Just started Keto last week and I'm wondering about my mg/dl

#1

I just peed on a strip after getting back from the gym, and it says 80 mg/dl…is this bad? I thought it was supposed to be in the 9-54 range for optimal ketosis. What are some of your levels?

#2

Actual Ketones are measured in mmol/L, but pee strips and breathe meters use whatever units they like. Pee strips are usually in PPM or color coded, ultimately it makes no difference because there is no such thing as optimal ketosis. Eat right, let keto do it’s thing. Ketone levels don’t correalte to fat loss so it makes no difference whatsoever unless you’re trying to manage a medical condition that actually benefits from high ketones.

But either way regardless of how you test, including blood which is the only accurate way your levels would always be lower for a couple hours after the gym. Ketone levels aren’t stable.

#3

80 mg/dl (as is on the strips container) is 4.4444 mmol/L (divide mg/dl by 18 to get mmol/L). I’m seeing different articles online telling me that that’s either very high and I should see a doctor immediately, or it’s just before very high. What gives? Is it actually dangerous or is it normal when on the keto diet? Am I in danger of ketoacidosis or type 2 diabetes or no?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

The urine strips were developed as a cheap way of giving Type I diabetics some early warning that they are at risk for diabetic ketoacidosis. In terms of the level of serum β-hydroxybutyrate, a reading of 10.0 mmol/L is time to start worrying about diabetic ketoacidosis, but symptoms don’t really begin until around 20.0. How that would correlate with urinary acetoacetate, I don’t know. But if your pancreas is producing any insulin at all, diabetic ketoacidosis is not something you need to worry about.

Type I diabetes is an autoimmune condition, in which the β-cells in the Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas get attacked and destroyed. It is diagnosed by excessive levels of glucose in the urine (glycosuria). In the days before the discovery of insulin, Type I was usually fatal, because a certain level of serum insulin is required for the assimilation of nourishment.

Type II diabetes is the result of insulin resistance brought on by excessive long-term exposure to dietary carbohydrate. The pancreas is producing too much insulin, rather than not enough (at least until the very late stages of the untreated disease). It is usually not diagnosed until the insulin resistance is so great that serum glucose starts to get out of control, but one famous researcher, the late Dr. Joseph Kraft, maintained that the actual condition of Type II diabetes began at least a decade before diagnosis. He called it “occult diabetes” and "diabetes in situ" and was able to diagnose it from the pattern of glucose and insulin response to an oral glucose tolerance test.

Type I diabetes has been known since classical antiquity, but Type II was very rare until cheap refined sugar became common in the middle of the 19th century. A ketogenic diet, being very low in carbohydrate, is highly unlikely to cause or exacerbate Type II diabetes. In fact, a number of forum members, including the Two Keto Dudes, credit this way of eating with reversing their Type II diabetes.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #5

Short answer: no, you’re fine.

Longer answer: Stop reading bull■■■■ articles about keto written by people who don’t know what they’re writing about. Use duckduckgo.com not google for unbiased search results. There are many folks writing about keto who do know what they’re talking about. Find them. Ignore the shills who want to convince you that eating hundreds of grams of carbs per day and ‘heart healthy’ seed oils is perfectly normal and healthy. Read this forum and you will find lots of good info and excellent links to knowledgeable writers and scientists. Example of a very readable blog:

Best wishes and welcome. You’ve come to the right place.

#6

You can convert the units to anything, but you can’t convert breathe ketones (acetyl acetate) to blood ketones (bhb). When you read of ketones and seeing measurements in mmol/L they’re referring to blood. 4 isn’t too high, and you can’t get to ketoacidosis unless you’re an out of control diabetic. Don’t worry about it.