Mischief Managed

In my introductory post, I laid out the "highlight reel" of my life from the last decade or so—a relentless series of events involving profound grief, career upheaval, health crises, and personal loss. I also mentioned that when my doctors and therapists, with the best of intentions, tell me, "you should bring your stress levels down," I often just burst out laughing.

It's absurd advice.

When the stressors are this significant and largely out of your control, you can't just "reduce" them. You can't tell the universe to "please stop." The stress is a given. It’s a non-negotiable reality of the world I'm living in.

For decades, my response to that stress was what destroyed me. As I wrote in my "Loop Policy" post, my response was to turn to food—specifically, the high-sugar, high-starch, high-fat "comfort foods" that triggered my emotional eating loop.

This was a disaster. I was trying to put out a fire with gasoline. I was responding to an emotional crisis by creating a physical one—a blood sugar rollercoaster, systemic inflammation, and a "foggy" brain—which only made the next stressful event even harder to handle.

My clean keto lifestyle hasn't removed the stress from my life. What it has done is provide me with a solid, stable foundation and a new set of tools to manage my response to that stress.

This is my new toolkit. It's not platitudes. It's the practical, real-world system I use to stay sane.

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Part 1: The Foundation (The "Metabolic Toolkit")

This is the most critical piece. None of the other tools work without this.

In the past, a stressful event would trigger not just an emotional response but a physical one. My high-carb diet left me metabolically inflexible. The stress would make me feel "hangry" and foggy, which would trigger a desperate, physical "need" for a quick-energy "fix" (sugar/starches).

My clean keto lifestyle, combined with my 22:2 fast, has de-coupled my emotional stress from my physical hunger.

1. Stable Blood Sugar = A "Clean" Signal: By eliminating sugars and starches, I am off the blood sugar rollercoaster. A stressful event is now just an emotional event. I can feel anxiety, or grief, or pressure, but I no longer also feel a physical crash or a "hangry" craving. This is a game-changer. It gives me a moment to think before I react.

2. Ketones = Stable Brain Fuel: As I covered in my "Lifting the Fog" post, my brain running on clean, stable ketones is the clearest it has ever been. This mental clarity is my new armor. I have the energy and focus to actually use my toolkit, rather than collapsing onto the couch in a fog.

This metabolic foundation is the bedrock. It's what makes all the other tools possible.

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Part 2: The "Real-World" Toolkit (The Active Tools)

Once the foundation is stable, I can use my active tools. These are the things I do to manage the stress as it comes.

Tool 1: The "Point Pleasant" Fix (Active Meditation)

My daily walks (2 km to/from work) and my long 15 km weekend cardio are not "exercise" in the traditional sense. They are active meditation.

When I'm hit with a wave of stress or grief, the worst thing I can do is sit still and let it fester. The old me would "cocoon" on the couch with food. The new me moves.

The rhythmic, non-strenuous act of walking does something profound. It gets me out of my head and into my body. It physically processes the nervous energy—the cortisol and adrenaline—that the stress signal has dumped into my system. I don't "think" my way out of the stress; I walk my way through it.

During the better weather, I can add weekly (or more frequent) rounds of golf to this movement regimen, adding social connection as well as mental strategy and physical finesse to the equation.

Tool 2: The "Game Master" Fix (Active, Social Engagement)

This is the antidote to the isolation that stress and depression thrive on.

My non-negotiable Thursday night TTRPG (tabletop roleplaying game) is a scheduled, 4+ hour anchor in my week. This is not a "passive" escape like binging Netflix. It is an active, creative, social, and mentally demanding activity.

As a Game Master, I am fully engaged. I am running a complex world, managing rules, and facilitating a creative, collaborative story for my friends. It requires 100% of my (now-clearer) focus. For those four hours, my brain has no "RAM" left to spare on the stressors of the outside world. It is a "flow state," and it is one of the most powerful restorative tools I have. It rebuilds my social and creative "batteries" in a way nothing else can.

Tool 3: The "10-Second" Fix (Mindfulness in Practice)

"Mindfulness" isn't about sitting on a cushion for an hour (a task my ADHD brain would find nearly impossible). For me, mindfulness is the 10-second "pause" that my stable metabolic foundation now allows me to take.

• The Old Way (No Pause): Stress Signal -> Physical Crash ("Hanger") -> Instant Reaction (Food Loop)

• The New Way (The Pause): Stress Signal -> (No physical crash) -> The 10-Second Pause

In that 10-second gap, I can simply observe the feeling without becoming it. I can say, "I am feeling a massive wave of anxiety right now," or "I am feeling overwhelmed." By simply naming it, I separate myself from it. This short-circuit is often all it takes to break the old reward loop. I can observe the "storm" in my head without having to eat it.

But maybe coffee...

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The Takeaway

I can't "just reduce stress." The recent past of my life is proof of that.

What I can do is build a body and a mind that are more resilient to it. My clean keto lifestyle isn't just about food. It's a holistic system.

The clean, anti-inflammatory diet provides the stable metabolic foundation. The active tools (walking, gaming, mindfulness) give me the outlets to process the stress.

I'm not living a "stress-free" life. I'm just finally living in a body that's properly equipped to handle it.