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Ketosis is a metabolic state in which some of the body's energy
supply comes from ketone bodies in the blood, in contrast to
a state of glycolysis in which blood glucose provides energy.
Generally, ketosis occurs when the body is metabolizing fat at
a high rate and converting fatty acids into ketones.
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Modafinil is a medication to treat sleepiness due to narcolepsy,
shift work sleep disorder, or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). While
it has seen off-label use as a purported cognitive enhancer,
evidence for any benefit is lacking.
Common side effects include headache, anxiety, trouble sleeping,
and nausea.
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As mentioned previously in my phlog, I eat a ketogenic diet in
order to stay in a state of nutritional ketosis (a blood
concentration of β-hydroxybutyrate ketones in the range of 0.5-3.5
millomolar). Eating this way and staying in ketosis gives me
a number of benefits:
- Less hunger
- Easy avoidance of sugary foods
- Easy intermittent fasting
- Even energy levels throughout the day (no afternoon crash)
- Smoother, healthier skin (eczema goes away)
- Less inflamation in my joints
- Lower incidence of restless leg syndrome
- Increased mental clarity
- Lots of sexy food-porn on my Instagram
- Ability to talk about my diet for hours an annoy coworkers
- Easier weight loss
In order to stay properly in ketosis and avoid the normal pitfalls
I need to eat and drink a certain way. In short:
- Manage my macronutrients:
- Eat less than 20 grams of net carbs per day
- Hit my protein goal (~100 grams)
- Eat fat only until feeling sated
- Manage my micronutrients:
- Eat between 3-5 grams of sodium (yes, that's a lot)
- Eat at least 2 grams of potassium
- Get enough magnesium to avoid sleep and heart issues
- Otherwise make sure to hit my normal dietary needs for
vitamins & minerals
If I do those things, ketosis happens. It's that simple. I don't
bother to log anything in a food tracker anymore because it's
become so intuitive. Huzzah!
I also occasionally take the drug modafinil as a cognative
enhancer when I need to GET SHIT DONE. Based on my current supply,
last order, and a bit of math I average 1 dose every 3 weeks. Not
too shabby, if I do say so myself. In the past I've had stretches
where I've found it helpful to take more, and I've had holidays
from it where I forget I even have it.
The effects of modafinil are interesting. If I were to boil it
down to the essence I would say it increases your ability to focus
and quickly manage task-switching. A side benefit of that focus is
that I seem to have more motivation to do the tasks in front of
me. I can juggle more projects and input at once. Writing is
smoother and more efficient, and often much longer than it would
be otherwise. If I have a pile of work that really needs my full
attention and I want to tear through it with gusto, that's when
I'll pop the pill.
Its primary purpose was for use by the military to enable high
congnative functioning without sleep. It does that very well. If
I take a pill anytime after 9am, I will not get to sleep before
1am. It is very easy to pop one in the afternoon and coast on
through the night without noticing. I don't use it that way, but
many others do. I generally wake up early on days I plan to take
a pill and pop it around 6am, then get to work.
Since it functions in similar ways to caffiene, I've found it's
best for me to avoid coffee while "modded up". It triggers anxiety
in me which is detrimental to GETTING SHIT DONE. Modafinil also
makes it easy to forget about food and drink. It's an appetite
suppresant and your focus on work can distract you from healthy
habits like drinking water. This is a big mistake, too. Modafinil
will crush your brain with suck if you don't drink a crapload of
water. Headache central over here.
Since I need a lot of water for ketosis and also for modafinil
I made sure to focus on that today while I was doing both. So far
I'm sharp as a tack, motivated, and clear of headaches. The
effects of mental clarity from modafinil and ketosis do seem to
stack somewhat. All in all, they seem well suited to one another.
Now I'm off to drink another liter of water to keep it that way.
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