Mark L. |Keto is the answer

I'm 66 and have become all too aware of my mortality. I'm 5'9", weight was 191, BMI 28.2. My fasting blood sugar was in the high 90s to 100, a place where you have to be concerned. My mother had metabolic syndrome and spent the last 8 years of her life functionally blind.

In March, I suddenly had a problem with the vision in my right eye. Lots of floaters suddenly appeared and I had trouble focusing. This was almost certainly a small retinal tear - detachment. This got my attention big time. After a few days of searching and I came across Dr. Berg. I jumped on the keto diet immediately. In my case, I simply eliminated sugar and grains - corn, rice, wheat, and potatoes.

For about 8 days, I had intense cravings. I had no plan to count calories and I was not yet interested in intermittent fasting, so I made keto snacks - almond flour and cheese Cheetos substitutes, for example. I got through that period.

After about two weeks, my evening cravings for food went away. I had lost about 7 pounds. It now seemed time for intermittent fasting. I was eating for about 10 hours, and fasting for about 14. Three weeks in my cravings subsided further, and I was now eating for about 6, fasting for about 18. I was down 10 pounds. I started having serious problems with constipation. I decided that the point here was to get healthy, so I started adding beans and peppers to my food, which more or less fixed that problem. And, to my satisfaction, made no change in my weight loss.

A little after 4 weeks, something changed in me. I suspect I had lost most of the fat in my liver and my liver started functioning properly for the first time in several decades. I lost all inflammation overnight. Suddenly the skin around my eyes, forehead, knuckles, and feet felt like it was skin on bones, with no padding, no swelling. And my feet were warmer at night. I was down about 15 pounds. My eyesight had cleared up, no more floaters, no more problems with focus. I'm now nearly 6 weeks in. I'm down 20 pounds. I've been reliably losing 3.5 pounds per week. My BMI is 25.2. My blood pressure is down 20 points.

This is the lowest it's been since I was 22. I'm eating for about 30 minutes per day, and fasting for a bit over 23 hours. I have had no swelling or inflammation for a few weeks. I'm not forcing my diet. I don't count calories, and I don't feel hungry for at least 22 hours. I do eat a fair amount so I actually feel over-full for several hours after eating. I feel like I could transition slightly away from keto - eating perhaps a small amount of rice or potatoes - and I would continue to have no swelling or inflammation. I feel that because I believe I've substantially healed my liver. But I'm continuing on for two or three more weeks, at least.

My goal is to get to 165 pounds, and perhaps a bit lower than that. I'll see how I feel when I get there. At the same time, I'm taking large amounts of vitamins D and K2 MH7. This is clearly helping heal my arteries. It was uncomfortable for me to turn my head more than about 45 degrees, and if I hit a doorway with my shoulder the sudden twist on my back was painful. I have 180 degrees of motion on my head now with zero discomforts, and my back is significantly more flexible. I have a ways to go - one does not reverse 40 years of damage in 40 days - but I'm clear that I'm very much on a much better path now.

For the first time in a couple of decades, I'm feeling more optimistic about my health. Perhaps I'll even make it to 90. I like that idea: make my ungrateful kids wait longer for any inheritance.