Do You Have To Get Into Ketosis
If the thought of suffering through a diet flu scares you, you arent alone. But this also may not be a reason to avoid trying keto altogether.
What you can take away from all of this is that diet success – including on keto – is the result of consistency, not perfection.
Like other healthy approaches to dieting, you dont need to go into this with an all or nothing mindset.
Ketosis is certainly intriguing for many, but the research is still developing around how beneficial it is for weight loss outside of calorie control. Meaning, as far as we know it is not possible to lose weight on keto without also paying attention to portion control.
So keep this in mind as you consider opting for a super low carb plan – if your goal is to lose weight, as long as you control your daily calories, youll get results.
Outside of this, its paying attention to how your food choices are making you feel from the inside out.
If sticking with nutritious, keto-friendly foods satisfies your taste buds and your cravings, and ultimately gives you energy throughout your day – this is a good reason to keep going.
Ready to make the switch to a keto meal plan? We might not be able to cure keto flu, but we can take on all the meal planning, shopping, and cooking every week so you can get ready-made keto-approved meals delivered each week, giving you one less thing to stress about.
Does Everyone Get Keto Flu
No! Not everyone who starts a keto diet gets the keto flu.
It depends partially on your metabolism and genetics, but there are plenty of factors you can control.
In fact, you can avoid keto flu. To do so, you need to understand what causes keto flu and then take steps to prevent keto flu from the beginning .
Sodium Rich Foods For Keto Flu
Sodium is the most common electrolyte imbalance involved in the keto flu, and fortunately, its the easiest to incorporate into your food.
Daily Sodium Goal: 4000-7000 mg per day
Here are ways to get more sodium from food:
- Salt add it to everything! The goal is 4000-7000 mg of sodium per day, which is approximately 2-3 teaspoons of sea salt or table salt daily. This will vary slightly depending on the brand of salt you buy, though, because sodium content varies. If you can, get Himalayan pink salt.
REMINDER: Let go of any lingering sodium is bad concerns. Remember, your body is flushing out a lot of it when you eat keto, and depleted sodium is a big part of why you feel bad!
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Make Sure You Are Eating Enough Fat
Transitioning to a very low-carb diet can cause you to crave foods that are restricted on the ketogenic diet, such as cookies, bread, pasta and bagels.
However, eating enough fat, the primary fuel source on the ketogenic diet, will help reduce cravings and keep you feeling satisfied.
In fact, research shows that low-carb diets help reduce cravings for sweets and high-carb foods .
Those having a difficult time adapting to the ketogenic diet may have to eliminate carbohydrates gradually, rather than all at once.
Slowly cutting back on carbs, while increasing fat and protein in your diet, may help make the transition smoother and decrease keto-flu symptoms.
Summary
You can combat the keto flu by staying hydrated, replacing electrolytes, getting plenty of sleep, avoiding strenuous activities, eating enough fat and cutting out carbs slowly over time.
People adapt to ketogenic diets differently. While some may experience weeks of keto-flu symptoms, others may adjust to the new diet with no adverse side effects.
The symptoms people experience are tied to how their bodies adjust to a new fuel source.
Usually, carbs provide the body with energy in the form of glucose.
When carbs are substantially reduced, the body burns ketones from fat instead of glucose.
Those who typically consume lots of carbs, especially refined carbs like pasta, sugary cereal and soda, may have a more difficult time when beginning the ketogenic diet.
For these individuals, symptoms may last several weeks.
Tips On How To Manage Keto Flu
Certain remedies reduce the keto flu symptoms to help your body get through the process.
They include:
Water is important for the overall health of an individual.
The keto diet causes one to shed out more water which can cause dehydration.
Staying hydrated will reduce some symptoms such as fatigue and muscle cramps.
Besides, taking in more water will make you active.
- Take electrolyte supplements
During the keto diet, you cut off some of the richest electrolyte resources in the body such as starch.
When your body does not have enough electrolytes, you will experience dizziness, fatigue, and irritability.
You should look for electrolyte supplements that are keto friendly which means with no sugars.
When seeking out alternatives for electrolytes, ensure you talk to a medic to recommend the best supplements for your body.
The last thing you would want to happen to your body is to react with the supplements.
- Eat a lot of fat.
If you have cravings for sugars and carbs, you should eat more fats.
Eating more fat will fasten the process of burning fats to energy.
Besides, you can include some daily routine jobs that will help you keep fit and have the lean body that you desire.
- Increase the salt intake
Your body may start experiencing muscle cramps, lack of sleep and fatigue.
You can take chicken broth at least two cups a day to increase the salt levels in your body.
When you start your new journey of a keto diet, you should know the side effects that come with it.
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Keto Flu: Headache Dizziness And Nausea
In the transition from a normal diet to keto, many people encounter the keto flu. It varies from person to person, but what is common to all is that it quickly passes.
As your body burns the last amount of carbohydrates you have on your body, in your sugar deposits in the muscles and in the liver, you will lose a large amount of fluid and electrolytes . This can give you a feeling of nausea, headache, dizziness, minor cramps in legs and an increased fatigue. This condition can be explained by the lack of electrolytes.
If you experience any of these symptoms, you can test if it is due to salt deficiency in a simple way. Drink a glass of water with 0.5 teaspoon salt. If your symptoms disappear you know instantly that you need more electrolytes.
There are several ways to alleviate your symptoms. You can eat plenty of salt in your food or take a glass of warm boullion water in the morning. If you choose animal boullion, you will also benefit from other good substances such as collagen.
Salt is not just salt. There is a big difference between the quality of salt and how it affects you.
Ordinary table salt contains sodium chloride, which is what we refer to as salt. It is white, which is a sign that it is unclean. Pure salt is transparent and clear, and can have different colors depending on the substances it contains.
What Is The Keto Flu And How Do You Cure It
The keto flu: Yes, its a real thing.
And it can happen when you drastically and suddenly remove carbs from your diet.
Also known as the carb flu, the keto flu is a natural reaction your body undergoes when switching from burning glucose as energy to burning fat instead.
In fact, some people say the keto flu symptoms can actually feel similar to withdrawing from an addictive substance.
If youve recently switched to the keto diet and youre feeling:
- drowsy,
- and irritable,
dont worry.
These symptoms are your bodys natural reaction to removing carbs from your diet, and while it may have you second guessing your keto diet decision, we promise you these keto flu symptoms will pass.
Stick with it, and soon youll be reaping the energizing, fat-burning rewards that come with ketosis.
In the meantime, there are many things you can do to reduce the symptoms of the keto flu.
Well tell you exactly which remedies you can start using today, but first, lets take a quick look at why the keto flu happens when you go low carb.
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Normally, your body burns carbs for fuel. On keto, you cut carbs out of your diet, training your body to burn fat instead.
Staying in a fat-burning state comes with a lot of health benefits, and its great for long-term, sustainable weight loss.
However, your body can take a week or so to get used to such a big metabolic change. When youre first starting out on keto, you may experience keto flu a few days of flu-like symptoms as your body learns to switch over from burning sugar to burning fat.
The good news is that there are a few simple tips and tricks to relieve and even prevent keto flu.
This article will cover why keto flu happens, keto flu symptoms, and how you can get rid of keto flu.
How To Overcome Keto Flu Symptoms + Other Keto Diet Side Effects
Youve read about all the benefits: weight loss, reduced appetite, improved energy and mental clarity. But now that youve actually gotten started with the ketogenic diet , you find yourself feeling worse than you did before. What gives?
This is not an uncommon scenario. Unfortunately, these keto diet side effects or keto flu symptoms that are bad enough can scare a lot of people away .
But the good news is that you wont feel uncomfortable forever while on the ketogenic diet. For most people, side effects of ketosis tend to go away within several weeks especially if you take certain precautions like preventing dehydration and eating the right foods.
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How To Limit Keto Flu Symptoms
There is some good news about the keto flu: it isnt guaranteed to happen. Some people never experience it, while others might have a few minor symptoms like headaches here and there.
So, if youre hoping to avoid this food-related flu altogether, its totally possible. If you understand what tends to cause keto flu symptoms, you can ease yourself into the keto diet and help your body make a smoother transition into ketosis.
Here are a few tips youll want to keep in mind as you work to avoid the keto flu.
Why Does The Keto Flu Happen
While the study does not explain why people get keto flu, Ethan Weiss, a researcher and preventive cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, tells Inverse that it may be due in part to shifts in electrolytes and fluids in the body while doing keto.
Weiss, who is not involved in Bostock’s research, studies the effects of diet on weight and heart health, and co-started a company that created a breathalyzer device to measure ketone levels.
Executed perfectly, following the keto diet can bring your carbohydrate intake down to less than 5 percent of daily caloric intake. This means eliminating high-carb foods like grains and sweets, and replacing them with high-fat foods, like avocados and cheese. The logic goes that without carbs, and, in turn, glucose, the body looks for another energy source and begins to convert fat into ketone bodies, which can do the job of providing energy to the body.
Going on keto can also lead to a rapid loss of body water and sodium, Weiss explains. As a result, the keto flu’s symptoms may be down to dehydration. Most of the symptoms may be prevented by a temporary supplementation of salt, he says. On forums, many people report adding bouillon or broth to their diet.
Should keto flu deter people from trying the diet out? Weiss says no, but Bostock says decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis.
âI would be reluctant to make any sweeping claims,â Bostock says.
Partial abstract:
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Tips For Managing The Symptoms Of Keto Flu
The keto flu can leave you feeling pretty miserable. We dont have research on the keto flu, so most of the information on helping with the keto flu comes from reports from people who have tried the diet themselves.
These tips could help lessen keto flu symptoms, and they may help your overall health.
You Can Do Hard Things
More than anything, I want to encourage you that if you do experience the keto flu its totally normal and will not last forever. Dont get discouraged or off track!
I know its hard to stay motivated when youre not feeling great. But stick it out! The best things are worth fighting for, and there is nothing better than being in good health.
It helped me a lot to shift my thinking, and rather than focusing on how crummy I felt I chose to focus on how excited I was that my body was healing and detoxing itself.
Once youre on the other side, youre going to feel better than ever!
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Cut Back On Carbs Gradually Not Immediately
Its so easy to dive right into the keto diet and prioritize fat over carbs in your very first keto-friendly meals. However, jumping in rather than easing into these new habits can also lead to unpleasant keto flu symptoms.
The keto flu is typically brought on because keto essentially shocks your body by taking away its usual fuel source. To avoid this, make the transition from your current eating habits into the keto approach a slow one. Ease your body into the change by slowly cutting back on carbs. You can gradually reduce your intake day by day until youve fully adopted keto habits.
Ways To Ward Off The Keto Flu
Following are a number of keto flu remedies you can use to lessen the physical unpleasantries as your body adjusts to its new fuel source:
Mojo On!
Feeling better yet? If not, relax and keep it up. Dietary changes always affect the body, and your body needs to settle into living in a state of ketosis. So grab yourself a tall glass of water, season it with a little sea salt, and toast to you for self care, hydration, and for pushing through in the name of better health. Even as you go through this time, your blood sugar and insulin levels will begin to normalize into a healthier state and your ketone levels will stay high enough to help your body transition quickly.
Also, remember: its always a good idea to seek medical advice before making dramatic changes to your diet.
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What Does Keto Flu Feel Like
The team pulled data from 43 online forums, which yielded posts from 101 people describing their experience with keto flu. They are not outliers: About one-third of all posts in the forums refer to keto flu.
Reported timing for symptom onset was, on average, within a week of starting the diet. Symptoms typically peaked within the first week of eating keto and steadily got better over the course of the first month on the diet.
The researchers identify 54 discrete symptoms of keto flu. The most common symptoms are: headache, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, âbrain fog,â gastrointestinal discomfort, decreased energy, feeling faint, and heartbeat alterations.
People with the keto flu also shared âremediesâ for peers experiencing the same problems â but none of these suggestions are confirmed by scientific study. Home remedies primarily center on staying hydrated, and correcting electrolyte imbalances.
Take An Exogenous Ketone Supplement
Taking an exogenous ketone supplement, such as Perfect Keto can also help reduce keto flu symptoms. Exogenous ketones help fight fatigue and boost energy levels by raising the ketone levels in your blood. To be clear, ketone supplements arent a replacement for the keto diet, but they can help you stay in ketosis when youre meeting your macros, and provide all day energy.
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Guide To The Keto Flu And How To Avoid It
So, you are interested in starting the keto diet or a low-carb diet, but you want to know everything about it first, and how to start it the right way. Part of that is preparing for the keto flu and even avoiding it if you can.
Thankfully, there is a way to avoid most keto mistakes.
You have probably heard about the amazing benefits of the keto diet. It is incredible for fast and sustained weight loss, not to mention all the incredible health benefits that you can expect to experience.
Unfortunately, you may have also heard about the keto flu.
Keto Flu Timing And Duration: How Long Does Keto Flu Last
For the average person, keto flu symptoms may begin within the first day or two of dramatically restricting your carb intake, especially if youve been enjoying a diet high in refined sugar and processed foods . If your diet is already relatively low in processed sugars and starches when you start on the low-carb, high-fat diet you may encounter only mild keto-flu symptoms or no symptoms at all. As with everything in the keto lifestyle and life in general, everybodys experience is different, and thats okay. Even if you have a particularly intolerable case of the keto flu, the symptoms tend to last a week or less its only on very rare occasions that they persist for longer, perhaps up to a month. If youre suffering for any extended amount of time, its always a good idea to consult your healthcare provider.
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