Liz,
The digestion of plant carbs produces huge amounts of C02 in the body which is normally removed via the lungs. The next largest source of C02 is created when the muscles burn glucose for energy. With Pulmonary Fibrosis, assuming one lives long enough (if the source of the problem is found and removed...which I did), the lungs gradually weaken due to the fibrosis (scarring). While the lungs can continue to expand, they have increasing difficulty contracting to the degree needed to release the C02. The only solution I could discover was to eliminate plant carbs and transition my muscles to oxidizing fat (or burning ketones) for energy. After about 6 years of success, I wanted to know if it really was the diet so I started eating ~75 grams of carbs daily. Very slowly....but steadily....I started having negative symptoms. Neither the cardiologist nor the pulmonologist could explain the cause of these symptoms. Finally, a perceptive internal medicine DO made an observation which I acted upon and went back to the ketogenic diet. All the negative symptoms vanished within 2 months! Now I am struggling to understand why, after 5 months of normal BG and high Blood ketones (4-6), my morning BG is jumping up! My urinary ketones are still at the low end of high (medium purple) so I am still burning stored fat but not losing weight. Any ideas?