"Emergency fixes" for keto dieters?

SnowFlinga

So what happens if you "accidentally" must eat something you know is not on your keto diet? Or maybe you know that there is some kind of event (like a b-day party or something) where non-keto food will be served and you don't want to be rude. Do you just throw your hands in the air and give up or are there some things you can do to "blunt" the impact?

I was wondering about this since I'm going to be going on a cruise in a few weeks and I know that it will be exceptionally difficult to maintain a keto diet when I cannot control the food. So I did some creative "googling" and found some ideas.

1. Vinegar - vinegar has been found through scientific testing to reduce blood sugar spikes. A couple tablespoons of vinegar directly before eating does the trick. So if there's salad served and there's oil & vinegar dressing available then eat that first with plenty of vinegar. This will hopefully reduce the impact of anything else served at the meal.

2. Cinnamon - just like vinegar, studies have shown the cinnamon also blunts the impact of high glycemic foods. Cinnamon also provides lots of other healthful benefits. You can find it even in capsule form and take a few before eating. The effects of cinnamon will work directly before the meal and up to 10 hours following.

3. Berberine (Glyco-X or Glycosolve) - berberine has effects similar to the prescription drug metformin for controlling your blood sugar level. Jimmy Moore has played up the use of berberine in his diet, but I haven't felt the need to use something like that regularly since I view it as a kind of "false" solution for situation I should be able to solely control through my diet. I have improved my fasting blood glucose levels down to the low 80s and today registered my lowest measurement yet at 77. However, if I know my food choices are going to be limited then berberine might be something to take proactively to avoid the blood sugar spikes.


So my question is - are there are some other things you can do when you're in a situation where the food is no longer in your control so you don't completely blow it?

Golightly17

Alpha lipoic acid supplementation helps get back into keto post "accident."

albertabeefy

So what happens if you "accidentally" must eat something you know is not on your keto diet? Or maybe you know that there is some kind of event (like a b-day party or something) where non-keto food will be served and you don't want to be rude. Do you just throw your hands in the air and give up or are there some things you can do to "blunt" the impact?

I was wondering about this since I'm going to be going on a cruise in a few weeks and I know that it will be exceptionally difficult to maintain a keto diet when I cannot control the food....

...So my question is - are there are some other things you can do when you're in a situation where the food is no longer in your control so you don't completely blow it?

Exercise, preferably at-least moderate, but the higher the intensity, the better. If you can do high-intensity for 30 minutes or moderate-intensity for 45-60 minutes it works wonders.

The idea is to 'burn off' the circulating glucose as you continue to digest and before it becomes an issue. If you can start 30-40 minutes after the offending food item, you can generally burn a great deal of the circulating glucose and prevent being 'knocked out' of ketosis.

I prefer HIIT (high-intensity interval training) for this (but I can do up-to 30 minutes of it, where most people stop FAR short of that mark), or you could also do steady-state cardio (such as jogging, cycling, elliptical, etc.) or strength-training as well.

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

Coconut oil, 3-4 Tbsp should do the trick but HIIT is the best way to get back on the horse.

djthom2

Bookmarking this post for all the good info. I have a few birthday parties coming up and they always knock me off track.

crepes_

Definitely exercise. The cruise should have a great gym, so try to get in a daily workout - HIIT would be best. The food is also so varied, especially at dinner, that you shouldn't have a problem being keto. I went on a cruise last year and was able to stay keto. I didn't even realize it because I didn't feel deprived at all. Enjoy your vacation!

elmacribecky

I have to agree with the coconut oil and exercise. I have my daughters birthday on Sunday and she always chooses her cake for me to make. I told her i would make two. One that she wants and one low carb sugar free for me. She was not impressed and said it would ruin her day as we always all sit and eat the cake together. I am now going to make my cake in the shape of her design and see if she notices. That way i can have a slice with her and feel guilt free. Otherwise i might have had to drink the whole bottle of Vinegar. LOL (teens eh, they can be so selfish sometimes.LOL)

AsaThorsWoman

Interesting thread.

SnowFlinga

Alpha lipoic acid supplementation helps get back into keto post "accident."

This is definitely an interesting one. I did a bunch of research on ALA and found that what you really want is R-ALA. Search on R-ALA and Ketogenic and you'll find a few hours of good reading. I just ordered Doctor's Best R-ALA from amazon.com.

judychicken

Interesting post!

Booksandbeaches

This happened to me about three weeks ago when I was in another state for a conference. I had some raisins, apple slices and a half a slice of bread. I also had way more veggie carbs than usual too. I exercised (mostly jogging at 5 mph) for 1 hour in the hotel's gym (open 24 hours and very safe). I was still in ketosis the next day when I checked.

albertabeefy

Alpha lipoic acid supplementation helps get back into keto post "accident."

This is definitely an interesting one. I did a bunch of research on ALA and found that what you really want is R-ALA. Search on R-ALA and Ketogenic and you'll find a few hours of good reading. I just ordered Doctor's Best R-ALA from amazon.com.

I've been taking r-ALA daily for 2 years now after some research and some initial experiments on myself.

Because I'm a Type I who *also* has insulin-resistance (which is a hallmark of Type II more often than Type I) ... And because r-ALA helps improve insulin-sensitivity, I figured I'd try it.

After three different 30-day n=1 experiments, it became apparent that my glycemic control is significantly better WITH the r-ALA than without it. So it's a part of my morning regime every day.

Since people who find they do BEST on a ketogenic diet are often insulin-resistant, it makes sense (if you fall into that category) to add it to your daily supplementation to see how it works.

hookilau

Exercise and time works for me.
T2D here & occasionally, things I do jack up my BG. All of the 'fixes' listed above are what diabetics use to help gain better control.

Berberine increased my blood pressure alarmingly but other than that, I'm still working on 'fixes'...my patterns are a bit cattywampus sometimes so it's hard to tell.

R-ALA sounds interesting....hmmmm...

SnowFlinga

So I thought I'd post an update after my cruise vacation in hopes that it may help others.

I did continue to track fasting blood glucose and fasting blood ketone levels each day of my vacation. I started out with great intentions to not go crazy on anything, but what I learned (again) about myself is that me and "moderation" don't fit in the same sentence. Once that first frozen cocktail went down my throat the flood gates were open. Then I was eating sugar-filled desserts, tons of empty carbs, etc. I still worked out each morning, but I wasn't able to offset the calories/carbs I was consuming.

My fasting blood glucose was typically holding in the mid-70s before the trip. It then hit 86, then 98, then 111, then 106, ugh. Clearly I don't handle sugar/carbs well. My fasting ketones went from an average of about 3.0 down to 1.1, then 0.6, then 0.2, and finally 0.1 every day through today (which is my first day back on a keto diet). I fell out of ketosis fast. It will be interesting to see how fast I can get my fasting levels back over 1.0 consistently.

I did try some of the supplements, but there's no way they were going to be able to hold off the onslaught of food I was putting down my throat. In the end it was "fun" to have a week entirely off the diet, but the net result was that I gained over 7 lbs. in one week! I'm assuming that a bunch of it is the very same glycogen water weight that I lost way back when I started so I'm hoping that I'll see 4-5 lbs. disappear very quickly this week.

Moral of the story is that an entire week of dieting "debauchery" is hard to overcome when it comes to the scale. I wish I was one of those people that can eat whatever they want with much less consequence.

camtosh

I just noticed the same thing. Went on a 3-day weekend convention where I ate LC for breakfast but blew it at night with some beer, bit of bread, cake desserts and other carby treats. Monday woke up with swollen feet from all the retained water and glucose...and the scale was up 3.8 kg (8lbs)!! So went right back on LCHF. Now it is Wed here and I am just starting to feel more normal. I don't have ketostix or a blood meter, so never know what my numbers are, I just go by how I feel. The after-effects of all that felt like crap!
This morning the scale was lower, but not back to what it was yet.

Sure had fun though

Deborah105

Another thing I've used with varying success is fat fasting. Do a search about it for ideas, but the gist is 95 fat if you can do it. It can be very tricky, but it can vault you back into ketosis a bit quicker. Oh - and around 1000 calories. For no more than three days which is about as long as a person could stand to do this!

I've also seen many threads here and there about doing an egg fast to get back. Eggs and fat.

kamaperry

Exercise for me

ali59oc

Just wanted to say that this is so interesting and has now put the absolute fear of carbing in me!!! I have months of conferences coming up and I plan to keto through all of them. I don't see how it's worth it to put my body through the agony of going off. I can always just say no and order up some eggs from room service!

SnowFlinga

So it took me 3 days to get my fasting blood ketone level back to 0.5 or higher. This meets the technical definition of ketosis, but as I said previously, I want to be back above 1.0 (and Peter Attia agrees with this value). I've also lost 6 lbs. over the past 5 days. So as I suspected the weight gain over vacation was fairly easily dropped (although it's not all gone yet). I expect that if I do well over the weekend that by Monday morning I'll be right back where I was before I left.

So I think it's clear (at least for me) that if you're already fairly well keto-adapted before engaging in a bit of dieting debauchery, that you can bounce back more quickly and with less effort than when initially trying to become keto-adapted.

Booksandbeaches

Thanks for sharing that experience, SnowFlinga. I think I'm the same way. It's a domino effect for me. I just do better not consuming starch and sugar. Moderation is hard. This is why I don't do carb refeeds and carb cycling like some do. I already know I'm doomed if I do it. I don't want to undo the great benefits I've had from keto.

arcadia1983

how much R-ALA would you take daily? As I was used to 2 600mg caps at night of the regular ALA, but I see R-ala comes in 100, 200mg at best. How much would you recommend daily to sort of equal the 1200mg I was used to with regular ALA?