to crack when meals follow each other, parties and apéritifs ?
Ulrich: I don’t know what “social pressure” means … and I make an analogy to abstinence from alcohol. When I was a kid, I was able to taste different alcohols. In 1994, I was 16 years old, playing sports and already learning about scientific literature. I understood that alcohol is a poison, that the right amount of alcohol for a human is zero.
So I have not drunk a single drop of alcohol since 1994. Have I felt any kind of “social pressure?” never… Yet, I am a man, and inevitably, when you don’t drink a beer, refuse an aperitif or a glass of wine, it is “that you are not a man”. 😊 No problem, I’ve never cared what people think. I am a free man and responsible for my choices, and on any occasion whether it be family, friends or work, I have always said no and have always drunk my soda before the ketogenic diet and then my Perrier or a glass of Kombucha since I have been in ketosis. I have never had a problem with this and I have never been tempted to have a glass of alcohol (which I did enjoy) before I said no, definitely. With 29 years of hindsight and total abstinence from alcohol, I can confirm that it is very simple to live. Saying NO in a definitive and invariable way allows me to set things straight with those around me. Quickly, each person who knew me knew that they did not have to offer me alcohol. As time went on, friends and family always had something planned for me. Of course, if you are variable geometry, with a “yes” and a “no”, people don’t know anymore and will systematically offer you. Knowing how to say “NO” in a firm and definitive way is a very easy position to manage and to live.
For the ketogenic diet, it’s exactly the same approach. I’ve never felt any social pressure. I have always been able to eat keto wherever I went, whether in a road restaurant with a €10 menu, in a large gastronomic restaurant, or at family parties, weddings, birthdays, etc. There is always keto to eat everywhere on any occasion. So, I can guarantee it, since we have been able to experience all possible situations in 10 years. At worst, refusing the sugar-packed cake will not be a problem if we explain in two words the reason. I think it is important not to have the weakness to hide its lack of determination behind a “social pressure” that would overcome our will. I don’t think that’s an excuse.
Laurent asks me what my morning eating routine is
Ulrich: Personally, I think routine is a bit of a slow death. While I enjoy setting up routines to get my stuff in order which saves me brain time for other things, I don’t enjoy the daily grind of doing the same thing over and over. As a Biohacker for one, I test new things almost daily. Whether it’s foods, molecules, materials or methods, I’m always trying new things.
Generally speaking, I eat all my food for the day before noon 9 times out of 10. I remain convinced that this is the optimal way to eat. Whether it’s broken down into one meal or two meals, this is how I’ve lived for years. Of course, if we’re on the road, for example, it’s possible to have a good breakfast and then have a late dinner at 6:00 pm (yes, I realize that “late” next to “6:00 pm” comes as a shock to the uninitiated in chronobiology in Europe), but that’s still an exception and I never eat after dark. I will not share the precise composition of my breakfast, because first of all, it is variable and secondly, it only corresponds to me. I would not want to give a “miracle recipe” that fits me perfectly and that would not fit other people. But, in general, it is a breakfast rich in proteins, rich in micronutrients, and without liquids for a perfect digestion. My morning espresso is either taken well before or well after the meal. One thing is for sure in my morning routine, I never fail to have some raw milk kefir every morning.
Laurence, who is back to traveling and who loves trekking in the middle of nature, immersing herself in local populations of countries very far from our European civilizations, wonders if during our travels, we were confronted with the impossibility of eating in Keto diet ? She asks me if it happened during these 10 years that I had to stop my ketosis because of this constraint.
Ulrich: The answer is simple: it has never happened to me. We have traveled all over the world: in Europe from Portugal to Sweden, in the Middle East to Israel, in America, in Polynesia, etc. We have done this by car over several days, by train, and by plane on flights of up to 24 hours with 2 hours stopovers. We have done this by car over several days, by train, and by plane on flights of up to 24 hours with 2 hours of stopover. Never in 10 years have we found ourselves saying to ourselves: “now we have no choice, we have to eat carbohydrates”.
In reality, it’s very simple. If you look at it, absolutely everywhere on earth we have access to meat, fish, dairy products or eggs. Even in cultures far removed from the Western way of life, these foods are present. It is important to understand that it is the modern western lifestyle that is very rich in carbohydrates, as soon as we move away from civilization and become dependent on hunting (like during a trek in the wilderness), there is no difficulty in finding “proteins and lipids” in the prey that is hunted or caught.
So whether it is in a restaurant, or more simply at a small shop on the side of the road, there is always a way to refuel. Of course, it may be necessary to plan and organize. It can also be useful to carry stocks, for example, dried meat in all its forms. This is very convenient, as it does not require refrigeration. So, in practice, from Israel to Sweden, from an American desert in an Indian reserve to a remote village in “the Haute-Loire” in France, on a winter’s evening, we have never had to give up. It even came naturally. I remember a road trip to Denmark where we stopped unexpectedly in a small village in Germany with only one small restaurant open late at night, it ended with 2 steaks each on the plate “ohne Kartoffel” (without potato) and a piece of cheese… In all sincerity, we never had a problem to eat, in any situation since the sources of proteins and fats are universal in the world…
Jean-Baptiste wonders how to escape frustration or anger when you see how much science and experience support nutritional ketosis, and it is not promoted more in today’s world ?
Ulrich: That’s a good question that I don’t see a satisfactory answer to. In my opinion, the only angle to keeping your sanity from going crazy in a crazy world is simply to focus on yourself, your goals, your priority. You have to set up a plan to follow and adjust to reach your goal. And, once reached, you have to choose another goal and so on without ever losing focus on this goal, without ever moving away from it. This allows you to isolate yourself from certain things that can really discourage. And don’t fall into the vicious circle of wanting to help the whole world, which clearly hasn’t decided to help itself. This path only offers disappointment.
An example with what we are experiencing. In the USA, the rate of morbid obesity is through the roof. In fact, the obesity epidemic is such that the CDC has updated its growth curve to 2000. And what do we see ? Simply that an obese child in 2000 with a BMI of 30 is in the “norm” in 2022, since they had to extend this BMI to 53 to better reflect reality. The new normal is that we are all obese but are perceived as normal ! What can we do in a world that is heading in such a direction ? Unfortunately nothing but focus on ourselves and our own health goals. Obesity is not a lifestyle, it is a disease with serious short, medium and long term consequences. The ambient madness that wants to make this pathology a “right to be different” does nothing but send everyone to the cemetery sooner.
For the record, on January 9, 2022, the CDC in the USA authorized bariatric surgery from the age of 13 and the use of a new anti-obesity drug that costs $1200 per month from the age of 12. Injecting a product (Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy) every week “YES”, changing your diet to a Keto diet “NO”. Follow the money, and you will know the choice of the doctors.
Diabetics abound and people in wheelchairs who can’t walk clutter the soda aisles in supermarkets. When you’re working on the ketogenic diet and health, it can really sap your morale and become discouraging. Just take a trip to a Walmart supermarket in Kentucky, Louisiana or Alabama and you’ll get the sense that being thin is only for a tiny minority.
Knowing the United States well before moving here, we made the choice to live in the “healthiest” city in the US, with an obesity rate 50% lower than in France. The life we have here allows us not to lose our focus on the ketogenic diet, we are encouraged by what we see, healthy and athletic people who take care of their bodies. So we have chosen a positive environment for our goal and our work. It’s all about having a goal and sticking to it.
By seeking a positive environment on the ketogenic diet, we serve our purpose. At the same time, we isolate ourselves from what we don’t want to see, such as news, newspaper articles, or television shows that we know will take us away from our goal. Knowing how to choose your environment is very important in my opinion. As I have said many times: “in a world of hyper-choice, you have to learn to make your choices”. Thus, between being exposed to a toxic environment or preserving oneself from it, for me the choice is quick. Nelly puts it differently: “Act instead of reacting”, meaning that it is better to act on one’s life in order to change the context, rather than reacting permanently to a context that is unbearable. Do you see the idea?
Karine wonders how I organize my diet before a trail race or for sports in general
Ulrich: That’s a good question, because my answer may have evolved over the years. When I started the ketogenic diet in 2013, I had already started running again. I was fat and heavy, but I was running. When I went into ketosis and diet for running was a big topic to address, I of course did a lot of research. I found a lot of information, then tried it. But clearly, nothing worked. Also, I did some stupid, counterintuitive things only to see them fail myself. For example, drinking a very high fat hot chocolate 3h before going on a long run (20km+), eating too much food, packing nuts to eat while running… So, I think I can say that I was able to test all the things not to do. 😊
Then I finally understood. In the end, there’s nothing to do. When you follow a well-formulated, micronutrient-rich ketogenic diet, you already have everything you need, year-round and for training. On race days, leaving on an empty stomach is the most successful thing for me, because I have everything with me ! Of course, it takes a lot of experience to have the confidence to run on an empty stomach.
My permanent ketosis state allows me to preserve my glycogen stocks, I have enough body fat to fuel my muscles, so I will focus on the length of my effort to bring water and minerals in sufficient quantities, but always less than the loss (I also made those mistakes of wanting to replace everything that was lost during the effort). And, that’s all. I am not personally concerned by long races like 160 km and more. On the other hand, if I were, then I would focus on my glycogen and heart rate, also depending on the elevation gain. But, in the end, it’s very little when you are perfectly Keto-Adapted and then Fat-Adapted, you already carry everything you need.
You can read the testimonies of Michael in Ultra Trail or Marc Vallée or of Sean and Meli in cycling, it is always the same vision of simplicity that comes back. When we talk about the ketogenic diet for amateur sports, we get our brains in knots for nothing, I can guarantee it, I have the experience. For professional sports, it’s another matter and it’s part of my job. Indeed, the athlete for whom sport is his job, cannot afford to lose time in adaptation, that’s where I come in to help and advise him, because high-carb performance and low-carb performance are two very different modes of operation, everything must be reviewed.
Now, for me, Motocross is even easier. I have never known such comfort. I take my breakfast early in the morning before leaving, by the time I load the bike and get to the track, my digestion is done, and I ride all day without needing to eat. I only swallow water and electrolytes ! No loss of energy, no cravings, no digestive problems. It’s just perfect and a comfort I wish I had known in my youth !
Jean asked me two questions. The first is what medical tests and examinations I find useful, and how often they are done
Ulrich: When you are in perfect health, that is to say without the slightest problem of weight or pathology, I don’t see much point in doing examinations or analyses. When you do, you have to know exactly what you’re looking for. For example, you can do a DEXA Scan to measure your bone density and see your body composition (useful in the long run when you try to change things). You can do a CAC Score to see if you have reversed the situation and your cardiovascular risk. You can also measure your vitamin D with a blood test to know if what you are doing is sufficient to enter the optimal zone (whether it is food, supplements or sun exposure). But, once this optimal zone is obtained and you don’t change anything in your habits, there is no real reason to measure it regularly.
Then, concerning vitamins and minerals, it is difficult to make a general statement. Blood tests often show nothing, whereas a 24-hour urine test will provide additional information. There are many analyses made from blood, which will never show the slightest dietary deficiency, since blood is only a place of transit and the stocks of these micronutrients are in the tissues.
Add to this the difficulty of finding a competent doctor to request and analyze these data. If it’s only to take a lipid profile measurement and to hear him or her say stupidly “your total cholesterol is too high”, you might as well avoid the analysis which will be useless.
At my level, I don’t get my tests prescribed when I’m looking for something, I go to the lab, I pay for the test and I’m able to interpret the data. But, that’s my job as a Biohacker, few people will engage in this long learning process towards autonomy unfortunately. In summary, a routine blood test often shows nothing at all. You have to know precisely what you are looking for to do the right analysis and to know how to interpret it.
Jean’s second question concerns my dealings with doctors on topics such as ketosis, cholesterol, sodium intake and micronutrients
Ulrich: I have excellent relationships with doctors or researchers who have understood that it is a faulty metabolism that is at the center of the vast majority of our civilization’s ills. I have a deep respect for Dr. Laurent Schwartz or Dr. Éléonore Djikeussi, whom I really consider to be friends. We can disagree on a precise point while keeping a mutual respect, which gives us the possibility to exchange and discuss on these precise points. But, this frank and respectful communication is now almost impossible with the rest of the medical profession. A doctor goes through 9 to 12 years of study to learn how to prescribe drugs for the Big Pharma, and of course does not accept to be lectured by a patient or a person like me. A MD learns to read a blood test to diagnose type 2 diabetes, then prescribes Metformin and insulin for life, he does not learn to formulate a ketogenic diet for his patients. End of story, there is no debate in this little world.
For the record, in France, you had a doctor who dared to talk about his management of type 1 diabetes in lowcarb diet, while publishing under a pseudonym so as not to get in trouble with his colleagues. That’s the reality. There is no debate possible in the face of dogmas that have become true religions between doctors and pharmaceutical laboratories.
Consult science, it will teach you that it takes a few months to reverse type 2 diabetes, then consult a doctor and tell me how many have told you that you can reverse it in just a few months?
It is to fill this knowledge gap, that many health professionals, doctors, researchers but also naturopaths, have asked me to offer them consultations, to help them with problems specific to the ketogenic diet. I intervene to help interpret analyses, to find solutions and to answer their questions in the follow-up of a ketogenic diet. Because the answers to be found often have nothing in common with those known when following a diet rich in carbohydrates. I have become a kind of “support” for them, the one they turn to when they can’t find a solution to the problem.
William would like to know how I managed to stabilize my weight after losing 33 kg, because he is struggling to keep it off.
Ulrich: Stabilizing your weight is a pretty simple problem. As explained in the Céto-Academy, we take in energy and we use energy. We just need to find the balance, taking into account our satiety in the middle. If we eat a lot of low energy foods, then it is difficult to get enough energy (typically a large volume of cauliflower). On the other side of the balance, if we bring in too many high energy foods, it is easy to bring in too much. That being the energy side of the problem.
But muscle mass (lean mass) should not be overlooked and should be a priority for everyone. Weight doesn’t mean much after all. You can weigh 70 kg and be very fat, or on the contrary 70 kg all muscle with a very low fat mass. In my opinion, when you are thin, stabilizing your weight is an intermediate objective, which could be followed by a second objective which is to gain muscle, with another macronutrient trade-off oriented towards muscle building. In conclusion, stabilizing one’s weight on the ketogenic diet after having reached one’s weight loss goal is achieved through a new macronutrient trade-off.
Finally, Nicole asks me what my plans are for the future, after these 10 years of ketogenic diet and soon 8 years dedicated to EatFat2BeFit
Ulrich: Ten years on one subject is a great slice of life. I can’t count the number of studies I’ve reviewed, the books I’ve read, the videos of conferences I’ve watched to finally obtain the mass of knowledge I have today. I am really happy with this path and this work, which allowed me and Nelly to publish 2 important books, the Céto-Academy, all the articles on the website and to have been able to help directly or indirectly thousands of people and also to allow the ketogenic diet to be spoken about in a favorable way in the media.
I have devoted the last few years to learning about all aspects and applications of the ketogenic diet. So, I think I’ve covered it all and the 2 hour video where I present the applications of the ketogenic diet is the synthesis. I have a total mastery of this subject, I have more than 4,000 PDF studies directly related to the ketogenic diet out of the 8,000 that I have (that is, almost all of them) and my weekly scientific watch allows me to consult the 10 to 20 new papers that come out every week. So I’m interested in all the topics that are connected to it, and it’s much more extensive. A lifetime would not be enough.
I’m very interested in micronutrients and how they can be incorporated into food, whether it’s through farming or breeding methods. It’s a fascinating subject. Moreover, you can’t imagine what you can put in a mushroom whose environment you control, for example. I come from the agricultural world where I worked for years, then 12 years in agri-food expertise. Going back to the roots, that is to say to the production of one’s own food, is for me an evidence in a world where the richness in micronutrients of our food has only collapsed since 80 years…
I am also interested in many of the latest Biohacking techniques that I share with my sports clients. In the United States, I have access to all the equipment I need, such as a hyperbaric chamber, LLLT or shockwave therapy equipment, which is very exciting. Finally, on a personal note, I also like to borrow Nelly’s kitchen, to try some new ingredients or some fermentation techniques to make a food “compatible” with nutritional ketosis, which was not necessarily compatible without fermentation. I have made some miracles on the subject, of which I am not a little proud. Despite our 10 years on the ketogenic diet, the Keto lifestyle is a huge playground for us where we never stop experimenting.
Conclusion
To conclude this interview, I left it open in September 2022 to the doctors, scientists, naturopaths who follow us, to suggest analyses or exams to be done so that this testimony of 10 years in ketosis is as complete as possible. I was expecting requests for DEXA Scan, CAC Score and other blood or urine tests, as well as for the composition of the intestinal microbiota, but as surprising as it may be, I received absolutely no requests. I was therefore able to measure the lack of interest in the subject and I did not undertake any specific analysis to illustrate this testimony. This is probably indicative of the poor scientific interest in the ketogenic diet in the French-speaking world.
These 10 years on the ketogenic diet have been a real turning point in my life. Of course, there was the founding of EatFat2BeFit, the writing of our books with Nelly, many meetings. Beyond that, on a personal level, it’s obvious that I am very grateful to life for putting the ketogenic diet in my path. I had a high carb life before 2013 and a low carb life after. The benefits I have been able to reap, are priceless and at no time have I regretted my high carb life before. I wish everyone to be able to benefit from this one day, even if I am well aware that the collective awareness, despite the obvious scientific evidence, is not for tomorrow… Collectively, nothing will happen. But, individually, we can do everything!
From all this, from all this knowledge, from this experience, I have only one regret: that of not having come across the ketogenic diet earlier in my life. My mother Liliane passed away from Glioblastoma at the end of 2010 and in light of what I know today, I am convinced that her cancer would not have won if I had been able to implement a well-formulated ketogenic diet early in her illness… It is also for this, so that others can have this chance, that we put EatFat2BeFit online in 2015.
I wish you a long and healthy life on the ketogenic diet and I look forward to seeing you in 2038 for my next testimonial: “25 years on the ketogenic diet, the new fountain of youth!”, I will be 60 years old !
