Keto questions
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People have eaten like this long before we had all these things to keep track of.
Good point. Most people don't consider sodium to be a "supplement" -- just something we eat. So if we need it, how did we get it in the past?
Maybe by chewing on bark?
http://www.livescience.com/4120-mystery-solved-gorillas-eat-rotting-wood.html
After observing mountain gorillas in Uganda for nearly a year, scientists believe they have discovered why the animals eat decayed wood and lick tree stumps, behaviors that have puzzled primate researchers for decades.
The answer: for the sodium.
Phinney speculates that we used to get it by drinking the blood of our kills.
So if you're not drinking blood, and you're not eating bark, maybe some broth would be a good idea after peeing out a bunch of ketones.
Since waiting until you have symptoms might be too late, just salt to taste. We should crave salt if we need it. Even if you don't crave it, if it still tastes good to you, that probably means you need it.0 -
A few years ago we got 4 mini horses for the daughter. I noticed one mare was licking the ground where I expect the owner had put block salt at one point. We put out a salt/mineral block when we got them home. She licked on it for three days. I was concerned but just counted on nature getting it right.
After the three days she did not go to the salt block more than the rest. She was like 18 years old and knew what she needed and how much she needed by some means. I am not sure we are that connected with our needs that well. 0 -
weigh over my head. The acronyms alone is hard to figure out. WOE, YMMV, ???. I stick to 60 grams or less a day per my doc and nutritionist. Have a great day0
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I was gonna ask before if it's normal to just suddenly get hungry (I'm on Day 6 eating 20 g net carbs). But it's definitely been weird the last few nights.
My personal standard advice for new folks (and I've seen a bunch of others say the same thing) is for the first couple weeks to really, really not worry about calories at all. Just eat low carb foods, and eat whenever you're hungry, even if it seems like you're eating all the time or eating a ridiculous amount early on. It *really* helps with what can be wild, intense cravings for some folks, and it will settle down.0 -
@Batlady49 , the abbreviations can be explained in the Launch Pad. We use many here, some I'm still not sure of, like YMMV, but WOE is way of eating. Just for reference, wol is way of life. We will get it! Hang in there, and 60 grams of carbs is great!
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I think YMMV is your mileage may vary ie different strokes for different folks.0
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TY!! I'm so technologically challenged! My brain doesn't work this way.. I've never been able to even figure out ink blots. Sorry OP for butting in! 0
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Ok I get the feeling low and being ravenous at night, adding to this are some intense carb fantasies. I go the whole day being cool without carbs, I might feel slightly weird from time to time and get pretty hungry out of nowhere before I eat my lunch...but overall it's ok until night. A couple nights ago I was super hyper at 1 am and then totally crashed, like didn't want to get off the couch to make my avocado drained. Then I just wanted honey nut Cheerios really badly and pouted about it for awhile. Last night I couldn't stop imagining eating Shipley's glazed donuts until I was full, or a Tiff's treats sandwich with snicker doodles smothered in ice cream...it's bad enough that if any of that stuff was around it'd be pretty hard to resist. So I eat my fatty foods and meats but am still hungry, quite possibly go over ideal protein amount but I don't care because I'm just trying not to think about donuts. But I wake up fine, not really hungry, can even go 2-4 hrs without eating, not really craving carbs. It's kinda weird. I was gonna ask before if it's normal to just suddenly get hungry (I'm on Day 6 eating 20 g net carbs). But it's definitely been weird the last few nights.
I have Carbmares sometimes. Carb nightmares. Like I'm eating and enjoying a warm giant choc chip cookie covered in ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge and caramel, and I'm 3/4 the way through it in food-heaven and then I realize I just kicked myself out of ketosis. I freak out. I stop eating it. I wake up stressed as hell. Thankfully I haven't had one of those in awhile.
Night time is my witching-hour as well. If I get a major craving that won't quit, it's usually at night, and I make a low-carb snack or a low-carb imitation sweet like the one I want. It usually works for me. However, the craving should subside soon if you are sticking to plan, looking out for sneaky hidden carbs, and get enough fat.
Lately though, since I'm still trying to nix the last 8lb and I'm restricting calories, I get the munchies in the evening before bed and I just chew sugar-free gum to keep food out of my mouth until I go upstairs after putting the kids to bed. It aggravates the TMJ but it's been working.0 -
Whenever you wonder about whether something you're experiencing is normal -- particularly if it's in the first month or two -- have a look at the Whole 30 Timeline. It's technically for the Whole 30, but the effects of it and the effects of LCHF are nearly identical (since Whole 30 drops a large portion of carbs out of the picture, too).
The carb dreams? Yep, they're in there (day 12-15 in the timeline).
http://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/
Also, I agree with the other person who mentioned that if you're just starting out, don't worry about calories. Just eat low carb foods when you're hungry. It may seem like a lot, but believe it or not, it's often actually not much more than what should be your maintenance amount (and often not even that). Even if it is, your body is bringing the fat burning "machinery" back online and "upgrading" for more full-time use (since it's likely pretty atrophied after decades of a 60%+ carbohydrate diet), so that extra energy is going to building/rebuilding stuff, and not so much to storage. It will level out after a couple of weeks.0 -
baconslave wrote: »I have Carbmares sometimes. Carb nightmares.
Wow. New vocabulary word.
Kind of awesome and kind of scary!
Love this place!
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weigh over my head. The acronyms alone is hard to figure out. WOE, YMMV, ???. I stick to 60 grams or less a day per my doc and nutritionist. Have a great day
Blog #10 Keto: Abbreviations, Acronyms & Terminology Used on the LCD & Keto Discussion Groups Updated
I hope this helps,
Dan the Man from Michigan
Keto / Water Fasting / E.A.S.Y. Exercise Program
110 pounds down, 24 to go. 12 months 3 weeks on diet0 -
How critical is it to stay at <20 g carbs for ketosis? I've seen a lot of people saying they're in keto at 30 or even 50 net grams0
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It varies but between 45-50 grams seems to be the glass ceiling to be in ketosis.
It takes using a glucose/ketone meter to be precise.
If fasting is at say 95 BG and eats and a little later it reads 102 then you know you ate over 15 carbs which is about the max based on three meals as I understand it today.0 -
I had carbmares, but I smothercated them.0
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How critical is it to stay at <20 g carbs for ketosis? I've seen a lot of people saying they're in keto at 30 or even 50 net grams
Its not really. The beginner recommendation that I tend to make is to start at 20 if you're just going all in/cold turkey for keto and to aim for that low number of carbs to just aboslutely 100% guarentee that you get into ketosis and get keto adapted, and then to experiment with your carb count and how you feel if you want.
Others take a different approach and start at a higher number of carbs and lower slowly until they find a place where they're happy. That approach never worked at all for me, personally, I needed the cold turkey start and have never seen a need to change so far.0 -
I had to do the 20g or less at the start to adjust quicker, but now vary day to day without going over 50g. The first month I had carbmares LOL. I'd dream about eating chocolate cake and waffles and then getting mad at myself for going off plan in the dream. They went away very quickly thankfully.
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I think I have awake carbmares where I just have intense carb fantasies/daydreams at night before I go to bed. I've had one dream where my girlfriend just wanted to eat carbs and I was mad at her for it but ate some with her anyway. Think that's the only related dream I've had so far that I remember0
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I have dreams like that all the time. I'm at a party or something, and there is a huge buffet table with gorgeous looking desserts, and I am eating one, and I feel miserable and guilty. Then I wake up and think, dang, that was just a dream, why didn't I stuff my face with all the not-real sweets...0
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I think even when we ate vegetation that we probably at least ate bugs or something moving with protein.
New question: Quest bars. I'm craving something sweet. Should I risk all the sugar alcohols and questionable fiber source to have something sweet if I've gotta have something?
I love, love, love quest bars but I'll eat a whole box in two days.....bad, bad. I think on top of portion control issues they also stall me. Sugar alcohols are not my friend. I bought these recently and they are awesome-dont cause me cravings, i can eat just one, no sugar alcohols. A little pricy but very good. The are more like a chocolate bar than a granola-feeling (quest-type) bar. The have coconut in them for those who dont like coconut.
http://www.ketobars.com/collections/frontpage/products/keto-bars-10-pack
T~
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I ate a quest bar today, and it didn't go down well. Not only do I absolutely hate the taste, it makes my stomach hurt, which is really too bad, as they are so convenient and I want to be able to eat them. I think it's one of those 'to each their own' thing. My advice would be to try them and see how you do.
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