First Annual Keto Brain Health Conference

In a nutshell

• Provided valuable information on the causes of and cures for mental illness

• We’re all unique and we all should conduct our own personal experiment

• Real food and in particular, a ketogenic diet can be extraordinarily useful

I attended the First Annual Keto Brain Health Conference in October 2024 and this article provides a summary of what I learned.

I’ve listed the presenters and sponsors below for anyone who wishes to follow up. I follow the presenters on InstaGram and I did buy some things from the Real Food Company. The latter looks like a good source of things like supplements and healthy indoor lighting.

I provide more insight to the presentation by Dr. Zoe Harcombe on dietary fats here and by Dr. Rachel Brown on mental health here.

I took away three major themes as follows:

• The conference provided a valuable broad discussion of mental illness and its solutions

• Everyone has their own health issues and the most important experiment involves n=1

• Humans are uniquely gifted in their ability to innovate and self-sabotage

A broad discussion of mental illness and its solutions

Mental health is an area I’m not familiar with and thankfully I’ve never suffered from that type of illness. Many of the presenters and panelists have suffered and the descriptions of their symptoms are as horrific as the stories of their recoveries are inspirational.

The organisers covered what they described as an ongoing pandemic of mental illness and asked the question “what can we do”? They provided a four-part answer:

• Protect through education

• Restore health through behaviour and lifestyle

• Use real food as a primary driver of good health

• A ketogenic diet as the most important thing sufferers can consider to help themselves

This article is my modest contribution to trying to help protect through education.

Individual health issues with an experiment of n=1

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve emphasized that what works for me won’t work for everyone and vice versa. Presenter after presenter at the conference made this point in their own way and encouraged everyone to run their own experiment (n=1). I heard things like:

• Everyone has a story

• Everyone is still learning

• The more I learn, the more I realise I don’t understand

• Try something and move on if it doesn’t work

• Don’t be afraid to listen to your body

• Listen to people you trust

I think many of those messages boil down to good advice generally. They’re the sorts of things my parents and grandparents tried to teach me growing up (when does that end, by the way?).

Nevertheless, when it comes to managing our own health with food, we’re bound to wonder, “isn’t healthy food expensive?” Consider the following:

• Not compared to years of poor health

• Spend more on food and less on medical care

• Prioritise food, not unnecessary consumer goods

• Buy cheaper cuts of meat and cook them for longer

But isn’t the ketogenic diet a bit extreme? I personally wouldn’t try it unless I was sick and other things didn’t work. I don’t think it’s harmful, but it is difficult to follow successfully (see here).

A ketogenic diet is a very good mimic of the environment in which our species evolved and to which we are currently adapted. It has been shown to reverse mental illnesses and so-called chronic diseases. Each of us is different but I can see a strong case for trying a ketogenic diet to reset poor metabolic health and its symptoms. Once on a healthy path, it’s always possible to continue the n=1 experiment with easier to follow rules.

Humans are uniquely gifted

This appealed to my self-deprecating sense of humour:

• Humans are the only species suffering from so-called chronic diseases

• We are the only species clever enough to create our own types of food

• We are the only species stupid enough to consume them

Speakers

Dr. Zoe Harcombe – Instagram @zoeharcombe Independent researcher, author blogger and speaker in diet, health and nutrition

Richard Smith – Instagram @richard_smith_nutrition One of the UK’s top nutritionists brought to the field because of personal ill health and the need to take charge of fixing it

Dr. Rachel Brown – Instagram @carnivoreshrink Consultant and metabolic psychiatrist with 20 years’ experience

Ivor Cummins – Instagram @ivorcummins Independent engineer involved in managing complex systems. Prominent in the fields of CVD and nutrition

Dr. Anthony Chaffee – Instagram @anthonychaffeemd Neurosurgical registrar and functional medicine doctor

Heather Foley Holistic therapists using ketogenic diets to improve mental health and stability. Inspired by her own experience with traumatic brain injuries and PTSD

Ki Jennings Trained as food addiction coach after overcoming personal food addiction and severe chronic illness

Davinia Taylor – Instagram - @daviniataylor Actor, biohacker, bestselling author, and CEO of Willpowders

Sponsors and vendors

Fatt – make bars, brownies, cookies, muffins, and bites for consumers of keto using whole foods without sweeteners or seed oils

Keto-Pro – Richard Smith’s company providing a wide range of products for those on low carb and keto. Range includes bars, wraps, MCT oil, and electrolytes

Natural Ketosis – Home delivered complete keto meals

Pemmican Project – Carnivore snackfood contains organic beef, organic tallow and sea salt. Nothing added.

The Real Food Company – Provides a wide range of organic and healthy food, drinks, supplements, remedies, bodycare, household products, and lighting products designed with the real food, natural life consumer in mind

Willpowders – Davinia Taylor’s company providing powdered protein, collagen and MCT oil

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