Change in elements of cognitive ability? page

[alexgrace]

I have been primal for over three months now, and am doing great: lost lots of weight, strength up, sleep better, anxieties gone, great skin etc - my body has completely transformed.

Except I have noticed that some elements of my cognitive function aren't there anymore. It is almost as though there is a kind of wall preventing me from accessing parts of my cognitive abilities that I used to use very regularly for complex work that requires a deep focus.

It tends to be really noticeable when I need to do very focused work that requires me to hold linear concepts in my head. I used to be able to run sequences in my head and actually see them in my mind's eye, as though I was watching a film playing in my brain, and I don't seem to be able to do this so well anymore. It also manifests when I speak my second language; I am getting stuck in the middle of sentences and I can't rewind and run through what I have just said because it has just gone and I can't click things together to create the second half of the sentence.

It is like I can't see in my mind's eye so well anymore, and it is giving me difficulty putting components together to construct a greater whole and then "play it" in my head. There have been a couple of times recently at work where I am just sat looking the screen and the comprehension of the words or totality of what I am doing doesn't seem to be getting through to my brain.

I am having great difficulty "seeing into words" (this might make no sense, but I don't know how else to describe it).

I am definitely getting enough sleep, definitely enough fat and protein, and my carbs aren't extremely low (I average between 60 to 80 grams a day: all fruit, veg and salad).

I have wondered whether, previously, when on a SAD diet, much of this type of mental capability might have been provoked by a constant high level of sugar in my blood or high levels of stress hormone: that I have been living constantly in a fight or flight response, which gave me the increased awareness/mental function (but also a chronic panic disorder).

Now that I have stopped that, that "run away from the monster" increased mental function has disappeared. I am certainly far more calmer and chilled out than I have ever been in my life, but there's just this thing that is now missing in my head.

Has anybody else experienced something like this? If so, what did you do? Does anybody have an insights?

[primalrob]

quite the opposite for me. if anything, i have had increased clarity of thought, and far greater visualization skills. i am able to hold onto things longer and, since going primal, feel as though my brain just doesn't get worn out. my experience may have a lot to do with environmental factors, though, such as reaching the ceiling in my current job. regardless of the reason, for the past year, i've had real growth in my mental game.

[Juliemama]

Going into Ketosis always makes me feel a little foggy upstairs, being in ketosis is fine. It's the shift that takes the brain a little while to adjust to burning ketones instead of glucose.

[alexgrace]

Going into Ketosis always makes me feel a little foggy upstairs, being in ketosis is fine. It's the shift that takes the brain a little while to adjust to burning ketones instead of glucose.

I had carb flu when I first went primal, but this decreased capacity has been going on for over three months. Could it be something weird like I am shifting in and out of ketosis on a regular basis, because, for a few days, my carbs will be 50 grams, then, on others, they will be 80 grams?

Or could it be some sort of nutrient deficiency?

[Paleobirdy]

I had the opposite. After menopause, I was frequently in a fog, and in a foul or anxious mood. Going low carb has been wonderful for all that. (I don't try to go into ketosis.)

[quelsen]

OK I expereinced this on my first round of HCG. That being said there must be some connection between thinking and carbohydrate intake, as if signalling created a new pathway based on the lack of ketones and sufficient fat intake. Giving the body what it really needs knocks that old pathway offline. I have over the last year experienced episodes which if i had not known my own self so well woudl have scared me shitless, like the day i found i could not write. literally could not form letters on paper while journalling.

From my n=1 you have to rebuild the pathways. and from my n=1 it is a start over not a tie-in. I thank you for bringing it up as i have only just started to accept that i have to rework the system you have givine me a reason to accept it for true.

Maybe i can craft some NLP work to reconnect those pathways

[knickerbocker]

I just saw my endo yesturday. She is generally a big fan of the principals behind the PB. That said she does not believe in going below 150 grams of carbs daily. She states that is the minimum needed to keep the brain functioning properly... now that is just her opinion (although I have found her to be pretty sharp) and everyone is different , but maybe experiment going up on healthy carbs a bit and see if you notice a difference

[namelesswonder]

I have experienced this feeling on and off throughout my life. It's mostly exacerbated by fatigue, which means that it has been pretty constant for the past 10 years or so. So far, having started eating primal about 2 weeks ago, I am still struggling with getting all my food ratios right (not getting enough fat, I know that much) so the fatigue continues and thus the "fog" persists, or so I assume that's why this is happening. I haven't noticed how my eating really contributes to that feeling, except that now when I have eggs in the morning, I tend to feel a little more "there" for a few hours after.

Prozac made this infinitely worse for me, which is why I'm now hoping to reduce my dosage of Lexapro. It hasn't dimmed my mental capabilities as far as I've noticed, but I'm still wary of that occurring again. My doctor said that many patients often cite "not feeling like themselves" when they wish to change prescriptions/get off the medication (across the board for anti-anxiety and anti-depressants). It doesn't sound like you're on anything like this, so consider this just a personal side-note.

I agree that trying to keep carbs higher for a time might be worth a try. The solution is probably going to vary from person to person. There may be vitamins/nutrients that you are missing out on that may help with this. It might be worth getting some blood work done to make sure nothing is low.

[alexgrace]

OK I expereinced this on my first round of HCG. That being said there must be some connection between thinking and carbohydrate intake, as if signalling created a new pathway based on the lack of ketones and sufficient fat intake. Giving the body what it really needs knocks that old pathway offline. I have over the last year experienced episodes which if i had not known my own self so well woudl have scared me shitless, like the day i found i could not write. literally could not form letters on paper while journalling.

From my n=1 you have to rebuild the pathways. and from my n=1 it is a start over not a tie-in. I thank you for bringing it up as i have only just started to accept that i have to rework the system you have givine me a reason to accept it for true.

Maybe i can craft some NLP work to reconnect those pathways

I am aware that for the last ten years of my life, my diet has been so carb heavy that I must have been both highly malnourished and living entirely off sugar and ethanol fuels (drinking alcohol was a major part of my life for work-related reasons; sometimes, I just couldn't produce anything until I had had a beer or a glass of wine). I now suspect that was more to do with the fuel type for my brain than anything else.

The thing is that what if my entire occupation has been built off feeding my body in this way, and the subsequent physiological state it creates (that constant near panic allows me to operate on a certain mental level that allows me to do my work)? I have noticed almost all my colleagues or friends that work in the same field consume very carb heavy diets (though most people do, but we do seem to have more vegans and vegetarians than other professions) and a very high proportion of them use alcohol in order to kick-start their work when they have problems (a lot of people in my field end up alcoholics).

The thing is that a large aspect of my occupation requires very unnatural behaviours (a lot of monitor exposure for long periods of time etc); what if it is only the poison you consume that allows you to undertake such a lifestyle with such poisonous elements?

I have also noticed that, since I went primal, I have an enormous resistance to my work. I actually, psychologically, just do not want to do it. I have been employed in my occupation for eleven years, and, since I went primal, all of a sudden, I hate my profession. I have never felt like this before, ever. But I don't know whether I hate it because of this decreased functioning, or I have the decreased functioning because I hate it.

I am really quite confused about it all.

[Juliemama]

What do you do for work? If you hate it now, then perhaps you should be using your brainpower to figure out other work opportunities and what you would really like to do? Just my 2 cents!