Hi dudes,

Lately i was reading info about very low carbohydrate diets and a protocol to lose weight or just maintain it "easier" called "intermittent fasting".

Basically what called my attention, was the (theorically) benefits that doing this can have in the brain.

A lot of people says they have a lot of more mental energy and less "brain fog" in a low carb diet (less than 100g a day) some people goes more far and totally elimitate carbs ..

As far as i know, the brain only can work with glucose .. and if we reduce drastically the carbs, or eliminate it we will have problems in our performance?

And later i read that in a few days of no carbs the brain can use "ketones" for fuel, this source are better than glucose?

Or maybe this benefits to only people who are insulin resistance?

The other one, Intermittent Fasting, is basically don't eat nothing for 14-18 hs, with a "small" window of 6-8 hours were you eat all the calories you need to maintain your weight.

This articles discuss a little more related to the possible benefits for the brain


Meal size and frequency affect neuronal plasticity and vulnerability to disease: cellular and molecular mechanisms.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12558961


Caloric restriction and intermittent fasting: Two potential diets for successful brain aging

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2622429/



Beneficial effects of intermittent fasting and caloric restriction on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems

http://www.jnutbio.com/article/S0955-28 … X/abstract

So is this something we must put our eyes on? or we just stick to a low GI diet, moderate carbs/fat/protein, and eating 3-4 times a day.

And another stuff about GI, is it seems when we mix proteins and fats (or a low gi food), with a high GI food, the GI fo that food lows considerably? so maybe that gives us more flexibility to choose our foods?

Cheers