Constant low pressure issue

#1

Hello there o/ ,

I have been somewhat in keto diet for around 45 days. Before that I stopped eating anything involving sugar for 4-5 years after diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes and was using metformin somehow. But during this time I didn’t really lost weight but kept it around 110-120 kg (240 - 260 lbs). Actually I’m more sold out at promise of getting rid of brain fog as I expect weight loss as side effect than main goal.

As I’m from a Muslim country not really located near a tropical one, bacon is out of option and beloved avocado and coconut oil is ridiculously expensive therefore I based my diet on butter usually paired with egg white and some tuna fish.

When I first started keto diet it was like a dream, didn’t have much hunger and was really happy with walking around for few kilometers with no issues, I was even on intermittent fasting. But after a while ( of losing some 10 kg ( 22 lbs ) of “apparently” water) I began to experience low blood pressure and feeling dizzy when walking so I can no more atm and it doesn’t get any better.

I tried to drink more water and add some salt ( not did for excessive liters ) but doubt it goes better. In order to eliminate other possibilities, I got potassium ( potato / banana ) , magnesium tablets, B12 and folic acid pills and some baking soda. I even increased carb intake but it didn’t help.

So I’m really open to any suggestions. Am I experiencing a prolonged keto flu or making things wrong?

I know you’ll not be happy to hear but I feel lazy for macros so simply avoiding carbs (beside two slices of whole grain bread nowadays) and trying to eat as much as butter ( I don’t enjoy olive oil much )

Thanks in advance.

(Ethan) #2

Hello,

Let me first welcome you to the forums. Congratulations on the health improvements and weight loss. I can understand the difficulty you face. I am also Muslim and do not eat pork. I know it sounds like every message you read here tells you to eat tons of bacon, and it’s easy to feel lost about other options. There are actually plenty! I eat a lot of goat and beef, which can both be very tasty. I know goat can be somewhat expensive, but goat is pretty fatty and good for a ketogenic diet. While avocado is great and coconut oil has a lot of MCTs, which provide great energy, if you are fat adapted on a ketogenic diet, you can just as easily use olive oil! In fact, some people have issues with saturated fats giving a reverse effect on cholesterol while on a keto diet. Those people switch to polyunsaturated fats, such as in olive oil.

How are you measuring your blood pressure? How low is it? How much salt did you add? You may be surprised that you need a LOT more salt now than before. If you are eating Bananas, you have almost certainly lost your ketogenic diet. Bananas are so heavy in carbs that you will lose ketosis by adding them most likely. It is also very possible that the two slices of whole grain bread are actually keeping you out of ketosis also. Whole grain bread per slice is something like 8-12g net carbs. The two together is nearly 15-25g net carbs! Combined with your other carbs in the day, you may not be in ketosis at all or may be in and out of ketosis, which may be contributing to that extended brain fog. Your type-2 diabetes also causes insulin levels to be high, which means carb intake at the levels of a banana or bread may produce way too much insulin to keep ketosis.

(Tim W) #3

This response hit the nail on the head. Add more salt, cut the bananas and potatoes. Good luck!

#4

Hello there again,

Thanks for responses

@EZB

My problem isn’t necessarily them being expensive but being ridiculously priced, I mean coconut oil is 7 times more expensive than olive oil :slight_smile: it’s plain stupid. And my problem is I hate fat in meat and avoid everytime :confused: making issue more complicated.

I measure blood pressure time to time and it’s 10 to 6.5 nowadays (I never had such issue before in my 35 years of life) , I add “some” salt but not teaspoons of , I also stopped getting with baking soda but at least drinking alkaline water.

And I know I’m currently out of keto diet, just that when first week was amazing ( with glicose stored in body :slight_smile: ) I thought I passed ketoflu and when it actually hit me I thought I made something wrong so I added carb stuff for diagnose :slight_smile:

Tbh, few days ago I ate quite a lotish carb but still didn’t fix issue , I still have issues with walking out , almost faded out few times so convinced that there’s another issue.

I’ll restart keto as of tomorrow but I’d really appreciate if I can find a way to get rid of low pressure, low energy and dizziness as I really want to add some exercise to equation.

And I sense that my diet is rather protein rich with meat / egg white / fish etc. Is there any alternative for drinking butter directly or drinking olive oil? :slight_smile: I couldn’t come up with a food that’s high in fat and low in carb or protein but also not fat or avocado :smiley:

Thanks in advance.

(Solomom A) #5

Hi, why do you do egg whites? The fat and a lot more nutrition in the yolk.

#6

Because it tastes terrible :smiley:

(Solomom A) #7

It’s a bad idea to drink fats / oils. Make your traditional foods keto by pulling out the carbs. A lot of fatty protein sources are over 60% fat. Making a stew or soup with it with a little addition of fat will make it keto. If the major component of your fat will come from rich animal protein sources, it will be more nutritious, Eg organ meat

(Ethan) #8

It sounds like you like lean meats, lean fish, etc. My advice may sound hard, but… I’d say you should start to like fattier foods. Some people have found that they don’t like fatty foods because of what society taught us. That is, they feel disgusting eating so much fat. We need to retrain ourselves to succeed with a keto diet. Foods high in fat will be oiled and buttered fatty fish or fattier meats like goat and lamb. You don’t need to drink olive oil to cook something with it. There is a recipes section in this forum that should have some non-pork suggestions. For the ones with pork, just substitute a fattier cut of beef, goat or lamb!

I am not a doctor and can’t really say why you are getting such low blood pressures.

#9

Fair enough but main reason I don’t eat fat in meat is I think it tastes terrible, that’s actually also reason why I don’t many food as well. Actually I’m fine with eating salty butter directly or in coffee, just sometimes prefer as milk cream or cheese.

Will try to eat fatty meat but it really tastes terrible :smiley:

Ok, thanks for responses and will try consuming more salt and water as well to see if that’s the case. Maybe a blood test will reveal more :confused:

(Tim W) #10

Please let us know if you are found to be deficient in something (maybe iron or what have you, I’m just guessing here).

I have low BP when I fast (water and black coffee only). It’s made worse by squatting/bending over (of course) but that’s the only time I experience it, when I haven’t eaten in 12-15 hours (or longer). Maybe you need to eat more often? These are total guesses, not a doctor by ANY stretch of the imagination. I hope you are able to isolate the cause and move on into a more strict diet (if that’s what you want to do…).

(Jason Fletcher) #11

You listed almost every protein rich food but dairy so there are not many options for you. Besides for dairy and protein powders and butter i am not sure what else there is for you.
It is impossible to know the cause of your blood pressure because you were not eating a well formulated ketogenic diet and from what i can tell you did not adapt. Electrolytes would be the number one problem with blood pressure and should be supplemented when you are adapting to keto. The only thing i can suggest is be very creative with the way you cook your food so you can eat more animal products. Try searching for recipes that transform the food so you can enjoy what you eat. For me putting salt in water and drinking it makes me gag but just putting it on a table spoon and washing it down with water is easier. IF you have Type 2 Diabetes your going to have to be careful since your kidneys may be damaged. If you have a history of kidney stones you don’t want to be jumping back and forth from in and out of a ketogenic state as well some people report increased cases of kidney stones when they load back up on carbs. I am not sure what books you have read on keto but if you need a suggestion you can read the new one The ketogenic bible.

#12

I didn’t mention dairy although I eat sizeable amount of cheese and some yoghurt (usually paired with tomatoes/cucumber) . Still I know that from the very beginning my diet isn’t fat rich enough (no way near 75%) but includes more protein than intended.

And for kidney, at first stages there was some pain in kidney and I increased water intake and used baking soda (and stopped mineral water) nowadays apparently no such issue.

In my opinion, I checked most electrolytes but as I said hopefully a blood test will reveal more.

But tbh, I only continue trying to conform with keto guidelines for the promised after ketoflu paradise :slight_smile: , otherwise I’d switch to a low to mid carb alternative as it also affects my ability to work.

(Jason Fletcher) #13

log all of your food and keep net carbs under 25. From what it looks like you were Low Mid carb.and that was the reason you felt like crap.

#14

Today got blood test results and it was very disappointing :frowning: that

I have no issue with anything in the blood :slight_smile: , it’s just fine :confused:

So seems will see doctor for further inspection but can’t say it is coincidential to have such issue after years without “keto” affecting.

(Tim W) #15

That’s good news! One less thing to rule out.

(Ethan) #16

Did the doctor confirm the low blood pressure?

#17

I’d prefer it to be something like " You have low X , get X pill and live happily ever after " :slight_smile:

#18

Actually doctor said there are people happily living with even lower pressures, he more suspects of other factors leading to this, will see another doctor some time

#19

After intentionally breaking keto diet with increased carb intake I restarted keto diet as of today. During carb intake, that lightheadedness was still issue but less severe and after a while but not sure that’s the case.

This time will try to keep it more strict than loose one last time. I even got some avocados today but shame on you that no one warned me about its terrible taste :smiley: I’d appreciate any advice to blend it into something more desirable.

(Tim W) #20

Funny how we all have different tastes, when I’m not fasting I eat an avocado a day and love the flavor.

Try mashing them up with just about anything, in the states we make guacamole with tomatoes etc. You could add tuna, mayo, mustard, you name it. I’d get creative with it and see what makes it palatable for you, it’s worth a shot considering the positive nutritional value.