Low carb doesn't work for everyone
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Just wanted to repeat the caution about taking potassium or nusalt if you are taking medicines for blood pressure. Check your prescription labels!0
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greenautumn17 wrote: »Just wanted to repeat the caution about taking potassium or nusalt if you are taking medicines for blood pressure. Check your prescription labels!
Good looking out. I don't take any of those so this is something I wasn't aware of. But I do know you shouldn't over do potassium, and since I don't know how much that would be for me, I feel safest with the small doses I get from NuSalt.0 -
I would suggest baseline supplementing only due to symptom, but these are pretty simple blood tests your doctor can request. Sodium and potassium levels are on the CBC/standard bloodwork, so if you have that done annually with your yearly check up, you should already have that data. For me, even after going keto, my sodium and potassium were fairly level, so I just supplement to symptom, but my magnesium was low (with no previous comparison data). I supplement with a chelated magnesium citrate, which absorbs well for me without giving loose stools. It's 135 mg each, and I take two at bedtime. Anything more than that, and i have a bathroom situation. I also can't take more mag during the day, so I just aim to get it in food.0
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SkinnyKerinny wrote: »Wow I'm completely overwhelmed. Thanks for all the advice and kind words and caring.
I don't actually seem to be feeling better with higher carbs so maybe lots more salt and take that magnesium every day. Oddly enough I started a kind of meditation yesterday (Sahaja- very very cool) that seems to be giving me quite a bit of energy. So with those 3 things maybe I'll be OK! I think I will eventually do more of an autoimmune diet but I don't feel like jumping into that all at once right now.
Since you've mentioned being very sick, you might also want to check out the zero carb/carnivore way of eating, even as a temporary elimination baseline (meat and water only for 30 days, then slowly add things back in and see how you respond). It's actually been used medically for nearly a century and a half (check out Dr. Salisbury's work) to treat all sorts of issues (especially things like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and various other "we have no idea why this is happening" disorders).
Also, regarding magnesium - you can also do foot soaks or baths with epsom salt or other magnesium-containing salts. Magnesium absorbs readily through the skin, and you don't have to worry about whether you're overdoing it, as the body will just stop absorbing it when it has enough. It's also a good time to relax and get some reading done.
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Dragonwolf wrote: »Also, regarding magnesium - you can also do foot soaks or baths with epsom salt or other magnesium-containing salts. Magnesium absorbs readily through the skin, and you don't have to worry about whether you're overdoing it, as the body will just stop absorbing it when it has enough. It's also a good time to relax and get some reading done.
There's another post (http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10237197/epsom-salt-baths#latest) that could use your input on the epsom salts bath issue, too. I know you posted some links in times past, but I couldn't find them. 0 -
I have a HUGE bag of San Francisco bath salts and use it quite often. Love my baths!0
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SkinnyKerinny wrote: »I have a HUGE bag of San Francisco bath salts and use it quite often. Love my baths!
How you feelin? Things going any better?
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Hi, can someone explain "keto flu" please? Thank you0
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spacetastic wrote: »Hi, can someone explain "keto flu" please? Thank you
A syndrome of common side-effects people associated with the start of a low-carb diet, including fatigue, headaches, light-headedness, and generally just feeling like crap.
Some people think it's "carb withdrawal," including the first hit you get from google. I think it's related to sodium and fluid losses. Salt always cures it for me.0 -
I have done moderate carb and even 20 or less, exercised on an empty stomach.
Never had flu symptoms
Seems to vary from person to person?0 -
KittensMaster wrote: »I have done moderate carb and even 20 or less, exercised on an empty stomach.
Never had flu symptoms
Seems to vary from person to person?
Yeah, I'd guess that the same people who have salt-sensitive hypertension also get the flu. For some people, salt doesn't seem to affect blood volume that much.
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KittensMaster wrote: »I have done moderate carb and even 20 or less, exercised on an empty stomach.
Never had flu symptoms
Seems to vary from person to person?
Yeah, I'd guess that the same people who have salt-sensitive hypertension also get the flu. For some people, salt doesn't seem to affect blood volume that much.
You are a true service to our little group!
I did not know that
You are not allowed to quit MFP
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Heh. It's just a theory. I like throwing 'em out there in the hope that somebody will shoot them down. 0
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »GaleHawkins wrote: »I find drinking a few ounces of heavy whipping cream (36% butter fat milk) right before bed addresses my looking for a last minute carb and is good for my stomach without really having carbs.
Gale, I can't remember if you are insulin resistant, but if you are - do you find that this triggers your insulin reactions? I read somewhere that not snacking at all after meals is the best way to allow your insulin process to restore to normal. I've been working on that - if I have a snack/sweet treat, I try always to tie it to the middle or end of my meal. I'm just wondering if you've had any experience with that?
I am Insulin Resistant and wonder if I should cut out snacks or tie them to a meal. Great question~
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spacetastic wrote: »Hi, can someone explain "keto flu" please? Thank you
A syndrome of common side-effects people associated with the start of a low-carb diet, including fatigue, headaches, light-headedness, and generally just feeling like crap.
Some people think it's "carb withdrawal," including the first hit you get from google. I think it's related to sodium and fluid losses. Salt always cures it for me.
It is making me feel depressed and short tempered. My energy is back but my mood is not so good. I jope this passes. Anyone have this problem with LCHF WOE?
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Hi Pennell12-- I get short tempered when I have really low energy because I'm not coping well with stressors, etc. How is your energy level?0
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How's your sodium intake? The standard prescription is a bowl of broth -- about 1g sodium.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/03March/Pages/Saltanaturalantidepressant.aspx0 -
spacetastic wrote: »Hi, can someone explain "keto flu" please? Thank you
A syndrome of common side-effects people associated with the start of a low-carb diet, including fatigue, headaches, light-headedness, and generally just feeling like crap.
Some people think it's "carb withdrawal," including the first hit you get from google. I think it's related to sodium and fluid losses. Salt always cures it for me.
The experience I've had with my husband suggests that there's a carb/grain withdrawal component for at least some people, and I suspect the withdrawal is more grain related than carbs, per se.
My husband has attempted it several times, and each time, he looks like a drug addict at a rehab center, and that's even with allowing a higher level of sugar/carbs than the typical keto induction (such as sweet tea and some amount of potato). It's not until he eats something grain-based again that he feels and looks better.
The Whole 30 program's "timeline" overlaps with LCHF induction/adaptation so much that you can use it as guide for intro to LCHF, despite the fact that Whole 30 doesn't require carb restriction at all (fruit and tubers can make up for all of the lost grain carbs if you wanted). This suggests that that kind of withdrawal process (and such, the kind that doesn't really respond to fluids or electrolytes) is actually independent of the fuel switch, and it's only coincidental that it's associated with induction, because dropping carbs that low pretty much necessitates going grain free.
Then, you have the sodium loss from dropping carbs, period, and the symptoms associated with sodium deficiency and/or electrolyte imbalance. That is cured by something like a good cup of broth.
Since they both would happen at the same time, it would be easy to conflate the two, and I've little doubt that in people who experience both would end up having it worse as the symptoms of one amplifies the symptoms of the other.0 -
I think there can be carb-specific brain effects, but I'd guess the key factor in determining if the problems are related to sodium would be water weight loss. All of the paleo diets, including Whole 30, are low-enough-carb to both lower insulin and make ketones. Both of those factors will affect sodium retention, and the diets themselves are going to be naturally low in sodium if they're eating whole foods.
If you lose more than a couple pounds in a week, you've lost water, and if you've lost water, you've lost sodium.
(Yeah, I know glycogen is usually blamed for the early water loss, but that can't account for more than 400g of weight loss.)0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »GaleHawkins wrote: »I find drinking a few ounces of heavy whipping cream (36% butter fat milk) right before bed addresses my looking for a last minute carb and is good for my stomach without really having carbs.
Gale, I can't remember if you are insulin resistant, but if you are - do you find that this triggers your insulin reactions? I read somewhere that not snacking at all after meals is the best way to allow your insulin process to restore to normal. I've been working on that - if I have a snack/sweet treat, I try always to tie it to the middle or end of my meal. I'm just wondering if you've had any experience with that?
I am Insulin Resistant and wonder if I should cut out snacks or tie them to a meal. Great question~
I can't find the exact article I read about why to do this, but this one explains it okay. The only I read specifically talked about not eating after dinner...
http://cascadeintegrativemedicine.com/to-snack-or-not-to-snack-the-myth-and-the-reality-of-eating-between-meals/
An interesting/related article: http://jdmoyer.com/2010/11/01/what-it-feels-like-to-regain-your-insulin-sensitivity/
If I find the other article, @pennell12 I''ll be sure to post it for you!0
