I know you hear from me A LOT in the private Facebook groups for narcolepsy. “There she goes again!”… right? 🙂
At this point in time there is just ONE single teeny tiny clinical study that has been done to test the effects of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet on sleepiness and other narcolepsy symptoms. Though there is only this one study specific to ketogenic diet and narcolepsy, there is still a wealth of scientific information that I feel supports dietary changes to mitigate our symptoms. I talk about those in the three part series “Diet for Narcolepsy: A Science-y View from 30,000 Feet.”
There may only be that teeny tiny study and my personal thoughts on the science that applies, but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence; there are thousands of PWN are seeing good results and more are surfacing each day in forums and private Facebook groups. Case in point, the website KetoAdapted has featured two testimonials by PWN on their Facebook page. I encourage you to not only check out the testimony but to read the comments as well. It’s not just me out there saying diet therapy works folks… others are discovering this on their own via the easy to follow diet plans of sites like KetoAdapted.
- Kristin’s husband has narcolepsy. She says “After two weeks of sticking to your recipes and creating a couple of my own, my husband is sleeping longer at night and more soundly.” WOOT! (excerpt from KetoAdapted’s Facebook page)
- Lori has narcolepsy. She says ” I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been eating a Ketogenic diet now for 8 weeks and my narcolepsy symptoms are minimal. So exciting!” WOOT! (excerpt from KetoAdapted’s Facebook page)
If you are interested in trying the keto diet for yourself, I encourage you to check out KetoAdapted’s owner Maria Emmerich’s books. Not only is her diet advice easy to follow but her recipes are killer good. I own all of her cookbooks and cook from them at least once a week. She proves that eating keto can be every bit as fun and satisfying as your current diet but without the brain fog and weight gain. Winner Winner!
Your Madcap Miss (a.k.a. Gina Dennis)
Let me be totally up front here…I AM NOT A DOCTOR, nor am I a nutritionist, I only have a tiny amount of formal training in such things as a Health Coach. But I am a person with narcolepsy who uses dietary and lifestyle changes to mitigate my narcolepsy symptoms. I’ve been experimenting with these changes since July 2011 and have successfully maintained a high level of narcolepsy symptom management since that date. And so has my family with narcolepsy. This website contains our personal stories, failures, and experiments. In this website I will share with you the information that I have found most credible and some practical ideas for mitigating narcolepsy symptoms. I beg you to check with your doctor before initiating any of the dietary changes I speak of, especially if you are taking any medications.
