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As mental health challenges grow more complex and costly, new solutions are essential. What if one of the most powerful answers isn’t a new drug, but food? What if we’ve been missing an overlooked root cause of and a treatment approach to psychiatric suffering that science is now beginning to confirm?
My family’s story began the way too many do, with a devastating diagnosis.
Our son Matt was diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder in his late teens. Over five years, he cycled through 29 medications, multiple hospitalizations, and more than 40 providers. Nothing worked. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think, couldn’t function. A respected psychiatrist told us to prepare for a lifetime of disability.
We weren’t ready to give up.
In 2021, we found psychiatrist Dr. Chris Palmer, who was exploring ketogenic therapy as a treatment for serious mental illness. Under clinical supervision, Matt began a medical ketogenic diet. Within months, his symptoms were gone. Over time, his medications were reduced, his cognition returned, and so did his life. Today, Matt is healthy, stable, employed, and thriving.
That same year, my husband and I launched Baszucki Group to support the field that helped heal our son. What began as a desperate search for solutions turned into a mission: to make sure other families could access the same hope.
For too many people with conditions like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depression, conventional treatments don’t go far enough. An increasing body of science suggests why: these disorders are not only manifest in the psychological, but also in the metabolic.
Researchers are uncovering growing evidence of measurable brain impairments: mitochondrial dysfunction, glucose hypometabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance. In other words, for many, the brain is not being fueled properly.
That opens the door to therapies that target brain metabolism, and one in particular is showing profound promise: a medically supervised ketogenic diet. Used for over a century to treat epilepsy, ketogenic therapy is now showing promise for serious psychiatric disorders. For patients who don’t respond fully to medications or can not tolerate their side effects, a metabolic treatment can be life-restoring.
This approach does not necessarily act as a replacement for psychiatric drugs, which remain essential for many. But it can be a powerful complement, especially for people labeled “treatment-resistant.” And the most surprising part? The intervention doesn’t come from a lab. It begins on a plate.
This isn’t just a theory; it’s a clinical reality for a growing number of people experiencing life-changing improvements — even remission — through medically supervised metabolic treatments. These results suggest a powerful truth: targeting brain metabolism can dramatically improve outcomes, particularly in the very populations where our current mental health system is failing the most.
In 2021, when we launched Baszucki Group, there were only a handful of scientists and clinicians working in metabolic psychiatry. Today, momentum is accelerating. We’ve catalyzed more than 20 clinical trials worldwide, built a network of over 200 researchers and clinicians, and launched Metabolic Mind, a nonprofit platform for education, storytelling, and community.
The work is still in its early stages, but the signs are clear: metabolic psychiatry is real, evidence-based, and growing fast.
Of course, there are challenges. Adhering to a therapeutic diet is not easy, especially within a Standard American Diet culture that often makes healthy eating difficult. Short-term side effects, fatigue, headaches, digestive changes, are common during the transition, but manageable with medical oversight. And while not everyone will respond, the benefits for many who have failed every other option can be extraordinary.
Matt’s story is not unique. Across the country, individuals and families are discovering the potential of metabolic therapy.
Kristina Cook struggled for years with anxiety, trauma, and physical health issues. Her daughter Genevieve, by age ten, had been diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. After learning about metabolic psychiatry, Kristina transitioned herself and her daughter to a ketogenic diet. Within four days, Genevieve’s hallucinations and “mental noise” were gone. Both are now off medications, physically healthy, and living full lives.
We fell into all of this…using diet as a healing mechanism, and it’s turned a light on for all of us. – Kristina Cook
Hannah Warren spent nearly a decade believing bipolar disorder was a life sentence. Sedated, physically unwell, and hopeless, she discovered ketogenic therapy in 2021. Today she is medication-free, stable, and thriving, and now works with us at Metabolic Mind to share her experience and help others.
These are just two examples among many. Stories like these point toward a new model of care that is more hopeful, more rooted in biology, and more responsive to patients who have been left behind.
Behavioral health systems everywhere are strained. Treatment-resistant diagnoses are rising, costs are climbing, and providers are stretched to the limit. We need new approaches that address the root causes of psychiatric suffering—not just the symptoms.
Metabolic therapies offer a pathway to:
For families, the implications are deeply personal. For health systems, payers, and policymakers, they are enormous.
To the BHT2025 Community, to clinicians, researchers, funders, and policymakers gathered here: this is your moment to lead.
We need more rigorous research. We need training for clinicians. We need reimbursement models that make these therapies accessible to those who need them most. And we need cross-sector collaboration to ensure this work moves forward quickly, responsibly, and equitably.
If you’re looking for the next frontier in mental and behavioral health—this is it.
And if you’re looking for solutions that improve outcomes, reduce costs, and expand access—this is your invitation to learn more.
The future of behavioral health will not be found by treating the brain in isolation. It will come from recognizing that the brain is part of the body—and that metabolic health is mental health.
For my family, this shift turned despair into recovery. For countless others, it could do the same.
This is not just science. It is hope.
Jan Ellison Baszucki is a best-selling author and co-founder of Baszucki Group, Metabolic Mind and the Coalition for Metabolic Health.
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