How to SURVIVE the keto flu?

formylover

hi last week i started the keto diet (lifestyle) but i could not last more the 6 days. Here is why:

I was really tired (dead tired and brain fog were i couldn't sustain a clear conversation at times )but i could even get past that but i had the worst headache ever everyday since day 2. No amout of doliprane or paracetamol could lessen it.

I could not stand light or sounds, spend most my days in bed eyes bound and ears plugged... my husband brought cookies home on day 6 and insisted i eat it. and since then i'm good again.

Clearly i'm some serious sugar (carb) addict and stopping it almost did me in.

I would like to start over again because kito diet work miracles on my allergies and asthma but i don't know to deal with the "flu". clearly being generous with salt and eating potassium rich veggies and water did not help, medication can't lessen the pain

how did you guys cope?

Any suggestion is most welcome.

StealthHealth

Fortuitously, I read this earlier:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/10-ways-to-beat-the-low-carb-flu/#axzz4GSJL5gOt

It might help you out.

daniip_la

I had to take potassium and magnesium supplements, I doubt you're getting enough from veggies if you're doing keto. For potassium, add a spoon of No-Salt to a glass of water to drink it. For magnesium, take magnesium citrate. Those both worked wonders for me, I got over the keto flu by day 4 or 5.

formylover

Thanks guy for your repplies !
But i wonder if it is really potassium and magnesium deficit is really the problem because i doubt that in 2 days we could be that severly lacking in them just because of the keto diet when people on water fasting have 0 food intake.

And in my case 1 hour after i ate cookies ( not much of a potassium source and little magnesium in the cacao just a lot of refined sugar) my headache was almost over and i had had none since ....

i wonder if my "flu" was not more of a sever sugar withdrawal syptoms than an actual keto flu....

vespiquenn

I apologize in advance that I personally do not have experience with keto, but would it be possible to ease your body into the diet, especially if you think it's due to the lack of sugar?

daniip_la

formylover wrote: »

Thanks guy for your repplies !
But i wonder if it is really potassium and magnesium deficit is really the problem because i doubt that in 2 days we could be that severly lacking in them just because of the keto diet when people on water fasting have 0 food intake.

And in my case 1 hour after i ate cookies ( not much of a potassium source and little magnesium in the cacao just a lot of refined sugar) my headache was almost over and i had had none since ....

i wonder if my "flu" was not more of a sever sugar withdrawal syptoms than an actual keto flu....

I can only tell you what myself and many others who have done keto have found out. Electrolytes are key when you're doing keto.

You can either give up on keto (I personally don't do keto anymore, it's too restrictive and weight loss happens the exact same on a normal, calorie-counting diet), eat a cookie to fix your headaches which will prevent you from ever going into ketosis, or try supplementing your electrolytes via potassium, magnesium, and sodium chloride.

Good luck, whatever you choose.

nvmomketo

The so called "keto flu" is actually an electrolyte imbalance and can be largely avoided by increasing sodium up to 3000-5000 mg per day. I know that sounds like a lot, and I made the mistake of not believeing that amount was needed at first, but as within an hour of addding in sodium, most people feel much better. A couple of cups of salty broth, a salt tablet, or adding a teaspoon of salt to water will do the trick.

Carbs cause water retention. When you cut carbs you lose water and the electrolytes. Add in the sodium and the headaches, fatigue, brain fog, nausea, and muscle aches go away. Once you start getting muscle cramps (after a few days of ignoring the symptoms of low electrolytes) then you may need to add potassium and magnesium supplements because your body is leeching out K and Mg since Na is not available.

When starting keto there will be some fatigue in the first few days or weeks but it is very minor. Not very noticeable except when exerting yourself. Once your body starts getting fat adapted (used to using fat for fuel) the fatigue goes away. Most of us find we have more energy than before because we aren't dealing with blood sugar ups and downs.

Try the salt. I know it sounds like a lot but if you eat at a keto carb levels, a teaspoon of salt in your water every morning makes a HUGE difference.

ETA Join the Low Carber Daily MFP group. There are many helpful ketofiles in there. People who have been doing keto for years to newbies who started yesterday.

formylover

So salt it is ^^. i will try that and tell you how it goes! thanks a lot guys.
Does a certain type of salt work better than another ?

nvmomketo

formylover wrote: »

So salt it is ^^. i will try that and tell you how it goes! thanks a lot guys.
Does a certain type of salt work better than another ?

I don't think so. Just sodium. Some use a potassium based one too.
We ketofiles become salt lovers. Most of us now have a few different types in the pantry since we get to eat more of it than the sugar burners do.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

I agree with increasing sodium. Eat a ton of dill pickles if you can - they have lots of sodium and are low carb.

formylover

i wonder is green olives could work too? very salty, little carbs, a lot of fat ( at least on paper)? any other suggestions for salty treats ^^

hjlourenshj

I really don't understand why people would go do this to themself. Starting eating at a certainly amount of kcal deficit is already difficult enough and there is absolutly no advances in cutting this entire food group for loosing weight. We all know its about kcal in vs kcal out by now right?

T1DCarnivoreRunner

hjlourenshj wrote: »

I really don't understand why people would go do this to themself. Starting eating at a certainly amount of kcal deficit is already difficult enough and there is absolutly no advances in cutting this entire food group for loosing weight. We all know its about kcal in vs kcal out by now right?

There are many reasons. For me, CICO didn't work as well as LCHF. I can already tell you will find it hard to believe, but I'm losing 5 times as much on the same calorie deficit now. THAT was a wonderful surprise that I was not expecting. The reason I switched to LCHF to start with was to stabilize BG's... yet another reason why someone might do this.

formylover

hjlourenshj wrote: »

I really don't understand why people would go do this to themself. Starting eating at a certainly amount of kcal deficit is already difficult enough and there is absolutly no advances in cutting this entire food group for loosing weight. We all know its about kcal in vs kcal out by now right?

in my case it is for my asthma and allergies. for some reason on low carb diet i have 1 to no asthma attack per day but the moment i start eating carb rich food like fruits or bread etc ... my noise is runny and i have multiple asthma episodes per day .... even my doctor does not undertand it ...

thanks to low carb i lived almost a year asthma free with nose i can breath with for a change. The i started eating like everyone else, for a time i was able to the little by little the nose started running and 6 months later i'm back to square one.
back on medication with breating problems daily.

So i cut back an entire food group to breath again ^^ i oddly on low carb i lost little to no weight (5kg at best). but i could do sports (well yoga and a little cardio lol) and breath again.
I can't explain it, but here it is.
During the worst of my headaches due to the flu (or sugar withdrawal maybe), ironically i could breath better and i had at most 1 asthma episode a day ....

i can't vouch for others but i believe some tried a lot of diets with no significan weight loss, and for overweight people i believe cutting on carb is less drastic that ending up having an open heart chirurgy, if they are lucky enough to survive the heart attack.

As for other well, it their body as long as they do not harm it, it's a choice to make either they own it or leave it ^^
Free country, free choices, strange situations

hjlourenshj

midwesterner85 wrote: »

hjlourenshj wrote: »

I really don't understand why people would go do this to themself. Starting eating at a certainly amount of kcal deficit is already difficult enough and there is absolutly no advances in cutting this entire food group for loosing weight. We all know its about kcal in vs kcal out by now right?

There are many reasons. For me, CICO didn't work as well as LCHF. I can already tell you will find it hard to believe, but I'm losing 5 times as much on the same calorie deficit now. THAT was a wonderful surprise that I was not expecting. The reason I switched to LCHF to start with was to stabilize BG's... yet another reason why someone might do this.

firstly i wanted to say that i was talking about weight-loss and not about (pre)diabetics dealing with their BG. Secondly, not for a instant i believe you loose more on the same calories. That's just not possible. If you are at a 500kcal deficit you will loose roughly a lb a week. Not magically 5 times more. People who want to loose weight don't have to see carbs as the root of all evil because that's a fad. The root is that people where eating way to much. Eat a deficit, eat enough protein to preserve lean mass, eat healthy fats and eat carbs and you will loose the weight.

hjlourenshj

formylover wrote: »

hjlourenshj wrote: »

I really don't understand why people would go do this to themself. Starting eating at a certainly amount of kcal deficit is already difficult enough and there is absolutly no advances in cutting this entire food group for loosing weight. We all know its about kcal in vs kcal out by now right?

in my case it is for my asthma and allergies. for some reason on low carb diet i have 1 to no asthma attack per day but the moment i start eating carb rich food like fruits or bread etc ... my noise is runny and i have multiple asthma episodes per day .... even my doctor does not undertand it ...

thanks to low carb i lived almost a year asthma free with nose i can breath with for a change. The i started eating like everyone else, for a time i was able to the little by little the nose started running and 6 months later i'm back to square one.
back on medication with breating problems daily.

So i cut back an entire food group to breath again ^^ i oddly on low carb i lost little to no weight (5kg at best). but i could do sports (well yoga and a little cardio lol) and breath again.
I can't explain it, but here it is.
During the worst of my headaches due to the flu (or sugar withdrawal maybe), ironically i could breath better and i had at most 1 asthma episode a day ....

i can't vouch for others but i believe some tried a lot of diets with no significan weight loss, and for overweight people i believe cutting on carb is less drastic that ending up having an open heart chirurgy, if they are lucky enough to survive the heart attack.

As for other well, it their body as long as they do not harm it, it's a choice to make either they own it or leave it ^^
Free country, free choices, strange situations

Also as in previous post i will not say anything about the relationship with your asthma, allergies and carbs! I think its super nice and good that you figured out that carbs where the problem.

the weight-loss part... kcal in vs. kcal out. I know it sounds i make it easy but as the rest of us on this forum we all know its super difficult! Good luck with your sports!!

formylover

i don't know for others but in my case i guess some diets like keto or atkins where carbs are low, some people can loose weight on these because cutting carbs curb their hunger pangs. it did that to me. oddly when i eat sugary food (even banana) i just carve more and more.

Some call it a sweet thooth, but when you are home or outside, that you are full but you still feel hunger because your body carves sugar in certain quantities it is kind of freaking. How many of us had desert because they carved it even when the where full?

But if we are talking about weight loss and sugar vs fat here is a documentary that astonished me ^^
I'm no diet hater as long as it work for someone good for them.


So i guess for those pathology free everything (well mostly) is about calories for weight loss (sugar vs Fat) :

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1amh2t_bbc-horizon-sugar-v-fat-h264-1280x720-aac-rmac_lifestyle


For those like me too bad no french fries and chocolat cake diet on calories restrictions ^^ Keto it is

T1DCarnivoreRunner

hjlourenshj wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

hjlourenshj wrote: »

I really don't understand why people would go do this to themself. Starting eating at a certainly amount of kcal deficit is already difficult enough and there is absolutly no advances in cutting this entire food group for loosing weight. We all know its about kcal in vs kcal out by now right?

There are many reasons. For me, CICO didn't work as well as LCHF. I can already tell you will find it hard to believe, but I'm losing 5 times as much on the same calorie deficit now. THAT was a wonderful surprise that I was not expecting. The reason I switched to LCHF to start with was to stabilize BG's... yet another reason why someone might do this.

firstly i wanted to say that i was talking about weight-loss and not about (pre)diabetics dealing with their BG. Secondly, not for a instant i believe you loose more on the same calories. That's just not possible. If you are at a 500kcal deficit you will loose roughly a lb a week. Not magically 5 times more. People who want to loose weight don't have to see carbs as the root of all evil because that's a fad. The root is that people where eating way to much. Eat a deficit, eat enough protein to preserve lean mass, eat healthy fats and eat carbs and you will loose the weight.

Not pre-diabetic... I have type 1 diabetes. Low carb is not a fad because it has been around in various forms for more than a century. Finally, I pointed out that you wouldn't believe it. That's because I can tell it is beyond your knowledge base. That's fine... nobody understands everything about everything, but don't pretend that it isn't possible for there to be something you don't understand.

nvmomketo

hjlourenshj wrote: »

midwesterner85 wrote: »

hjlourenshj wrote: »

I really don't understand why people would go do this to themself. Starting eating at a certainly amount of kcal deficit is already difficult enough and there is absolutly no advances in cutting this entire food group for loosing weight. We all know its about kcal in vs kcal out by now right?

There are many reasons. For me, CICO didn't work as well as LCHF. I can already tell you will find it hard to believe, but I'm losing 5 times as much on the same calorie deficit now. THAT was a wonderful surprise that I was not expecting. The reason I switched to LCHF to start with was to stabilize BG's... yet another reason why someone might do this.

firstly i wanted to say that i was talking about weight-loss and not about (pre)diabetics dealing with their BG. Secondly, not for a instant i believe you loose more on the same calories. That's just not possible. If you are at a 500kcal deficit you will loose roughly a lb a week. Not magically 5 times more. People who want to loose weight don't have to see carbs as the root of all evil because that's a fad. The root is that people where eating way to much. Eat a deficit, eat enough protein to preserve lean mass, eat healthy fats and eat carbs and you will loose the weight.

Why start with "carbs as the root of all evil" overexagerration? It's the equivalent of low carbers saying higher carb eaters think carbs are God.... Makes little sense.

Some low carbers find that they lose weight easier on a LCHF because it cuts their appetite and carb/sugar cravings. Other low carbers find that they do lose weight faster than their CICO TDEE calculations would expect. It isn't a lot more, often just around 6 or solbs over a year, but it is there - especially for those with insulin resistance and trunkal obesity.

I experienced both. I did not eat a 1000+ kcal deficit (I ate 1500kcal per day while sedentary) but I still lost 2-3 lbs per week, excluding the extra couple of pounds of water weight I lost at the beginning, and my appetite was reduced. I never experienced that in a higher carb diet. Ever.

That's why we "do that to ourselves". It works and makes us feel better. For those whom it doesn't work or make them feel healthier, they don't do it. They quit and go back to something else.

Besides, carbs on a food group. Just a non-essential macronutrient. Mots do not cut carbs out entirely anyways. They just reduce it compared to most North Americans. I eat very low carb, yet yesterday I still can a couple of cucumbers, artichoke, berries and such. Low carb is not no carb.

Carlos_421

Just here to say that the keto flu is not indicative of any addiction to sugar or carbs.

hjlourenshj

Thats why i used (pre)diabetic which means pre can be read as non-essential. Again, a 500 kcal daily deficit will generate you a roughly 1 lb week weight loss. Not 5 lb week loss. That is not only my believe its also basic science.

nvmomketo

Carlos_421 wrote: »

Just here to say that the keto flu is not indicative of any addiction to sugar or carbs.

Very true.

nvmomketo

hjlourenshj wrote: »

Thats why i used (pre)diabetic which means pre can be read as non-essential. Again, a 500 kcal daily deficit will generate you a roughly 1 lb week weight loss. Not 5 lb week loss. That is not only my believe its also basic science.

I don't understand your meaning. Prediabetic means non-essential diabetic?

I think diet and health can affect CO so what woul be a slight caloric deficit on a "normal" diet may become a larger deficit when foods and health changes. Or vice versa.

hjlourenshj

nvmomketo wrote: »

hjlourenshj wrote: »

Thats why i used (pre)diabetic which means pre can be read as non-essential. Again, a 500 kcal daily deficit will generate you a roughly 1 lb week weight loss. Not 5 lb week loss. That is not only my believe its also basic science.

I don't understand your meaning. Prediabetic means non-essential diabetic?

I think diet and health can affect CO so what woul be a slight caloric deficit on a "normal" diet may become a larger deficit when foods and health changes. Or vice versa.

(pre)diabetic = prediabetic or diabetic