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Comment by Semaphor | Hacker News Reader

> A very weird and pleasant experience, that alas can't be sustained forever given how delicious carbs are.

I’ve been doing Keto for over a decade now, with one cheat day a year (Christmas market mulled wine with family). I can guarantee you it can easily[0] be sustained if one is so inclined. OTOH, 6 hours without water sounds neither healthy, nor like something I’d ever want to do.

[0]: With the caveat, that your circumstances need to allow it. I’ve been working from home and cook all meals myself.

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"easily be sustained" - for you maybe. I have done keto for long periods, 4 times in my life, and i find it personally extremely unsustainable. Boring, extremely restricting in social situations, and cuts you off from one of the greatest joys in life - the vast array of food, tastes and experiences available to the modern human existence. Casting wide generalizations from your own personal experience is bad, and unfortunately par for the course in any internet discussion of diet.

I tried doing a low carb diet and it wrecked my mental health. Worsened my depression and mood swings. It just does not jive with some psychiatric conditions.

I wrote "can". As opposed to OPs "can’t". Not "is always".

I also find it hilarious that you assume I’m cut off from one of the greatest joys in life - the vast array of food, tastes and experiences available to the modern human existence. Talk about generalizing from your experience, eh?

It’s because you also wrote “easily be sustained if one is so inclined” which comes across as judging others for not just doing this one “easy”(for you) thing. If that’s not the spirit behind that comment then I apologize for my reaction.

Also it’s just a fact that you can’t eat the vast majority of foods and food experiences. But you’re right , I’m generalizing that food is a joy for most people.

> It’s because you also wrote “easily be sustained if one is so inclined”

Yes, because I, funnily enough, don’t like people over generalizing. Especially with keto I’ve kept hearing stuff like you can’t sustain it, you’ll bounce back etc. So you have to see it in the context of a very much generalizing comment I replied to.

> But you’re right , I’m generalizing that food is a joy for most people.

It is a joy for me as well, and the stuff I tried and experimented has vastly expanded since I started keto, I feel like I gave up very little.

There are so many caveats to your "guarantee" that it isn't really guaranteeing anything.

People are wildly diverse when it comes to food traditions, actual state of intestines and also cravings. What worked for you may not work for a Vietnamese guy who ate rice for 50 years of his life.

Extrapolating carelessly from N == 1 is a bad idea.

You are extrapolating from my message. I disputed can't be sustained. For which a counter example is enough. But I'm not interested in nitpicking phrasing.

What’s your usual breakfast?

Salad, leftovers, bread, or chia seed pudding.

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