Ketone level drops post meal

#1

I have been measuring the ketones throughout the day. I have been trying to get into ketosis for about 3 weeks now. I usually have around 0.5 mmol/L in the mornings. After a 16-18 hour fast, my ketone reading is around 1.5 mmol/L. But then I realized that as soon as I have a meal (detailed description below with pics) my ketone levels drop to 0.6!! My meal was of spinach, garlic and broccoli in veggies, egg whites fried in butter with cheese and Chicken curry made with fried onions and sour cream. I believe this was a pretty fatty meal if not really high in fat. So why the drop in ketones after the meal? Can you please help me understand?

(Sjur Gjøstein Karevoll) #2

That’s just as expected. Ketone levels are going to drop whenever you eat no matter what you eat. You’re already well into ketosis too, I wouldn’t expect your ketones to go any higher than that without fasting for several days.

(Duncan Kerridge) #3

Whenever you eat you release insulin (even a keto meal) which lowers production of ketones. Your body doesn’t need to be making ketones when it has food to work with.

(VLC.MD) #4

Exactly.

Why keep pumping out ketones when your host just ate ?
That would be unwise !
Metabolism is hundreds of millions (if not billions) of years old.
It has been at this game longer than you.

#5

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it. I spent a lot of time unnecessarily worrying about it.

(Michael ) #6

On a side note, that sounds like a really delicious meal. I think I’ll do something similar when I break my fast.

(mike) #7

You are an example of what someone who is striving to be in ketosis is shooting for. GREAT JOB!

(Brian) #8

Something else to add into the mix…

When you eat a meal, your body now has another job to do, digesting that meal. Digestion requires energy. Ketones are your energy source. It’s not a huge panic situation for your body. It’s just another normal process that it’s equipped to handle just fine.

:slight_smile:

#9

Thank you much Bellyman, mikpaq, Fat_mike, VLC.MD, Duncan_K and Berengal.

One of the best thing that happened to me was to stumble upon this forum. Really appreciate your time and effort to reply to me.

Thanks

(mike) #10

Why only egg whites? the yolk would bump up the fat nicely! Also chicken is lean unless dark meat and skin. I rarely eat chicken but when I do is dark meat mostly.

#11

I have high cholesterol so egg yolks will make that go through the roof. Since I just started Keto, I don’t want to go crazy on fat ignoring the cholesterol part. I do consume about 100-120mg of cholesterol from dairy everyday so that I think is pretty okay for me for now.

Unless I am completely wrong in my thinking, am I?

(Michael ) #12

There’s too much research every day to ever be so arrogant as to call someone wrong…unless we’re talking about the U.S. government :grin:

You’re welcome to do your own research, but the current general consensus is that eating cholesterol doesn’t raise cholesterol. Sounds weird right? But a lot of eggheads carried their 1s in the lab and arrived at this conclusion

By giving up the yolk, you’re turning a super food into…white flaky egg things. But then I’m not the one who has to explain your lipid panels to your doctor, so I encourage you to look into yourself

(Bunny) #13

There is no consensus among experts on optimal ketone levels pre-keto adaption. (would not even worry about it!)

interesting read:
”Why I Stopped Testing my Ketones on a Ketogenic Diet” https://ketogains.com/2017/08/stopped-testing-ketones-ketogenic-diet/

(mike) #14

I think once you do some research you will find the only real lipids to watch are HDL and Triglycerides.
I think I eat around 30-40 eggs a week and my triglycerides have gone from~300 to ~100 and HDL from 31 to 71.

The other thing to understand is LDL particle size.

You have much to learn, and are in the right place to learn. You will find lots of science here.

#15

Hello atomicspacebunny, that was an interesting read. I do feel like that s.o.m.e.t.i.m.e.s but I have to say without measuring one cannot be sure of the ketosis state, at least in the beginning.

So if you don’t measure your ketosis state, how do you know that all the fat you are eating is not harming you?

#16

Hello Michael, I have heard about the yolk being good for you but last year when the latest study came out and it was all over the radio and media, I started having eggs for about 3 months and my Cholesterol went up 50 points. I have to say that I was not following the keto diet at the time but still the stigma remains. Plus I have high cholesterol in my family. I love the yolk, that is the best part of course, both taste wise and nutritional wise but I think I should start slow, get fat-adapted and then start taking the cholesterol from the yolks when my body is able to handle it.

#17

Hi Mike, I did the research and I didn’t find anywhere it said that people with elevated cholesterol can eat high healthy cholesterol and it will in turn get lowered. Maybe I was not reading enough or looking in the right places. Any suggestions would be great and will be read and followed.

Last year I started eating the egg yolks and my LDL and total cholesterol increased 40 points. I don’t remember the exact number, maybe I will dig them up and post it here tomorrow. But I figured that with me just starting Keto, I should first get fat adapted and once I am adapted, I can then start consuming the healthy cholesterol. Because one of my main goals is to get my cholesterol back in the normal/healthy range.

I am eagerly looking to learn from everyone here and doing the right diet instead of staying incorrectly informed.

(Bunny) #18

As long as your getting a blood ketone reading your good on the fat consumption! Does not matter how high or low it is!

”…For the avid keto folks who have been on the diet for a while, you may be using the ketone blood meter instead. Your testing time, as noted above, depends on why you’re testing. Testing while fasted can be a great way to determine your baseline ketone levels. However, you may find it interesting to see how your body adapts to different foods or even after training. For this reason, testing blood ketones can be done throughout the day to provide a nice snapshot of what is currently going on in your body! Keep in mind, however that movement and exercise can drastically change the dynamics of ketone readings and thus may show differences in levels even with just a mild walk around the house. …” https://ketogenic.com/overview/testing-ketones/

(Dan Dan) #19

Based on your meal your macros are 10% Carbs 55% protien 35% fat not very Keto :thinking:

(Michael ) #20

Fair enough, I’m certainly not a doctor. It’s not crazy to see ldl levels increase with a high fat diet. The question is what does that really mean and is there a correlation to heart disease. This is where the science starts getting complicated, but a simple explanation is that heart disease is caused by arterial wall plaque. Plaque gathers to repair damage done from inflammation and free flowing sugar. So, the presence of increased ldl that’s transporting fat may not actually have much connection to heart disease. So, lowering ldl with statins while continuing your morning bagel and orange juice, doesn’t seem tp be effective in preventing disease. That’s the simplest way that i understand it without getting too deep into different types of ldl and cellular chemistry.