Metabolic Psychiatry reimagines mental health through the groundbreaking science on the vital link between energy metabolism and brain function.
Metabolic health can play a powerful role in mental health. Whether you're supporting a loved one or navigating your own path, this space offers practical clinical care, insight and hope.
Fats
100%
Olive Oil
Metabolic Significance
Pure fat source, anti-inflammatory, improving cardiovascular health.
Fats | Protein
65% | 33%
Pasture-Raised Eggs
Metabolic Significance
Highly bioavailable nutrients with an optimal macro balance.
Fats | Protein
50% | 50%
Salmon
Metabolic Significance
Essential fats for cognitive function.
Fats
90%
Macadamia Nuts
Metabolic Significance
Extremely high in monounsaturated fats with very few carbs.
Fats
10%
Baby Spinach
Metabolic Significance
Non-starchy and helps replenish electrolytes often lost in ketosis.
Our Approach
Recent Medical Ketogenic Outcomes
Person-Centered Outpatient Care With a Holistic Evidence-Based Metabolic Psychiatry and Nutritional Ketogenic Approach.
The Metabolic Psychiatry program is dedicated to empowering clients to reclaim their voice and autonomy. Our approach in the Metabolic Psychiatry program is client-centered and collaborative. We believe clients have the power to guide their own wellness journey and make changes to your path.
Most recently released by Stanford University on ketogenic therapy and mental health:
Keto therapy has been used to treat neurological disorders for more than 100 years.
In 1921, long before modern anticonvulsant medications, endocrinologist Russell Wilder, MD, discovered that the ketogenic diet could mimic the metabolic effects of fasting, long known to reduce seizures. More than a dozen randomized controlled trials have since shown that ketogenic diets significantly and safely stabilize neuronal networks, quelling seizures in many patients with epilepsy.
A growing body of evidence that includes Sethi's research suggests the diet, or ketogenic metabolic therapy as she prefers to call it, can also help patients with serious mental illness such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The relatively new field of metabolic psychiatry, founded at Stanford Medicine by Sethi, focuses on addressing metabolic dysfunction with ketogenic and other metabolism-focused therapies to improve mental health outcomes.
Keto therapy stabilizes neurons and reduces inflammation in the brain.
Ketogenic therapy increases the ratio of gamma-aminobutyric acid to glutamate in neurons. Balancing these inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters helps suppress excessive neuronal firing that contributes to certain forms of mental illness.
"Bipolar mania involves fluctuations in energy states in which neuronal firing is more unstable," Sethi said, "and both anti-psychotic medications and ketogenic therapy can reduce that instability. We need neural network stability for mental health."
Ketogenic therapy significantly reduces inflammation in the brain — which is strongly associated with depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — by regulating immune signaling and reducing oxidative stress, among other probable mechanisms.
Many mental illnesses involve a significant metabolic component.
Mental and metabolic illnesses frequently occur together: More than 40% of people with severe mental illnesses also have metabolic syndrome. Metabolic dysfunction certainly exacerbates symptoms of mental illness, Sethi said, but evidence indicates it might often be an underlying cause as well. Metabolic syndrome and several forms of mental illness respond to many of the same medications. Similarly, they both also respond favorably to ketogenic therapy, Sethi's pilot study showed.
Keto therapy can help with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance.
Many patients suffering from mental illness also experience insulin resistance, which can lead to metabolic syndrome. The ketogenic diet reduces insulin resistance in addition to promoting weight loss and improving blood sugar, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, cholesterol levels.
Keto therapy drastically reduces carbohydrate intake, causing the body to burn fat for fuel (ketosis), thereby stabilizing blood sugar levels and decreasing inflammation. By relying on fats as fuel instead of glucose, a brain in ketosis bypasses the need for glucose and insulin to enter the brain for energy production, which is a problem for many people with mental illness.
Keto therapy should be considered supplemental to primary mental health treatment.
Ketogenic therapy is a serious medical intervention, not to be confused with the related but much less rigorous weight-loss diet that is based on similar principles. Keto therapy can interact dangerously with some anti-psychotic medications, as well as with other health conditions, so an experienced physician and trained nutritionist should guide and monitor it.
Because there are also several versions of the diet, a professional should work with patients to choose the best one. Sethi said the objective in her clinic is "not to replace conventional treatments with ketogenic therapy, but to use the diet as one powerful therapeutic metabolic tool among many."
Programs
Phase 1: Wellness Welcome Phase: Purpose of the program across a transitional period is to support responsible introduction of the metabolic therapies, adoption through manageable steps and progressive monitoring of potential nutritional and medication clinical impacts.
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Psychiatry Clinical Care and Dietician Care, including integrated medication management and nutritional support. The program is tpyically an option for clients who may not currently be working with a trusted medication management team. Therapy and counseling is also an option in supporting inegrated care.
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Psychiatry Consulting and Dietician Care, for clients who may be currently working with a trusted medication management team, with our Psychiatrist supporting monitoring of metabolic therapies, potential medication linkages and coordination with external medication management care teams.
Phase 2: MyChoice Support Phase (optional for cliens electing support continuation)
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Support on extended support, in supporting consistency of care and support with ketegenic therapies
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Continued therapy support is also inclusive in the program
Clinical Experience
Shebani Sethi, MD
- Stanford University -
After four months on the ketogenic diet, most of the patients showed significant improvement
in their psychiatric symptoms, a reduction in weight gain from their medications, and relief
from their metabolic disorders.
More information here
Our Team
We are incredibly fortunate to support clients with a Psychiatry and Registered Dietician team of thoughtful and committed clinicians dedicated to helping clients rediscover and ELEVATE their own trajectory.
Dr. Joanna Buck
Board Certified Psychiatrist, supporting metabolic psychiatry and medication management, focusing on appropriate courses of action for each patient.
Katelin Maidment
Registered Dietician supporting clients with ketogenic therapies, helping clients improve both their physical and mental health by addressing diet, nutrition, and lifestyle.
Individuals we help
Our multi-disciplinary team are committed in working with:
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Challenges with mood and emotional wellness, such as periods of depression, anxiety, or bipolar diagnosis.
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Navigating challenges with self-identity and relationships, sometimes associated with personality disorders.
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Experiences with substance use or other challenging patterns that can impact wellness.
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For those seeking a different path to wellness, who value staying connected to their community and natural supports while on their healing journey.
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Experiences of psychosis, including those that may be part of a diagnosis like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.
Practices we use
We believe in learning from the source. The team is trained directly with the originators of leading therapeutic models, ensuring fidelity to evidence-based care.
While the team use many collaborative therapies, the primarily focus is following key powerful treatment styles, which are used not only as tools for promoting change in clients, but also as a productive treatment path for a given client.
What this means is: we view each client as a unique individual with their own needs, we don’t believe any client fits within a cookie-cutter treatment “track” or “protocol.” A client’s treatment path is completely personalized and always evolving.
Ketogenic Therapies
Metabolic Psychiatry explores the critical link between metabolic and mental health. Grounded in advancing research into the metabolic drivers of mental health, Lighthouse Clinic (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) explores metabolic and mitochondria functions as root causes of certain brain disorders. This field employs metabolic therapies to support alleviation of symptoms related to depression, anxiety, and other mental health areas of focus. Our work focuses on how dietary interventions—such as reducing sugar, ultra-processed foods, and carbohydrates—can support mental wellbeing and brain health. We also explore new metabolic treatments for mental well being, by addressing its interconnected metabolic and psychiatric dimensions.
Q&A
Q: What is the core idea behind Metabolic Psychiatry?
A: The core idea is that many mental health disorders are not just "chemical imbalances" in the traditional sense, but can be symptoms of underlying metabolic dysfunction. We believe that by healing the body's metabolic systems—addressing issues like insulin resistance and chronic inflammation—we can directly improve brain function and mental well-being.
Q: How can a change in diet help with something like depression or anxiety?
A: The brain is an incredibly metabolically active organ. When we consume high levels of sugar and processed foods, it can lead to inflammation and disrupt insulin signaling, not just in the body but also in the brain. This can impair energy production and neurotransmitter function, contributing to symptoms of depression and anxiety. By providing the brain with stable, high-quality fuel and reducing dietary triggers of inflammation, we can create a biochemical environment that is more conducive to mental stability and resilience.
Q: What do you mean by "malnutrition in obesity"? How can someone be overweight and malnourished?
A: This is a critical paradox we address. It refers to a state of being over-fed in calories but under-nourished in essential micronutrients. A diet high in ultra-processed foods provides excessive energy (calories) but is devoid of the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants the body and brain need to function correctly. This leads to a form of starvation at a cellular level, which directly drives metabolic dysfunction and can worsen mental health outcomes.
Q: What kind of metabolic therapies do we use?
A: Our primary focus is on evidence-based nutritional interventions. This isn't just about "eating healthy." It involves structured dietary approaches that are tailored to the individual, often focusing on stabilizing blood sugar, reducing inflammatory foods, and ensuring proper nutrient density. The goal is to use food as a targeted tool to correct the specific metabolic issues that are influencing a person's mental health.
Q: Why is it important to treat metabolic and mental health together?
A: The two are inseparable. Poor metabolic health (e.g., pre-diabetes, obesity) increases the risk for mental illness, and poor mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety) makes it incredibly difficult to maintain healthy metabolic habits. It's a vicious cycle. By treating them together in an integrated model, we can break this cycle more effectively than by addressing each in isolation. Improving metabolic health can lift the biological burden on the brain, making other mental health treatments more effective.
Recent Research
The research here is educational in nature. This is not medical advice. Please consult your medical physician for medical advice.
METABOLIC PSYCHIATRY PRACTICES
Harvard McLean Hospital: Metabolic Psychiatry Program: Building on Decades of Research: Advancing Mental Health Through Metabolic Science
Stanford Medicine: Metabolic Psychiatry Clinic
ADVANCING RESEARCH
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Metabolic Mind | Baszucki Group - Supports resources, research and education on the metabolic psychiatry, ketogenic therapies and mental well-being
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Resources exploring research and data related to ketogenic therapy impact on mental well being:
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Brain Energy by Dr. Chris Palmer, MD
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Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind by Dr. Georgia Ede, MD
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The Migraine Diet: A Ketogenic Meal Plan for Headache Relief by Denise Potter, RDN
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Anyway You Can - A Beginner's Guide to Ketones for Life by Dr. Annette Bosworth
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Resource Support
The keto Mojo meter delivers readings for both ketones and glucose. The meter includes a app monitoring as an option. We are also actively monitoring updated tools, including technology for continuous monitoring.
Quick Guide Fridge Magnet Reference Charts
Includes a 14 page guide of Meat & Nuts, Fruit & Veg, Dairy, Oils & Condiments as a detailed breakdown of fats, net carbs and protein. All ingredients are classified into four categories: Meat & Nuts, Fruit & Veg, Dairy and Oils & Condiments. Each Cheat Sheet is 8.5 x 5.5 inches, making it supportive for the nutritional plan.
Cookbook: Recipes for Longevity
The cookbook includes recipes and a 4-week longevity meal plan designed to slow cognitive decline and aging at the cellular level. The recipes and meal plan were uniquely created using guidelines from the latest research and top longevity books.
