Dr. Georgia Ede: What ketogenic eating does to the brain

Ede argues that the primary drivers of many mental illnesses are not mysterious ‘chemical imbalances’ but chronic brain inflammation, oxidative stress, and impaired energy metabolism driven by insulin resistance. These processes are heavily influenced by diet, ultra‑processed foods, high carbohydrate intake, and environmental toxins. Improving metabolic health can therefore improve or even remit psychiatric symptoms in a subset of people.

In a French inpatient retrospective study of 31 adults with long‑standing bipolar disorder, major depression, or schizophrenia (average illness duration ~10 years, ~5 psych meds each), a mildly ketogenic whole‑foods diet led to improvements in all 28 who stayed on the diet for at least 2 weeks. 43% achieved clinical remission of their primary psychiatric condition, 64% left on fewer psychiatric medications, and all improved metabolically—outcomes rarely seen in standard care.

Nourish: provide all essential nutrients in bioavailable form; Ede maintains this cannot be reliably done long‑term without some animal foods (e.g., meat, seafood, poultry). Protect: remove foods and ingredients that drive inflammation and oxidative stress, notably refined carbohydrates and industrial seed ‘vegetable’ oils, rather than chasing antioxidants with supplements. Energize: keep glucose and especially insulin in a healthy range so brain cells can generate clean, reliable energy; for many people this requires lowering carbohydrate intake, sometimes to ketogenic levels.

Technically, a ketogenic diet is any way of eating that lowers insulin enough to turn on significant fat‑burning and generate ketones (β‑hydroxybutyrate ≥ 0.5 mmol/L). This can be achieved with vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, or carnivore patterns, as long as total carbs, protein, and energy balance are adjusted to keep insulin low. Fasting, calorie restriction, and intense exercise can also induce ketosis, but only a well‑formulated low‑carb/high‑fat diet is sustainable long‑term.

Ede notes that in ketosis many people spontaneously stop thinking about food constantly, can comfortably skip meals, and experience fewer cravings because glucose and insulin are stable and appetite hormones calm down. She compares ketosis to a ‘suit of armor’ for people with food addiction: not perfect protection, but far better odds. However, social context, habits, sugar addiction, and life stress still make adherence difficult and require psychological support and planning.