Advice on how to ease out of the diet

#1

I’ve been on the lazy Keto diet quite strictly since 1. des. I am feeling bad (Am I having the Keto flu or doing something wrong?) and am considering to stop it. Any tips on how to gently ease out of this kind of diet? My body and Central Nervous System are pretty fragile at the moment so I want to be careful.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #2

This sounds like electrolytes John. I tried to advise you on another thread I remember. You need to stay hydrated and keep your sodium levels high, especially starting out. It sounds like the heart issues might be low potassium which can result when sodium is being flushed out during early changes from carb burning to fat burning. Sodium is the key to regulating other mineral electrolytes like potassium. If sodium is adequate potassium is spared. If not it’s flushed to get things in balance by your kidneys. I know you are concerned even over 1 gram of salt. Salt is necessary for life. Eating carbs causes salt and fluid retention in your tissues. When you go keto it’s effect is diuretic and water and sodium are not held onto by your tissues. You can straighten out this issue if you try.

Energy might also have to do with food choices, amounts and whether you’re consuming enough fat to get started most likely. You need to eat plenty of food with fat for a while when you start for energy even if you have lots of body fat to burn. KETO is not a restriction diet. We eat till we’re satisfied. Appetite curbing happens naturally as you become fat adapted and your hormonal responses return to normal. I know you just started this month, correct? You can work through things and I will make a point to give any advice I can. If you want to quit there is no protocol. Just eat carbs again. I wish you Happy Holidays John.

:cowboy_hat_face:

(Empress of the Unexpected) #3

I go in and out. No big deal. I was strict keto for a year and a half, then ate low carb for two months. Felt great. Went back to keto and was in ketosis day two. You dont need to ease into it. Just try to avoid sugar and junk food. I never lost my appetite on keto as some report. Your body knows how to use glucose so it won’t be a problem. The body is an amazing piece of machinery.

#4

But I was eating a lot of salt David. I didn’t weigh it but it seemd like a lot. We have salted meat here in Iceland during holidays (hangikjöt) which has like 4gr/100gr salt. I was eating quite a bit. Maybe it is not enough. Just sounds so scary to eat so much salt!!!

I was also putting a bit of salt in water and drinking. But maybe just 1gr/day if that.

(Raj Seth) #5

Are you willing to share some background as to your situation?
weight, age, height, sex, typical things you eat, smoking/drinking, ailments etc.
Someone on here may be able to figure out why you are still not feeling good after 3 weeks.
A well formulated ketogenic diet should not have the outcome you have described in your other post “Am I having the Keto flu or doing something wrong?”, or at least not for this long.

#6

Sure.

85kg. 176cm. 39 years old.
Diet: Skyr with some berries (has ,4.3% carbs, 10% proten, basically no fat) with lots of cream.

Then during the day I have some cauliflower and broccoli. And salted meat during the las few days.
I take some vitamins and occasionally some minerals. And some lightly salted water.

Ailments. I have huge anxiety issues. I recently stopped quickly from anxiety meds and stopped my small dose of Fluexetine at the same time, both bad ideas, (didn’t know). I reinstated on an anxiety med again. My symptoms could be caused by this.

(Ellen ) #7

Anxiety medication could be at least one reason. I also take anxiety medication while tapering closely with my doctor. A recent CNN show talked about these medications and the need to taper very slowly, maybe years or the anxiety will come back worse than ever. Go slow. Isolating is not healthy. Add some exercise. Have some blood work done to rule out Thyroid or other issues. Good luck John.

(Windmill Tilter) #8

It might help to have more detail on this. If you’re a type 1 diabetic or have latent gout or have an autoimmune disorder, the answers would be totally different.

As a gout sufferer, dropping out of ketosis is no small thing. The last time I did it, I wasn’t able to walk for a week…

#9

Anxiety, depression and have gone through so many medicine changes over the last half a year. The worst thing is probably a failed fast taper off anxiety med and an antidepressant at the same time a month ago (I didn’t know it was dangerous). Totally screwed up my system.

(Raj Seth) #10

Sure sounds like not eating enough. Skyr sounds like Greek non fat yogurt.
How about trying to up the real fatty meat and fish. Not necessarily the processed salt dried meats but just basic meats that you cook simply and eat?
Anxiety medications are mostly off label applications of epilepsy medications and are by in large not able to actually cure mental issues - just cloy them a bit. See https://www.chrispalmermd.com/ He is a psychiatrist using therapeutic Keto diets to treat mental issues, ie 4:1 fat to protein ratio. He cautions about the manic phase that a proper Keto diet can promote and how the medications have to be properly managed (I’m no doctor)
Could be you need to stay with the Keto WOE and manage medications to properly manage the manic phases

(Edith) #11

I agree. You are not eating enough, especially fat. Keto is about using fat for your energy. When you first start eating this way, your body is not efficient at using its own fat stores so you need to ingest fat for energy. It takes about 6-8 weeks for you to become fat adapted. For some people, it takes longer. That means your body is getting more efficient at burning fat.

Also, you want healthy fats: animal, olive, butter, not fats that come from oils such as soy, corn, canola. You want somewhere around 70% of your calories from fat, the rest protein with your approximately 20 grams of carbs per day.

Salt, you need about 2 to 2.5 teaspoons a day to get about 5 grams of sodium. When you first start keto, you lose a lot of water. With that water goes your electrolytes, particularly salt. It needs to be replenished daily. Not enough salt is what causes the keto flu.

#12

Thanks for the replies :slight_smile:

Does that mean I’m not actually in Ketosis? Or in too much Ketosis? What is it that not eating enough causes?

I have been diagnosed with bipolars. So this diet can be dangerous for me?

I’ve been trying to stop the Keto diet ( Stuck in Keto ) but everytime I try my anxiety just goes through the roof.

#13

People on keto suffer from increased insulin resistance due to the glucose sparring effect, so you can suffer from blood glucose spikes in the beginning. This lasts for a couple of days.

Increase your carbs intake to about 100 grams per day, from complex carbs (whole foods with starch).

Start eating potatoes, but not fried, as that increases their glycemic index and aren’t very healthy. Always prefer slow cooking methods like boiling or baking. Mashed potatoes are very tasty and 400 grams (enough for 2 meals) only have 64 grams of carbs and 430 kcal (out of that 100 kcal is the added fat, potatoes being fairly low in kcal).

Potatoes are also a great source of potassium, those 400 grams giving you 1181 mg, or about 35% of WHO’s recommendations. This is actually one reason for why keto doesn’t work for many people, because many sources of potassium are eliminated and the remaining ones (from what’s generally available at local markets) aren’t very good or cheap, except for tomatoes.

Also add one banana (another 24 grams of carbs) and a generous tomato salad to ensure adequate potassium.

#14

Thanks fabia. Why is potassium so important? Just in the beginning of coming out of Ketosis?

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #15

An avocado has about 975 mg of potassium. It’s lower in carbs and higher in fat than potato or banana. That’s why people doing keto talk about them so much.

#16

Potassium is an electrolyte that’s necessary for the normal functioning of many organs, like the heart and kidneys.

Diets high in potassium are known to prevent high blood pressure and CVD in general.

When you start keto, due to the glycogen stores being emptied, the kidneys also eliminate sodium and potassium, which is why the “keto flu” happens. People on keto focus on increasing sodium intake, because it is easy (you just eat more salt).

But potassium is unfortunately dangerous to supplement, you need about 3400 mg per day as per WHO’s recommendations (n.b. US guidelines actually mention 4700 mg, so WHO is being conservative) and you’ll have to get it from food.

(Bob M) #17

This is a short-term thing. I’ve been low carb/keto 6 years as of today, and never take potassium (save when fasting multiple days, and then only because it’s in my fasting drops), and I can’t stand avocados.

#18

Could be, depending on individual, but leg cramps or dizziness aren’t at all uncommon. Also we’ve got some evidence available that keto can be deficient in potassium or magnesium; like all elimination diets, it’s easy to end up with a deficiency if not careful:

Also beware of anecdotes. People are bad at isolating variables, estimating intake, plus any dieting community suffers from “survivorship bias”.

(Bob M) #19

This might be true, save for all the carnivores who don’t supplement at all.

I think the issue is that if you eat plants, you’re less likely to get the Mg, K, or anything else in meat (or the plants themselves) due to anti-nutrients in plants.

For instance, when I started 6 years ago, I had to supplement with tons of everything, including Mg and K. As I’ve moved toward eating fewer and fewer plants, I rarely supplement with anything. I will take Mg sometimes, and Vitamin D. I will also periodically take Vitamin K2. Otherwise, nothing.

Of course, my progression is also 6 years. So, maybe I “built up” my supply of these nutrients? I doubt that’s true, though. I think whatever (mainly meat, some cheese and other dairy, eggs, rare veggies) I’m eating is providing me with what I need and limiting the amount of vitamins/minerals that aren’t absorbed.

#20

I know the carnivores are saying that, but this isn’t well supported by available evidence.

Note that if you’re feeling well, after 6 years, I’m sure your electrolytes are probably fine.