Why Ketogenic diet increases stress and how to reduce it by 57%

I read a Harvard study from this blog showing that ketegonic diets increase the levels of the "stress hormone" cortisol increase by 18%, and the levels of active thyroid hormone (T3) control metabolism decrease by 12%. The stress level is similar to training for a marathon.

I'm concerned and wanted to find a way to manage this issue.

I looked into this further and found some good news. First, that study did a very-low-carbohydrate (VLC; 10%-60%-30%; low glycemic load) for 4 weeks and they write: "the VLC diet produced the greatest improvements in most metabolic syndrome components."  The bad news is "we identified two potentially deleterious effects of this diet. Twenty-four hour urinary cortisol excretion, a hormonal measure of stress, was highest with the VLC diet."

Here's the diet they had:

 

The bad news is: "we identified two potentially deleterious effects of this diet. Twenty-four hour urinary cortisol excretion, a hormonal measure of stress, was highest with the VLC diet."

Why is cortisol bad? 
Cortisol is one of the hormones responsible for tearing down muscle tissue. It also increases fat stores. High cortisol leads to increased appetite, weight gain and for some, stroke because of fat deposits in the blood vessels. Having elevated lipids, or hyperlipidemia, is associated with high cortisol levels. It's the highest in the morning between 6-9am.

Why do cortisol increase on low carb diets? 
There's no clear explanation as to why cortisol is increased in that study, but my understanding is since ketosis speeds up weight loss, your body is working harder to store fat and that increases the stress hormone cortisol.

What's the good news?
Canadian researchers were concerned about giving a ketogenic diet to children with hyperlipidemia so they made a study. The good news is it was a success, although they did have to do "diet modifications were made to achieve healthy lipid levels. "

How to lower your cortisol levels on Ketogenic diets?

Basically, the stress of being on the ketogenic diet is similar to intensive training for a marathon and should be managed as such.

Take 1000mg of Vitamin C in the morning.
One of the strongest cortisol-lowering supplement is Vitamin C. In high stressed athletes, cortisol response was 57 percent lower after exercise in the vitamin C group compared to a placebo. (1)

References:


Nakhostin-Roohi, B., Babaei, P., et al. Effect of Vitamin C Supplementation on Lipid Peroxidation, Muscle Damage and Inflammation after 30-Minute Exercise at 75 Percent Vo2 Max. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 2008. 48(2), 217-224.