I've had a BiPolar diagnosis since I was 23 yrs old and I'm nearly 60 now.  I'd been toying with keto for a while and even went carnivore for six months. But everything changed when I had to come off lithium after it damaged my kidneys (stage 3b). Suddenly I was in no man's land, 15 years free of any episode and terrified of relapsing or ending up back on medication. An episode isn't just an episode it's a trauma that takes the brain ages to recover from and I didn't want to go there again.

The US has plenty of champions of metabolic psychiatry and I'd been researching it for a while. What I couldn't find was a UK program that offered the education, life skills and ongoing support to make medical keto sustainable and not just another fad diet. That's the gap Integrative Ketogenic Research & Therapies (IKRT) filled. I wish I'd known sooner that this kind of structured, clinically-informed support existed outside the US.

I booked a call with Erin Bellamy PhD and started the Mastery Program about a month ago. I've done enough diets to know how to follow a regime so the structure itself wasn't the hard part. What stood out is that Erin and her team make it personal. It doesn't feel like being a customer, it feels like they actually care. Erin clearly knows the subject in depth and keeps the program updated with current research so it feels like a living process rather than a fixed script.

It hasn't all been easy. Changing my meal prep and decisions to stay within the food list and macros has taken some getting used to and logging everything to check I'm hitting those macros is still a habit I'm building. I think that's just the early stages though and I expect it'll get easier as I adapt and things become more fluid.

The real proof of this keto pudding is how I feel. As long as I'm in ketosis the shadows are quiet. No sugar cravings, little hunger, anxiety down to almost nothing. The negative voice that's followed me most of my life is either easy to ignore or just not there. I feel calm and content in a way I haven't in over 40 years. If this is normal then long may it last.  When I'm tempted to stray I just ask myself - carbs or my mental health? It’s a no brainer.

I can't recommend this course enough. I know I'm at the beginning and I'm sure there will be ups and downs but I feel that with the support, education, community and caring I'm receiving there can only be an upwards trend. I feel so empowered that I've taken my own health into my own hands and I feel confident it will be life changing. The best thing I've ever invested in for my mental health.