I know this is a common problem on here- I started keto three months ago, and of course found lots of wonderful dessert recipes. I broke out in the keto rash within 5 days of starting the diet- under my arms. It was red and itchy and so uncomfortable. Then it spread to the back of my neck, then behind my ears. It started oozing! It was terrible. I almost threw in the towel. I am not allergic to any foods, so knew it wasn’t that. Plus I wasn’t eating anything new… except, swerve sweetener! I cut that out and within a week my rash was healed. I ate a tiny bit after healing, and guess what? That wash was back with a force overnight. I won’t touch it ever again. I unfortunately have a sensitivity to erythritol, and sadly Splenda is NASTY. I just have to go without anything sweet. Thankfully I have found keto cocoa with monk fruit that is tasty but it’s so expensive:sob:
some days I am dying for something sweet. I had found so many great recipes for desserts and was still losing weight eating them. Anyways, just wanted to share with all of you suffering with this awful rash- it may be the erythritol sweetener.
Keto rash cured
Stevia is neither splenda nor erythritol. Maybe you can handle that? I recommend the liquid as it is long lasting.
I would encourage you to cut out the sweets, depending upon your goal they can make life a lot harder down the road.
Oops I meant stevia, not Splenda- that’s what is gross to me! It has a terrible aftertaste.
I have already- but as a woman still get hit with those occasional monthly cravings;) trust me, it’s impossible to get rid of them completely! I haven’t had anything with sugar or sweetener in two months
It might be simply a matter of timing - during the fat adaptation stage (which is 80% done within two weeks, with the rest happening within the next 4 weeks to 4 seasons) there is a ton of systemic change happening as the body heals the liver. The liver and the skin are very related - and the skin functions as an organ, it’s not just a wrapping on the body, it has tons of nerves and cellular processes etc. And the vast majority of people raised in the industrial foods culture have some degree of fatty liver by their 30s etc. Keto invokes a lot of healing & detox, in my experience. When we really think about it, carb-intolerance and gluten-intolerance are serious inflammation conditions and it would make sense that in the first few seasons of keto one might just be better off with less ‘sweet’ taste in general. Meaning, once a week, rather than daily or twice daily.
Phinney & Volek have recipes which include small amounts of maple syrup, and honey, for example - but not intended for daily cuisine. I much prefer the low tech sweeteners of mother nature myself (and just a few drops of raw honey can satisfy a healthy desire for sweet taste) - and once I’ve reached my recomposition goals I’ll be incorporating very small amounts of them again (not recommended for those who suffer from food addiction though). Stevia is also low tech plant-based, but I HATE IT unless I HIDE IT by mixing it sufficiently with organic erythritol.
I myself got a terrible, epic ‘never-before-had-this’ armpit rash back around month 5 or 6. A big red-pink patch that looked as if I was recovering from a severe burn… in my armpit! Treated it with TLC and raw honey + coconut oil (a great topical medicine) on the armpit, and it did clear after a couple of weeks. But it was fierce at first and was quite a journey of patience! I took it as a good sign that my body was indeed detoxing, as inexplicable rashes are a typical symptom of detox. Considering I’d eating wheat/gluten for my entire childhood up to the age of 51, I figured my liver and skin had plenty to be irritated about. Interestingly, during the rash, I had no desire for sweet taste - zero zilch nada.
From what I understand, erythritol (sugar alcohol) does not get molecularly absorbed by the body, it passes through - like how fiber does. So, it’s not an allergen technically. HOWEVER, could vary depending on what kind of erythritol one takes - there is the GMO kind from GMO corn slurry and there is the organic non-GMO eryrthritol from non-GMO sugar cane fermentation.
My hunch is that it’s the glyphosate in the GMO stuff can be an extra trigger for some/most who eat it @atomicspacebunny wrote a good post about that recently.
Also, there is another angle, which is that “sweet taste” (if you add enough sweetener for it to taste “sweet”, which often means a ton of erythritol + stevia) has its neural patterning/memories in our brains (the palate/top of the tongue is uniquely very neurological, connected to all areas of the brain!). So, it gets interesting when we consider that we are recomposing our physiology and getting nourishment that is addressing malnourishment or toxification that we’ve had since infancy and even before birth as most of our mums and grandmums also were sugar burners and nutritionally deficient. Young children basically love naturally sweet foods and hate pungent/salty foods - this ensures they survive, as mammal milk has optimal sugars +HGH immunoglobulins etc (artificial industrial infant formula aspires towards that sweetness, and is primarily GMO corn syrup plus other industrial chemicals/proteins).
So, the body knows the score on our nutritional histories and toxic load - and the liver is very sensitive! In eastern medicine the liver is the primary emotional center of the body rather than the heart. The healing liver needs all the help it can get. But don’t give up heart about certain sweeteners to sweeten your life sometimes!!! Organic erythritol is a different molecular substance than the GMO stuff, etc. I love me some powdered organic erythritol all over a 1/4 cup of berries smothered in heavy cream on occasion… And some mornings I add OE plus a drop of Stevia to coffee if it’s leftover coffee and too bitter, etc.
I think of the sweetness as a gateway, I had a horrible sweet tooth. I now not only don’t have a sweet tooth but I no longer find sweet things pleasant. I transitioned away after the first month and by around the third month I had lost all cravings. Around 4 months I had little bit of a some frozen custard and it was awful it was so sweet.
I get keto rash but not what you are describing it seems to come more from sweat, it was bad before I fat adapted, I think it was from acetone myself.
Minute 23:30 has the apple cider vinegar and berries protocol.
15