In my efforts to maximize my recomposition at age 52, I’ve found three things to be quite synergistic and easy to do:
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Fatty coffee: I did full on fatty-collagen or egg coffee for my first couple months keto while getting “fat adapted” and later learned that it probably helped reset my leptin levels nicely. These days I just aim for half the fat in my fatty coffee (1tblsp butter + 1tblsp coconut oil + HWC) and no protein of any kind in it so as to extend my fast - which is a pleasant thing to sip when starting my day late morning - and helps me have a grounded, happy brain until I’m ready to eat later.
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Supplementing with dry Ginger capsules for nutrient absorption & circulation as well as cortisol & insulin reduction (I now take 4 capsules a day minimum - and have written quite a bit on the subject elsewhere here) - and,
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Increasing my hyper low protein intake to a truly moderate level of protein has been a big deal for me (I was a vegetarian for 25 years of my adult life and ate only ‘lighter’ proteins like yogurt/cheese/eggs/nuts - not heavy hunks o’ meat. The last 4 years I’ve been eating meat and learning to eat more of it lol). On my IF (intermittent fasting) days 4-5 days a week I used to just do a big OMAD (one meal a day) as it’s SOoooo convenient - but I’d have a hard time eating more than 30 gram serving of protein. (And I read that the body may well only utilize 20-30 grams of protein per meal, the rest simply mostly gets eliminated - which I tend to believe, as ancient humans didn’t sit around gorging on protein all day, they walked some 10+ miles a day and had many meaningful activities). I also know that till after midlife, in female neurology there are some pretty primal stress triggers and adaptive responses that mean many of us may actually have better recomposition on TMAD (two meals a day within a 4-8 hour eating window) - except certain endurance athletes, some of whom do better with more fasting, but I’m not an endurance athlete.
So, I increased my animal protein to 60-70grams/day - delivered via the two servings in my TMAD life - rather than the previous working hard to get in 30-40 grams/day in one meal. This larger quantity of nourishment boosts my lipolysis nicely it seems, though I moderate the fat as I want my body to use its own fat!
And it’s also noticeably helping my water clearing - even speeding the mosquito bite processes on my ankles.
Though I oftentimes see people associate edema only with too much salt or not enough water - there can be more to it.
And then I learned that when protein (especially albumin) levels in your blood go too low, the colloidal osmotic pressure will decrease and allow fluid to escape from blood vessels into your tissues, resulting in edema or swelling of the hands, feet, ankles, knees and/or belly. Of course, such a conceptual framework of protein levels is based in the HCLF typical SAD diet - and there are factors with keto and within individuals which may mean that blood levels of albumin can be fine on less protein servings.
Provided you are an otherwise healthy keto woman (ie, no medications, no liver disease, good immunity & digestion, good stress management,), edema can be a temporary phase before a new water release. From what I can tell, for some females who are not in post-menopause - protein intake plays a vital role in helping swooshing, along with water & salt!
More on these things in Stefani Ruper’s article “Shattering the Myth of Fasting for Women: A Review of Female-Specific Responses to Fasting in the Literature” - she has a “paleo” rather than keto perspective, but many relevant points. And Dave Asprey’s article Intermittent Fasting For Women. As for post-menopausal women (2 years past last menstrual cycle - which is often age 54 or older) - I suspect that in a metabolically healed body in well established ketosis there is much less hormonal variability in play and a lot more flexibility for OMAD and easy-peasy extended fasting with least stress.
Hope this helps