Characteristics of a Total Illusion

In this article, we are going to explore the psychological process of an Illusion. We will discover how Self-Deception works in every one of us and how it arises from deep underlying mechanisms that are interconnected with reality itself.
With that understanding we will be able to make the connection to spirituality and what are the difficulties that make true enlightenment so rare.
And in the end, we will see why this is ultimately a good thing and how we can use this knowledge to our advantage.

The deception in video games

Let's take a look at the shallow illusion of video games. This technology offers an experience that many of us today can relate to. To discover the characteristics of a total illusion we will first have to define what makes an illusion shallow and obvious. The historic development of video games reveals that the illusion becomes more realistic the closer it is to what we are used to experiencing in real life.

Game designers work very hard at giving characters more life-like movements and the overall behaviour of real humans.

It is also easy for us to imagine that at one point in the future video games will have surpassed the resolution of our senses, eventually becoming indistinguishable from our real sensory experiences.

So what else would it take to make us believe in the illusion? If we might join with all of our senses into such a game of the future we still bring with us our memories. From that, we can conclude that a total deception must also include our own memories besides a perfectly simulated sensory experience.

If we ask what makes video games so popular, we reveal another interesting aspect of psychology. What benefit do we get from spending our time in those virtual realities while obviously achieving nothing of value in "real" life?
Their appeal may lie in their ability to trigger our reward centres without requiring exertion of physical effort. They reward/cost relationship is high.

On another level they have become so good at presenting a life-like scenario that some people may be able to completely forget about their life. Usually only for a limited amount of time though.
An additional aspect of the illusion of video games is their storytelling. Great games not only have great graphics but also a great story. Some goals are presented to the player that seems to be of value to achieve within the game world. The background of the characters become ever more complex. For the players to identify with them even more, in-game decision influence the development of the story and it's outcome.

If all these aspects seem to you as representative of real life, than now you can contemplate the difference between an obvious and a total deception. You may want to ask yourself the question: What is missing in these perfect game scenarios that we can still distinguish them reality? 

Self-Deception

In order to make the illusion whole and difficult to uncover, all of our own being must be included in it. Which, again, doesn't mean that this is a bad thing. It just means that reality does not work the way that materialism makes us believe. The very mechanism by which reality comes into being is through an illusion. That is how it works. So in a sense, we could also say that it is real. Just not in the way we previously believed.

In order for the self-deception to be completely convincing, our own thought process is part of it. If you tend to disagree with me here, then ask yourself, what are you listening to, when trying to find out about the illusion? The answer is likely, that you rely on your own reasoning and your own thoughts. But beware that you have no "objective" background against which you could compare your thoughts and then say that they match reality.

This is why waking up is so tricky. It is a long and difficult process to reveal all the self-deceptions of the ego. But the reward is incomparable joy and bliss that exceeds all human expectations.

Why would we lie to ourselves?

I want you to think about a past experience when you lied. What made you use a lie in that situation?
It's purpose was likely to serve you in some way. You felt threatened by something and lying seemed to be a solution to avoid that thread. So it served you or your agenda.

So why would we deceive ourselves?
First, who is deceiving who if the individual we thought we are does not exist? We could answer, that only god exists and therefore god is deceiving himself.

Similar to the Movie "The Game", we might say God became bored with resting in it's own infinite existence and wanted to feel what it is like to be a part instead of the whole. To have a limited existence and feel what it is like to identify with a part of himself.
So the ego came into existence and is believed to be limited to the human body. That very thing, the ego, must be deluded in order to become a limited thing when in reality there is only one infinite whole. If that thing wants to survive, it has to feed the lie and keep deluding itself to stay alive... 

The Philosophy of "To Have or to Be" by Erich Fromm

How is it possible that some people in our society feel an emptiness inside of them? Or a frustration with their life circumstances? That some are not happy?
Most of us don't have to struggle for survival. We are blessed to live in a rich world in which we have access to great experiences, technology we never had before and own better products than even the richest people could dream of only 100 years ago.

"To Have or to Be" by Erich Fromm

can give us insight into why that is.

On one level of abstraction, all experiences, whether through the use of some product or through a relationship with another person, are inherently unable to satisfy our deepest desire for unity and happiness.

Through a life-long conditioning we have been programmed to seek experiences to elicit the emotions we like and numb the ones we want o avoid. This misconception leaves us our ability to Be underdeveloped. While some people are naturally more present and in the moment, others are constantly caught up in mental stories, desires, fears and hopes. And therefore living disconnected from the only thing that is actually true. Direct experience. That doesn't mean, thoughts are not part of direct experience, but giving too much meaning to the realm of thought and concept can leave our ability to be present underdeveloped.

What does it mean to Be? 

Does that mean you have to become a monk and leave your life behind? No, that's a complete misunderstanding of what being present means.
Living in the Now, means to become a super-conductor for your experience. It means to grow your consciousness of all aspects of human experience. Including all of the negative emotions and experiences. Being completely present in each and every Moment without resistance is the ultimate goal. Life will then have become a seem less flow of experience in which nothing is inherently good or bad. No pain without resistance.

All day awareness

is the habit I have picked up years ago. The gaps in my ability to experience the richness of life has been growing over the years. Slowly but steadily. It is a skill. That sill, over time, lead to deep enlightenment experiences. Concepts about yourself and the world are slowly starting to fall away. They move from the center of your attention to the edges. And with this steady increase in consciousness and presence, a natural feeling of calmness and happiness seems to arise. Without it being the primary goal.
Setting long-term goal can and will still be part of your overall existence. But your happiness is no longer outcome dependent. Being is the state from which you can truly fulfill your Life-purpose. Indepence from outcome will become your new definition of freedom.

"To Have or to Be" will no longer be the question

At a certain level of consciousness you will clearly see that those are two different things. Whereas you were chasing waves before, you now have become the water. Waves and changes in what is going with the water are still nice, but can't fundamentally change what water is. So is happiness a quality that is on a fundamental level independent of any experience.

Which doesn't mean that your current manifestation as a human being doesn't have certain needs. In fact, those basic needs will have to be satisfied before your mind will even be able to transcend them and open up for higher States of consciousness. The model of Maslows hierarchy of needs still applies.

How to do a prolonged water fast

After having fasted for 7 days twice and once for 10 days, I became obviously very interested in the topic and studied the benefits and what it does to the body.
After having read several books on the topic and countless articles on the internet, here is my summary of how to approach water fasting to get the most benefits and make it as easy as possible.

Reines, stilles Wasser ist die Grundlage für das Fasten.

The Preparation:

A preparation is not essential but it can make your fasting experience much easier. The best tip I can give to anyone planning ahead for a water fast, is to eat a very low carbohydrate diet leading up to the fast for at least 5-7 days. During that time the focus should be put on protein intake and low carbohydrate vegetables. This will pull your metabolic shift from carbohydrates to fats ahead and out of the fast. That way you go into the fast somewhat adapted to ketosis. Of course not all cells have switched fuel sources, but wasting of lean muscle mass is greatly reduced in this way.

The water fast:

During the actual fast, it's best to consume only pure water. No salt, potassium or any minerals. Of course, depending on the length of the fast, you have to look out for any symptoms of electrolyte imbalances after a longer time period. But for hunger and the actual purpose of the fast, autophagy and to rest the bowels, you want to consume nothing that could stimulate digestion. Drinking herbal teas actually makes the fast more difficult instead of easier. The flavor signals the body to start the digestion process and it makes you more hungry rather than less.

You can decide if you want to use something like enemas or salt water flushed to "clean" out the bowels at the beginning of a fast. I have done with and without it, and both ways I had no issues. But I have found the salt-water flush to be uncomfortable and you run the risk that it does not work, which leaves you bloated and your electrolytes out of balance. Enemas are the most pleasant way to empty the bowels. If you had a lot of fiber in your last meal, an enema is a good idea, otherwise the stool might become hard over the fast if you were not able to completely pass it during the first days.

If you do the fast because you are sick and want to heal something specifically, you should rest and abstain from heavy exercise. I have found though that at least some outside walking daily is very beneficial. I have also exercised (running) during another fast and found it to be no problem. But you can only do that if you have enough fat mass and do not intend to fast as long as possible.

Drink according to your thirst. I actually found that to be difficult, because most of my life I drank a certain set amount per day. Therefore I have found the optimal amount to be when the urine remains only slightly yellow. This gives the kidneys enough water to deal with the increased elimination.
In case you experience pain in the kidney area, first increase your water intake and if that does not help, you can take half a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water. This helps the kidneys buffer the acids.

Breaking the fast:

Breaking the fast can be done in several different ways. But in general it is important to start with a reduced amount and eat slowly. Expect to be back to full digestive capacity in about a third of the amount of time that you fasted. If you fasted for three weeks, slowly bring back up food intake over the course of one week.
Most fasting practitioners recommend to start with vegetable and fruit juices. I would only stick with low sugar vegetable juices as the sugar content of fruit juices can overwhelm the body. After vegetable juices I would go to steamed vegetables and whole fruits. After that cooked grains and lastly legumes and nuts.
Depending on which diet you want to follow after the fast, it is also possible to break the fast with high-fat foods. Starting with an avocado or raw nut butters is a good idea.
I have tried both approaches and both of them worked.

Interesting benefit of short 7-10 day fasts:

I have found that the greatest benefit of a 7-10 day fast, in practical terms, is that is completely resets your taste buds. That gives you the opportunity to follow any diet you want after the fast and if you consequently stick to the new diet, you can taste and enjoy foods you didn't like before.
For example, after one of my water fasts I chose to eat the diet recommended by Dr. Esselstyn. A low-fat, whole-foods, plant-based diet, without oil, sugar and salt.
For most people that diet is very difficult to stick to in the beginning. But coming from a water only fast, the taste buds are so sensitive that it is easy to avoid all oil, sugar and salt. You basically compress the adaptation period of about a month down to one week of fasting.

From Vegan To Carnivore And Back - What I Learned

Yes, after more than six years of eating a mostly vegan diet, I have experimented with eating mostly meat. Why did I go from one end of the dietary spectrum to the other? Why not just eat a balanced diet?

To be honest, I would like to have some of this carnivore-stamina.

In my past, I had to deal with some digestive issues and cured them through a primarily plant-based diet. But I still had some areas that I was not totally satisfied with. I like to experiment with my diet and see how different foods make me feel. That way, I ate a low-carb vegan diet for a long time now. I am generally doing some form of intermittent fasting too. Among all the vegan foods and supplements that are supposed to improve health, I was attracted and may be blinded by the simplicity of the carnivore diet. Eat meat, drink water.

As it turned out, while working on a free-range cattle farm in Denmark, I had access to a lot of meat, which otherwise would have been thrown away. In this case, I had no moral or environmental issues with eating a lot of meat. Let the meat feast begin and my experiment with the carnivore diet.

I had no issues adopting this diet coming from a low-carb vegan diet. In the beginning, I was still eating a green leafy salad every day. But I reduced it over time. And for a few weeks, I ate almost exclusively meat, still including some coconut and olive oil, but basically no fibre.

I was very surprised to learn that this did not cause any constipation. Stools were of course considerably smaller, but easy to pass. My digestion felt good all the time. Basically, the feeling is similar to water fasting, pretty much empty all the time. Something to get used to, as there is no more being "full" after a meal. Satisfaction still set in though, just through a different mechanism it seems. Instead of the stomach being stretched it is more a signal coming from the brain.

I also did some blood-tests during this time. And this is where the diet became really concerning to me. Before the test, I rode my bike for 15 minutes at a moderate pace. I say that because it might explain the high triglycerides because I haven't eaten anything for more than 12 hours.

I am particularly concerned about the high cholesterol in combination with the CRP value being on the upper end of the spectrum. This means I fall into the high-risk category for heart disease. But according to some of the keto advocates I would be classified as a "lean mass hyper responder". Which means that lean and athletic people tend to experience the highest increase in LDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol. As the body as little other reserves and no glucose available it has to be able to quickly mobilize a lot of fat when exercising. To do that, the body produces a lot of cholesterol.

But I am concerned that this cholesterol is just not good for my arteries in the long run. Based on all the best available evidence, the overwhelming amount of research shows that is saver to have lower cholesterol levels. The whole foods plant-based low-fat diet is the approach with the most scientifically sound data backing it. Taking into account research funding by the industry it is clear that most of the low-carb and ketogenic research might be biased in favour of restricting carbohydrates.

Additionally, during some days on the carnivore diet, I experienced some intense chest pain, increased heart rate and blood pressure. I never had this happen before. Not even on a high-fat vegan diet.

Here is what I am going to do:

I have ended my carnivore diet around a week ago and started a water-only fast. I want to extend the fast to 14 days. Coming from a ketogenic diet is a good way to start a water fast as the body does not have to switch fuels from carbohydrates to fats. The transition period was easy.
After that, I will go back to the diet which I think is the healthiest in the long run: a whole-foods, plant-based, low-fat diet. Will I eat completely vegan? Probably not. On certain occasions, where the best quality meat is available, maybe a handful of times a year, I will eat meat. But that will still make my diet 99,9% plant-based.

This is the diet that has healed my digestive issues and has kept me feeling very good for the majority of my vegan period. But my experimentation with the low-carb approach was definitely interesting and has me taught to understand people eating carnivore. There are definitely benefits to this way of eating. But overall and for the majority of people, the whole-foods plant-based approach is by far the better option. And for the environment, it is anyways because even totally free-range raised meat requires much more land and resources than sustainably farmed plants. Not to mention that most people can't or won't afford the cost of this meat and instead by lots of factory-raised meat products.

Decision Fatique - Not Another Piece Of Information

You came across this blog looking for answers, right?
You opened up your browser because you had some kind of question?
Your curiosity led you to search for experiences of others on the web, experiences you can relate to and learn from.
You want to reach a desired outcome by implementing what worked for others.
This is probably not the first time you used this method. This might have become your new normal.
You have a question or a problem? It surely is already out there; somebody has already lived through it and has come up with a solution. So, clearly, the most efficient way is to look it up.

Information overload? How confusion can help us see more clearly.

This is, in fact, not only you whom I describe, but myself.
I grew up with the internet and with Google. When I was younger, I still had to use a computer every time I wanted to look something up and do it at home, but it was not much different from asking Google through a smartphone.


What is this new environment doing to the way we think, and especially to the way we come up with solutions? How is our creativity influenced, and has it changed our decision process?
How can we know what is right for us? Among all the different ways people live their lives and have made it visible through social media?
When do we reach the point where we can say we have read enough to make a decision?


How do we discriminate the honest from the dishonest?
Who is stuck in his story because he has created a product around the information he provides?
What resources are worth taking into account?
Can we judge the value of the information by how we feel about the person who is providing it?


You probably think that all of these questions make your decision more difficult instead of easier.
You are right and wrong at the same time. Because the resources to deal with any deep and meaningful problem in your life lie mostly within yourself. So you are right in the sense that the search for deep and meaningful answer from others are never going to fully apply to your own situation and is therefore highly confusing and very complex. And you are wrong because you can rely on your own insights to be fully applicable to your current situation.



I guess you have noticed now what I did here. Instead of giving you another answer or another personal life story you can compare your own to, I leave you with open questions. I hope that you embrace uncertainty and let yourself be guided again by your own creativity. I hope that, the next time you want to look for an answer on Google, you pause for a second and remind yourself to tap into the intuition and inner intelligence that lie already within you.
That is all we are doing here in all the blogs and videos anyway, we inspire each other and help each other learn faster and to avoid mistakes. But in the end, everyone has to craft their own unique path with it's own unique challenges and solutions. I guess that's why it's called Life.

Insights On How To Act And Achieve Your Goals

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have an easier time to challenge themselves than others? Why can some people stick to their exercise routine and others not? Why do some people take risks and work on actualizing a vision they have in mind and others stay stuck where they are?

Maybe wakeboarding is your goal

During meditation and contemplation I have gained some insights into how the mind works in this regard. At least how it is in my mind, and maybe you will find some of these to be true for yourself. 


Envision these following steps with me here to arrive at these insights for yourself.

1. Feel what you basic mood is right in this moment.
1. What is on your mind when you try to be as neutral as possible?
2. Are you generally in a positive mood or a negative one?
3. Is something bothering you right now?
4. Get a general picture of your current emotional situation without reference to one particular situation or object.
2. This is your baseline happiness. Research shows, no matter what happens in your life, you tend to always come back to this baseline level of happiness.
3. Now think about some project, some goal, something you would like to do, but are not currently doing because something holds you back.
4. Now that you have this vision in your mind, notice how the baseline mood which you identified before has blended in with this vision. 
1. They are not separate
2. It would take an enormous amount of imagination to actually elicit the feelings that come with that action you envision
5. What can we take home from this observation? 
1. It is not possible to judge any of our visions by how we feel when we think of it.

Example:

You have the goal of doing exercise first thing in the morning. You want to go for a run. Now you woke up and you feel tired and not yet energized. Exercising seems like an impossibility. You tell yourself that exercising now will feel way to hard and difficult. How do you come to this conclusion? By observing your current mood. Notice that thinking about exercising didn't give you the same mood as actually exercising does. If you actually end up going out and start exercising, you will feel the outcome of that vision after maybe 10 minutes. 

We can see from this simple example that our visions happen in a completely different state of mind than the actual lived reality of these visions. 

Conclusion:

I think that people who have an easier time acting on their goals and actualizing their visions, have a greater ability to imagine and evoke the feelings they associate with their vision. In this way, when they think about their goal, they actually get a little boost in how good they feel and that motivates them to achieve it as well. Whereas someone who has little imagination will not have an emotional response to his visions, and that leaves him with no reason to achieve his goals. 

You can take this insight and test it for yourself. Try to infuse in your vision or goals as much emotional power as possible. Thinking about it rationally from your current level of happiness won't really motivate you. But actually connecting to the emotional level of your goals will give you a boost.

On the other end of the spectrum, I think it is important to mention that this can be taken too far. I have found that overly indulging in positive emotions associated with a certain goal can be so pleasurable that it seems unnecessary to put some actual effort in its realization. Just something to keep in mind.

Healing Sounds: Hang Massive - The Secret Kissing of the Sun and Moon [ Official Video ]

Vegan Keto: Most Important Problems You Have to Avoid

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids:

The biggest problem I observed with the vegan ketogenic diet is the distribution of fatty acids. If not taken care of, the omega-6 content of the vegan keto diet can get excessively high. And this becomes a problem, because omega-6 fatty acids tend to become inflammatory if eaten in excess.

Walnuts are healthy only in limited quantities on vegan keto.

To reap the anti inflammatory benefits of the ketogenic diet, it is important to keep a good ratio of omega-3 to omega-6. The ratio should ideally be kept between 1:1 and 1:4 of omega-3 to omega-6.

From my personal experience I have found that it is also important to keep the total amount of omega-6 as low as possible. It does not help to try to compensate a high intake of omega-6 with a high intake of omega-3. Those fatty acids are essential, but only in small amounts. Any excess exceeds the bodys capacity to handle them properly.

What amount is too high? I have found intakes of omega-6 below 15gr per day to be okay.

This means the following nuts and seeds need to be resitricted: walnuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. But also almonds and peanuts to a lesser degree. This makes the vegan ketogenic diet even more restrictive to some people.

The focus should be put on coconuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, chia seeds, hemp seeds, avocados, olive oil and high oleic varieties of peanuts and sunflower seeds. Flax seeds should be added to the daily diet in amounts of about 20-30gr per day.

I have recently found a source of high oleic peanuts and added them to my diet. They have made this diet a lot more sustainable. I love peanuts and being able to eat them daily made them the best discovery for this diet.

Roasted Nuts and Seeds:

The second biggest trap you could fall into are roasted nuts and seeds. Especially store bought roasted nuts, where you can't control the temperature. This might be one of the reasons why you don't feel good on a plant-based keto diet. Roasted nuts and seeds are often fried in cheap omega-6-rich vegetable oils. These should be avoided at all cost, if your aim is optimal health and longevity. 

The roasting process oxidizes the unsaturated fatty acids and makes them act as free radicals in the body. The vitamin E content of roasted nuts is greatly reduced.

The same goes for nut and seed butters. Often times they are roasted and then ground into a paste at high processing temperatures.

Solution: Buy raw nuts or seeds and roast them yourself so you can control temperature and time. I recommend you roast them for 20min at 120°C, just to the point where they are fully cooked but have not yet turned brown.

For nut-butters, I  have found brands that use no or low roasting temperatures and grind them carefully. You need to try a few until you find the best ones. 

I hope these tips will help you reap the benefits of a plant-based low carb or ketogenic diet, loose weight, enjoy your food, feel satisfied and mentally sharp, all without having to eat tons of animal products that harm our environment and our health. 

Optimizing Keto (Complete Guide)

With the ketogenic diet becoming so popular right now, I feel that it is very necessary to provide a plant based view on the diet. I myself am eating a plant based (mainly whole foods) ketogenic diet. And I feel that this approach combines two very powerful concepts and avoids the negative outcomes from high animal product consumption.

By volume, my diet is mostly leafy vegetables...

When you read reports on the internet from people, who switch to a ketogenic diet high in animal products, often times they still report great increases in their health and well-being. Many of them loose weight and build muscle. So it is clear that the diet provides some mechanism by which the body is better able to generate energy without too much harmful byproducts, as is the case when large amounts of processed carbohydrates are mixed with fats and proteins from animals. This western diet is clearly the worst of all dietary choices and eliminating one bad food group (processed carbohydrates) is clearly a step in the right direction.

...by calories, my diet is mostly nuts,
especially coconut.

When carbohydrates and fats are eaten together in an hypercaloric environment, they prevent each other from being metabolized efficiently by the body. From my own experience I can say that both approaches work (high-carb, low-fat as well as high-fat, low-carb). But they work because of different mechanisms and these macro-nutrient-ratios do not tell the whole story. In both cases I think it is important to stick with mostly whole foods. A low-fat diet doesn't work well if the diet is composed of refined grains or even whole grain flour products. Carbohydrates must predominantly come from slow digesting, fiber-rich sources, such as vegetables, fruits and beans. (Although some high calorie fruits like bananas can be too calorically dense and relatively devoid of nutrients)

Why you should not choose a meat-based approach to keto:

I am not saying you can never have meat or animal products if you want to be in optimal health. They can surely be eaten in small amounts without having negative health consequences. Before we dive into the all positive aspects of plants on a ketogenic diet, here follows a list of why you want to limit animal products to 1-2 servings a week.

1. On a keto diet you consume high amounts of fat. Choosing animal sources of fat is not a good idea because environmental toxins are mainly stored in the fat tissue of animals. Read more
2. Regular consumption of animal protein raises IGF-1 to excess levels, promoting tumor growth. Read more
3. Animal protein consumption raises cortisol levels and lowers testosterone. I have experienced this myself after occasionally eating meat in the evening and every time having trouble sleeping afterwards. Read more
4. Animal protein accelerates the aging process through increased levels of methionine, cysteine and leucine. Read more
5. Meat can negatively influence the composition of the gut-microbiome, leading to the production of carcinogens in the large intestine. Read more

This list is unlikely to be complete. I am sure, science will discover more aspects of nutrition in the future.

If health reasons are not convincing you to at least limit animal product consumption, environmental reasons might still be important to you. Drastically increases ones meat consumption, as many ketogenic dieters do, is environmentally absolutely unsustainable if more people would follow this diet. There just not enough resources to feed so many animals and not enough fields to take up all of their waste. But I am repeating myself.

Benefits of the whole-foods plant-based approach to keto:

What foods are we talking about here?

Hazelnuts, Coconut, Almonds, Flax Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Chia Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Cacao Beans, Avocados, Sesame Seeds, Peanuts, Walnuts, Macadamia Nuts, Soybeans, Cashews, Olives.
These are the foods I eat the most of, from a caloric perspective. And also in roughly that order. 

All of these foods come with a multitude of health benefits, They all contain fiber, minerals, vitamins, polyphenols, antioxidants and protein. Carbohydrates are present in most of them as well, but only in very small amounts and they are very low glycemic. This leads to a state in which the body produces almost no insulin to process these foods. They release their fat-content slowly over the course of several hours and do not spike blood-sugar or blood-triglycerides. Consumed in their raw form and with an eye on the overall omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, they provide steady energy from unoxidized, heart-healthy fatty acids. 

Important note on roasted nuts:

To avoid negative health consequences it is very important not to consume roasted nuts or seeds, as they contain high levels of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and oxidized fatty acids. Which both act like free radicals in the body and can damage tissues. Keeping an eye on this is important and make the difference between success and failure on this diet. Most store bought nuts are either fried in vegetable oils or roasted at too high temperatures, especially peanuts and all flavored nuts. When you see that a nut is brown on the inside, you can be sure it is oxidized and full of AGEs. Avoid those. If you prefer roasted, than buy them raw and lightly roast them yourself with an eye on temperature and time (20min at 100°C should be okay). 

Coconut and saturated fat on the ketogenic diet:

Shredded coconut is a major part of my ketogenic diet. I eat it at almost every meal. If you have read about the ketogenic diet and the role of LDL and HDL cholesterol, you will know that high levels of both do not indicate a harmful metabolic state. They are proteins that carry fat in the blood-stream and deliver to the cells. So a high-fat diet will naturally increase the presence of those proteins.
Why is then LDL cholesterol considered a risk-factor for heart disease by most doctors? This is complicated topic and it probably takes a long time until we know all the details of how the body works. But new meta-analysis like this one are coming out and are going to change our view on saturated fat intake and cholesterol levels.

Good for your environmental conscience:

By eating plants as a source of your calories your diet will also have a major positive impact on the environment. Moving away from growing grains and other seasonal crops to planting trees for our foods sources, such as nuts, will be good for the climate by storing CO2, provide a habitat for a variety of species and causing less soil disturbance, among many other positive changes.



By volume, your diet will consist of mostly leafy vegetables, if you want to optimize your health. All vegetables that are lowest in carb are also very nutrient dense on a per calorie basis. By combining large volumes of those vegetables with the high caloric density of nuts, you can optimize your intake of micro-nutrients. The problem on a high-carb diet is that the relatively nutrient-poor grains already take up a lot of stomach-volume, so that it becomes uncomfortable to eat the amounts of vegetables required for optimal health. But the combination of vegetables and nuts is perfect in my opinion. Protein and carbs never digested well for me, whereas fats and protein digest perfectly together and also increase the nutrient absorption from the vegetables.
I strive to eat at least 500gr of raw vegetables and 500gr of cooked vegetables a day.

Here is what a ketogenic day of eating might look like for me in cronometer:

Even though some people consider 40gr net-carbs to be on the high-end for a ketogenic diet, I think it is not going to reduce utilization of ketones at all. All those 40gr of carbs are bound to fibers and are released very slowly so that they are immediately picked up by the cells of the body without the need for any significant amount of insulin. All the fiber is also going to be turned into ketones by the bacteria in the large intestine, further contributing to ketone-levels.

Most people apply the ketogenic diet to achieve a caloric deficit without having to experience too much hunger. This is one major advantage of this diet. But some people (like me) are actually on this diet and eat a caloric surplus to gain muscle. The benefits we are after are the anti-inlammatory effects of the ketones and to avoid the negative side effects of excess carbohydrate consumption. What follows are therefore my explanations of the combination of exercise and keto.

Exercise on keto:

Keto in a caloric surplus

In order to build muscle and gain weight, it is necessary to eat a caloric surplus if you are already lean. The major benefit of doing this on keto is that the body can very efficiently utilize the excess calories from fat, compared to carbohydrates. Storing excess carbohydrates is a messy process. The liver has to convert them to fat and this spikes triglycerides, which is bad on a high-carb diet. The steady energy-supply from fats on the other hand provides growing muscle with a constant supply. And most importantly, the anti-inflammatory nature of the diet (or rather of the ketones) counteracts most of the negative effects of over-feeding. 

Working out on keto:

Most people would describe the process of building muscle as slower, when compared to a high-carb diet. But I would argue that you also limit the fat gain (if you keep an eye on overall calories), while building muscle based on strength rather than on the "pump". Working out on keto is different. It does not allow for huge volume in a single session, for a single muscle. The "bro-science one body-part per day-split" does not work well with keto. After the initial adaptation I have found that I am able to train very heavy (1-3 reps) without any performance loss, while the medium rep ranges from 5-10 were a little compromised. On the other end of the spectrum, 20+ reps were possible as well. 

And I had to keep the overall number of sets per muscle lower. While I have never been a fan of the above mentioned split training, where you train a muscle once a week with high volume, I had to switch to even lower volume to keep the intensity high at each set. 

That means, the best approach for any natural lifter (especially on keto) is to train every muscle as frequently as possible with heavy weights (1-5 reps) and 3-4 sets per muscle. For me, this has turned into High-Frequency-Training, where I train my whole body 5-6days a week, with 7-9 exercises in each workout. Squatting, pressing and pulling every-day. Never to failure and always choosing the weights according to how the warm-up sets feel on that day. I think this is the optimal approach for weight-training on keto. It gives the muscle enough time to replenish glycogen store before the next session as it does not deplete them significantly.

Cardio can be done on the ketogenic diet (after the initial adaptation) without any performance loss. But it might take a couple of month before your level of endurance reaches higher than before. What I particularly like about aerobic exercise on keto is the fact that I need to breathe less. Fat burning requires less oxygen and when you are working hard this can be a tremendous relieve, making the exercise feel less demanding.

Infinite Potential for Exploration

The inherently limitless nature of reality means that there never is a lack of something. Experience can venture out in every dimension without boundary. The slice of experience, which you call "your life" is just one of an infinite number of possible stories of experience.

Whenever you start to explore the nature of reality, you will encounter a limitless ocean of interconnections, explanations and experiences... until you discover the flipside of the coin. This is the moment you discover that nothing ever really happened. That all of this, what you call reality, is actually encompassed by nothingness. That there is no outside, and therefore no inside. The absolute mindfuck. That there is nothing, but that it is alive and moving. Every piece in existence finds it's opposite pole and annihilates itself.

To experience what is described here is only possible with a strong dose of psychedelics. At least that is my experience so far. No amount of meditation or self-inquiry has yet provided me with the same depth of insight that I got out of my psychedelic encounters. Be careful and educate yourself before embarking on a psychedelic journey. It can be challenging and at times overwhelming experience. Always start with a low dose and slowly increase over time.