In Ketosis and hungy! Want Carbs!
Dianecg
Posts: 44 Member
I've been in ketosis for about 10 days and I am hungry! I also want to down a bag of tostitos with salsa. The hunger and desire for crunchy chips is increasing. I've tried eating nuts to get rid of my need to crunch. I've tried celery with almond butter. But, I also feel hungry. A few days ago, I up'd my calories a bit to see if that helped. I had a mild case of keto-flu a couple days in, but nothing since. Any suggestions? My food diary is public if anyone wants to take a look.
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Protein chips with salsa. Quest Chips (very delicate and breakable). There are other kinds of protein chips out there too...I'm just not familiar with how they taste/carb counts, etc. And make sure that the salsa is low carb. Add sour cream and/or quac if you need some healthy fats...yum!0
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Feeling hungry before you're fully adapted is pretty normal, as are cravings. I remember feeling super hungry around that time, but thankfully I didn't have the crunch craving you seem to have so I could just eat more keto-friendly food. I occasionally get cravings for non-keto things like pizza, though. I made a pizza themed omelette a couple days ago which was delicious but a bit strange in texture.
Try to use your carbs as efficiently as you can on items that will be filling (a serving of nut butter rarely touches my appetite if I'm very hungry, I mainly use it at the end of the day to get more calories in and meet my macros quick if I'm not particularly hungry). Also remember that subtracting fiber is allowed. I personally try to use my carbs on as many vegetables as possible. Many non-starchy vegetables look as if they have a high amount of carbs for keto but when you factor in the fiber the net carbs aren't bad at all for the satiety they offer.
I'm not sure what to suggest for crunch. I vaguely remember that it's possible to make chips with cheese, but I've never done it before personally. There are lots of recipes out there, but here's one example of a cheese chip recipe: https://www.ruled.me/flavored-keto-cheese-chips/
Most of the crunchy stuff I eat are vegetables like sauteed cabbage (eggroll in a bowl or crumbled sausage and cabbage), loaded cauliflower (steamed or roasted cauliflower topped with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, and plain yogurt or sour cream), or zucchini noodles in bone broth with chicken (cook them lightly and they have an al dente-esque crunch). I try to pick a meat like an angus burger or roasted chicken and get out a serving then have a low carb vegetable or two, often sauteed with a healthy fat.
Good luck! Persevere! It does get better over time. I can walk past all sorts of goodies at the store now without a single urge to reach out and put them in the cart.1 -
I learned a long time ago that I crave certain textures and flavor combinations. One of the things i used to eat would be salty potato chips dipped in sour cream. I substituted that for pork rinds in sour cream. Got the same salt and cream and crunch I was after but in a low carb friendly way.
I'm 3 years into this way of eating snd I have moments still where I just *kitten* want what I want. I also have moments still where I'm ridiculously hungry. Listen to your body, try to ID what's real vs your mind screwing with you, and give your self time to settle into this way of eating.
If you can find substitutions for your "old" foods that will help too.2 -
BBQ pork rinds with cream cheese are one of my favorite crunchy snacks4
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I've been in ketosis for about 10 days and I am hungry! I also want to down a bag of tostitos with salsa. The hunger and desire for crunchy chips is increasing. I've tried eating nuts to get rid of my need to crunch. I've tried celery with almond butter. But, I also feel hungry. A few days ago, I up'd my calories a bit to see if that helped. I had a mild case of keto-flu a couple days in, but nothing since. Any suggestions? My food diary is public if anyone wants to take a look.
Oh chips and salsa are my achilles heel so I understand where you are coming from. If I feel really hungry I will eat a little more protein and add some fat and maybe up the fiber. The crunch part is difficult, Costco sells some extra crunchy peanuts but they can be calorie dense. Besides pork rinds and other low carb chips I will sometimes eat Scandinavian crisp bread, there are a couple lower carb options out there and they are super crunchy and OK to use with cheese, spreads, and dip.
Also keep track of your water intake and electrolytes. Sometimes you can be dehydrated and your body will send out hunger signals.
For me protein heavy meals tend to satiate my hunger more than fat so I will add an extra chicken breast or something of that nature to my salad at lunch.1 -
Drink water to feel full.1
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I'm trying to think through this "crustless spinach, bacon, cheese quiche" in your food diary in regards to 1 serving having 4173 grams of sodium. I know that both bacon and cheese have a good amount of sodium in them but there can't be a whole heck of a lot of either given the "1 serving" has only 291 calories. Considering the average pound of bacon and a half pound of cheese would have about 4000 grams of sodium (note I'm saying "about" based on the packages I pulled out of my refrigerator) but you're dividing that between "X" servings..how much salt did you add to the whole quiche and is it accurate in the completed/saved recipe?
My point with that is you may not be getting as much sodium as you think you are and often times my need to crunch or my hunger is related to low sodium intake. You were craving something salty. Chips and salsa was on your mind and both tend to be salty. Plus you indicated you had a "touch" of keto flu previously and also that you a are hungry.
As an additional note to show my point: I had some blackberries the other day which is not something I usually eat so looked them up in the data base. I found an entry that seemed accurate but when I converted it from one measure to another (like a half cup to X ounces) it showed up on my food diary as having 2400+ carbs. I don't think so! I've found I really have to watch not only the item but also the conversions in MFP.6 -
^^TRUTH^^ OMG some entries are horrid!! I have so many ridiculous entries clogging up my food diary because I used it once then figured out it was wrong and now I can't get rid of it.
I have toyed with cancelling my account and rejoining to get rid of the nonsense!4 -
Are you supplementing sodium every day at least 3000mg in addition to salting food?
If not, I’d bet money your cravings are caused by low sodium.
It’s recommended to get 5000mg a day.4 -
@kpk54 you were absolutely right! I, too, thought something was off but @Sunny_Bunny_ comment made me think, "hmmm". I went back and re-tooled the recipe and, for some strange reason, the salt entry wasn't calculating right. I deleted the one I chose, added back in another, and poof! - it's fixed. Now when I edited this past week's entries and removed the old quiche and added the new one, I'm clearly VERY LOW on sodium. 5000mg a day???? I'm really supposed to strive for that much?? My highest this last week was around 1100.3
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Cool. @Dianecg. I figured it was wrong but didn't want to say it directly cuz I never know. Maybe you really love salty quiche.
Since you opened your diary for us to look I figured I'd take peak. Glad to walk you through it and glad it was helpful. 1100 mg is a far cry from the 5000 to 8000 you thought you were getting. Now you know to keep an eye out for at least that glitch in mfp.
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Pork Rinds or Baked Cheese are my crunchy go to's
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Are Pork Rinds really ok? I've read mixed messages on this. Is there a good authoritative resource on this one??0
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Are Pork Rinds really ok? I've read mixed messages on this. Is there a good authoritative resource on this one??
If you're eating them as a source of protein, no. Every bag I've ever had in my hand reads "insufficient source of protein". They lack the amino acids of other protein sources. Do a Google search on "protein in pork rinds".
I understand the reasons to choose a pork rind over a standard cracker if someone is low carb or gluten free. My every day diet does not include pork rinds for dipping or use as a filler in recipes such as meatballs. I'm neither a fan nor an authoritative source though
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The only affordable pork rinds I can get locally here down under have had protein added. But anyway, I mainly posted to say that 10 days in I could have torn up bits of carpet to eat, the cravings were so gnarly. I followed some advice from here, increased my daily calorie allowance for a few days and by day 14 everything smoothed out. I was back to eating my previous allowance the next week and ready to do a bit of fasting.3
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The only affordable pork rinds I can get locally here down under have had protein added. But anyway, I mainly posted to say that 10 days in I could have torn up bits of carpet to eat, the cravings were so gnarly. I followed some advice from here, increased my daily calorie allowance for a few days and by day 14 everything smoothed out. I was back to eating my previous allowance the next week and ready to do a bit of fasting.
Haha!
Wasn't there a South Park episode where Cartman contemplated a similar dish?0 -
@kpk54 you were absolutely right! I, too, thought something was off but @Sunny_Bunny_ comment made me think, "hmmm". I went back and re-tooled the recipe and, for some strange reason, the salt entry wasn't calculating right. I deleted the one I chose, added back in another, and poof! - it's fixed. Now when I edited this past week's entries and removed the old quiche and added the new one, I'm clearly VERY LOW on sodium. 5000mg a day???? I'm really supposed to strive for that much?? My highest this last week was around 1100.
Phinney reported recently on research showing a greater health risk in dropping one's daily sodium consumption from 5g to 2g than from increasing it from 5g to 8g. (!)
Here's his brief explanation of why it's important to increase sodium intake while eating LC :
https://youtu.be/WNV0GJcrqp4 3 -
@kpk54 you were absolutely right! I, too, thought something was off but @Sunny_Bunny_ comment made me think, "hmmm". I went back and re-tooled the recipe and, for some strange reason, the salt entry wasn't calculating right. I deleted the one I chose, added back in another, and poof! - it's fixed. Now when I edited this past week's entries and removed the old quiche and added the new one, I'm clearly VERY LOW on sodium. 5000mg a day???? I'm really supposed to strive for that much?? My highest this last week was around 1100.
Phinney reported recently on research showing a greater health risk in dropping one's daily sodium consumption from 5g to 2g than from increasing it from 5g to 8g. (!)
Here's his brief explanation of why it's important to increase sodium intake while eating LC :https://youtu.be/WNV0GJcrqp4
I'm not even keto any more and I need 5k mg of sodium a day.0
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