Sodium

dkginger

Hi all. I just started keto on Monday. After tons of research I made a meal plan and went shopping. I bought magnesium and bullion cubes, also some boxed chicken and vegetable broth. A couple sites I visited stressed having a cup of broth every day I guess to ward off keto flu.
I was already losing weight since early August on CICO, about 19 pounds. My carbs were about 100g total per day, mostly from veggies, some quinoa, brown rice, sweet potatoes. I have felt perfectly fine every day. I have been over salting my food with Himalayan pink which I've used for years. I never had any broth. I feel like I'm retaining like when I over indulge in sodium (usually eating out). I even had to take my rings off last night. I've dropped a couple pounds but this morning saw a little gain.
Is the keto flu experienced more by those who were eating lots of sugar as in DVD? I haven't had a soda in over 5 years. I don't eat baked goods. Not much for ready-made or boxed food. I'm a chef by trade.
Should I back off on the salt? Is there some other mineral issue I should be concerned about specifically potassium? I am taking the mag. Have no idea what it is doing for me. I know I shouldn't be weighing but that's my obsession. I thought I would see a bigger loss first week in.
Comments and insights welcome!

RalfLott

It's helpful to have some go-to resources when you're starting this journey.

1. If you haven't stumbled across the LCD Launch Pad, I'd suggest you set aside a few hours and look through this great resource. It's got plenty of info on electrolytes.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10103966/start-here-the-lcd-launch-pad

2. Stephen Phinney, Jeff Volek, Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Living (technical) and New Atkins for a New You (popular) are great intros.

Phinney's YouTube vids are very informative. He explains that it can take weeks to complete the transition from carb- to fat-burning.

I'd recommend the JumpstartMD YouTube site, which has not only a long, comprehensive introduction to ketogenic diets by Phinney and Volek but also segments of the interview separated by topic.

As for sodium, he recommends around 5g per day (more if you work out) and plenty of fluid.

I hope this helps!

Sunny_Bunny_

It is possible to overdo the sodium especially if trying to ward off the keto flu from day one.
You will start to lose more water only once you're really churning out the urine ketones. That's how so much of the sodium is lost, through urine getting rid of excess acetacetate. If that hasn't happened yet then you're taking in a bit more sodium than needed but ultimately it will even out.
It is generally important to increase sodium 1 to 2 grams over what is typical for you upon going keto. I don't know if that number would be slightly lower if you've already been moderate carb but I sorta doubt it because you would still have larger glycogen storage needs at that level and you wouldn't have been losing much if any extra sodium through the urine unless you were making ketones, which you had to be at least some of the time at 100g, but I doubt it was enough to pose an issue to sodium levels.
I would say that from what you described, you're not losing much water yet but that doesn't mean it won't happen. I'm sure it will. You could probably either keep salting foods like you said OR drink the broth but not both and be fine especially if you're already supplementing magnesium. Maybe just drink the broth every other day and see how it goes.
If you have any days where you feel lightheaded, unexplainably tired or sweat more or drink quite a lot more water than normal, then have more sodium those days too.
You're body will let you know if you need it. It's a good idea to not let it get so far that you get multiple symptoms, but I think the magnesium helps a lot with whole process too.

tcunbeliever

You were already low carb so you may not experience a huge increase in sodium requirements switching to keto.

Rainqueen77

I don't think everyone suffers from "keto flu" but I don't really know why.

Funny story though...

Every time my daughter says she feels yucky I tell her to drink a broth. She had a friend over who is not low carb the other night. Apparently her friend wasn't feeling well so my daughter made her a broth. I guess I've trained her too well.

cstehansen

I was also lower carb before going keto in August. Never drank broth and really didn't up sodium at all given it seems there is so much of it in so many foods. I do eat a lot of spinach and celery which probably make up more than half of my carbs. Both have potassium and magnesium. I am thinking if you were already lower carb - and some would call 100g a day low carb - and you were not getting those from the really junky stuff, then you may not need to be as concerned with the keto flu. I really don't think you need to be over salting your food AND drinking the broth.