The biggest change that I noticed starting a strict Keto diet 7 weeks ago is the abeyance of anxiety. I staunchly avoided desserts, all sugars and carbs from even vegetables with the exception of kale, onions, bell peppers, Swiss Chard and avocados. I will blog more about my Keto diet in the future but for now, I want to discuss my mental state.

The superpower that I’ve noticed is the equanimity of mind. I have more stability in my emotional state. I have much less worry about how people perceive me or how they may dislike me. I have this overriding sense of balance for myself and when my ego sees me fail, it does not allow for excessive rumination or time spent on worry. I worry a bit but then I can quickly move on.

Even being just slightly less concerned about how other people are perceiving me has been a golden opportunity. I can risk trying new things.

We are warned so much throughout our lives about “Taking risks” and “being careful”. But what about the risk of not taking risks?

The old bumper sticker “But did you die?” comes to mind. We forget how short our lives are so we spend less time self actualizing and more time self manicuring--more time framing ourselves as “cool”, “low key” and “let me keep myself quiet behind the scenes so as not to bother or annoy anyone.”. Instead of make a text post with our original take on a situation, we reshare someone else’s funny meme.

We ultimately try to make it so our ego doesn’t have to face the perils of other people and their judgment and critiques of us. Because…if we begin to come out and be original and just be our full selves, we know they could disapprove of our inner core, our true unvarnished identity–if that is such a thing.

Now, if being on a ketogenic diet helps my mind and wellbeing to such an extent that I will have tried and completed more things over the course of a year, then I can honestly say it’s a huge benefit. All of these incremental steps and pursuits add up.

With a better mental framework–thanks to Keto–I am gaining more “tries” in the game of life and with each move comes more opportunity for how the system of life works and how success is achieved.