Ketogenic diets are also being studied as a potential
treatment for certain cancers. The cells of these cancers
thrive in high-insulin environments and don’t have the
“hybrid technology” of the rest of the body, which means
they are unable to survive off of ketone bodies. Whether this
plays out long-term remains to be seen, as cancer cells are
notorious for circumventing, mutating, and adapting to even
the most toxic environments. At the end of the day,
however, insulin and closely related “insulin-like peptides”
called IGF1 and IGF2 are powerful growth factors for any
cells, healthy or cancerous, that contain receptors for
them.^23
Whether used to treat neurological problems, to serve as
a metabolic reset for those with type 2 diabetes (a ketogenic
diet will, on average, halve the amount of circulating insulin
and improve glucose control after just one day), or for those
looking to shed a lot of fat fast, ketogenic diets hold a lot of
promise.^24
The Genius Plan
The Genius Plan (fully outlined in chapter 11) is no doubt a
variant of the ketogenic diet. It combines intermittent fasting
with low-carbohydrate eating to increase ketone availability
to the brain. However, it differs from the ketogenic diet
described in neurological literature in a few key ways.
For one, standard ketogenic diets are not designed to
consider the burgeoning science of the microbiome, which
we cover in the following chapter. The microbiome rewards