Thanks for the tip. I've been drinking chicken broth, and that seems to have a positive affect for me. But I be the pickle would have a good impact as well!

I had no idea this whole time that the keto flu was sodium-related, until yesterday. Tried some bouillon broth this morning, and no symptoms. Pickles are a great idea! (If you like them, that is.)

sometimes I just take a drink of pickle juice.........

wabmester wrote: »

I have been out of ketosis recently. Towards the end of the no-tracking month, I had some BBQ baked beans and some other too-tasty treats. Once I started tracking again, I realized some of the stuff I ate had significant carbs.

Anyway, today I had <40g carbs, and I ran about 4 miles. My ketostix are glowing purple.

I was feeling mildly unwell around 9pm. I'm sure I had plenty of Mg and K today, but I figured I was probably Na-deficient, so I ate a pickle.

A single pickle, and I almost immediately felt better. Instant keto-flu relief. I'm hoping that was the end of it, anyway.

Major word of warning. If you do coconut oil in anything, and if your metabolism is anything like mine, if you then have a pickle or pickle juice - you could find yourself sprinting to the bathroom with explosive bowels for the next 12-24 hours. I find that I have to stagger this by 1-2 hours on either side of each other not to having this lovely unexpected interaction. I do not know if it is this way for everyone, but it is for me, and I had to severely reduce, and at some points eliminate pickles/vinegar not to spend a week in the bathroom, needing to change my forwarding address.

wabmester wrote: »

Interesting. I never had any pickle trouble, and vinegar seems to have the opposite effect for me -- it seems to reduce bloating (I assume because of the antiseptic properties nuking some intestinal bacteria).

I'd blame the coconut oil. I only use a little bit of that stuff for cooking. Also, magnesium citrate is infamous for that effect.

Edit: here's an article that agrees with you:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/409857-side-effects-of-eating-too-many-pickles-or-pickle-juice/

Apparently, it's the sodium. Too much sodium can cause too much water to be absorbed in the GI tract (similar to Mg Citrate).

It isn't the coconut oil by itself. I have bullet proof tea 5 days a week with 1-2 TBSP per serving. I also have it in some fat bombs. I take magnesium citrate daily (for about 2 weeks, was oxide before, but I take low dose 135 mg daily) and hadn't noticed this independently.

I tested this theory for about 6 weeks. It was only when the two things were eaten to closely together that I had the explosive reaction. I have no idea which was the trigger - just that the combo was negative for me. When I hit that stride of massive dehydration after my event at the end of March, I used pickle juice quite regularly to help balance it out, and I was doing smaller doses of coconut oil then, but I was spacing them out too... So I don't think it is large quantities of pickles/juice alone, and I don't think it is large quantities of coconut oil alone (I also have isolated that particular reaction). For me, it is generally only with this combination. Not to give TMI, but the nature of the explosiveness and content with this reaction is very consistent as well.

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

wabmester wrote: »

Interesting. I never had any pickle trouble, and vinegar seems to have the opposite effect for me -- it seems to reduce bloating (I assume because of the antiseptic properties nuking some intestinal bacteria).

I'd blame the coconut oil. I only use a little bit of that stuff for cooking. Also, magnesium citrate is infamous for that effect.

Edit: here's an article that agrees with you:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/409857-side-effects-of-eating-too-many-pickles-or-pickle-juice/

Apparently, it's the sodium. Too much sodium can cause too much water to be absorbed in the GI tract (similar to Mg Citrate).

It isn't the coconut oil by itself. I have bullet proof tea 5 days a week with 1-2 TBSP per serving. I also have it in some fat bombs. I take magnesium citrate daily (for about 2 weeks, was oxide before, but I take low dose 135 mg daily) and hadn't noticed this independently.

I tested this theory for about 6 weeks. It was only when the two things were eaten to closely together that I had the explosive reaction. I have no idea which was the trigger - just that the combo was negative for me. When I hit that stride of massive dehydration after my event at the end of March, I used pickle juice quite regularly to help balance it out, and I was doing smaller doses of coconut oil then, but I was spacing them out too... So I don't think it is large quantities of pickles/juice alone, and I don't think it is large quantities of coconut oil alone (I also have isolated that particular reaction). For me, it is generally only with this combination. Not to give TMI, but the nature of the explosiveness and content with this reaction is very consistent as well.

Could this also have to do with you having no gallbladder? I wonder. Any thoughts on that?

sljohnson1207 wrote: »

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

wabmester wrote: »

Interesting. I never had any pickle trouble, and vinegar seems to have the opposite effect for me -- it seems to reduce bloating (I assume because of the antiseptic properties nuking some intestinal bacteria).

I'd blame the coconut oil. I only use a little bit of that stuff for cooking. Also, magnesium citrate is infamous for that effect.

Edit: here's an article that agrees with you:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/409857-side-effects-of-eating-too-many-pickles-or-pickle-juice/

Apparently, it's the sodium. Too much sodium can cause too much water to be absorbed in the GI tract (similar to Mg Citrate).

It isn't the coconut oil by itself. I have bullet proof tea 5 days a week with 1-2 TBSP per serving. I also have it in some fat bombs. I take magnesium citrate daily (for about 2 weeks, was oxide before, but I take low dose 135 mg daily) and hadn't noticed this independently.

I tested this theory for about 6 weeks. It was only when the two things were eaten to closely together that I had the explosive reaction. I have no idea which was the trigger - just that the combo was negative for me. When I hit that stride of massive dehydration after my event at the end of March, I used pickle juice quite regularly to help balance it out, and I was doing smaller doses of coconut oil then, but I was spacing them out too... So I don't think it is large quantities of pickles/juice alone, and I don't think it is large quantities of coconut oil alone (I also have isolated that particular reaction). For me, it is generally only with this combination. Not to give TMI, but the nature of the explosiveness and content with this reaction is very consistent as well.

Could this also have to do with you having no gallbladder? I wonder. Any thoughts on that?

I used to have this side effect from having no gallbladder, but once I started getting healthier in general, it slowed, and when I first started LCHF, the reaction ceased completely. I did not have ANY coconut oil in my diet for the first 6 or so weeks. After adding it in, and not until I hit those stages of dehydration and was having more pickles and pickle juice did I start having this violent reaction.

So while the gallbladder being gone may be a contributing factor, I don't think it is the only factor, but I could be completely wrong. Yet another time I truly lament the fact that no one told me a a LCHF/Keto diet could have fixed my gallstones back then! I might have saved myself 10+ years of hell from having no gallbladder!!!