Ketones increase after food

food
(CORY SILVA) #1

I’m curious why 2-3 hours after eating my ketones are the lowest. I have a mojo blood tester and it will register at .0-.01 some days. My highest levels are usually right after I eat. They get up to 1-1.5. I cant figure out my body its frustrating. Any help would be much appreciated.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #2

Mine were 0.8 earlier today, and then a few hours later they dropped to 0.4. Talk a frustrating. I took some BHB pills after testing because I want to see if they improve things at all (by supper time… or maybe in betwen). Strips are expensive (new insurance co. won’t cover them). I do know that by supper time my ketones are around 0.4. I wish there was a home test for insulin so I could get more data points. I used to easily hit 1.2 mmol before supper, before my new medication.

My guess is that based on what you are eating your body is using the fat to make ketones. Nowadays I have to fast for 48 hours to get that high.

(Bob M) #3

Mine are always 0.2 or about there in the morning and a bit higher in the evening, maybe 0.5-0.7 or so. My breath ketones are also super low. Doing this 6+ years though.

I’ve pretty much stopped all testing, don’t get on the scale, etc. Don’t see the point. However, if you’re fighting cancer, it’s a different story.

(Jenna Ericson) #4

I think this probably means that you are insulin resistant, but so are most people to some degree, especially if they have chosen to go on a ketogenic diet. Insulin is what lowers ketones because it switches the body to burning glucose rather than fatty acids or ketones. If someone who is insulin sensitive eats a ketogenic meal their body will release just enough insulin to process the protein and/or small amounts of glucose that might be in whatever they consumed, and the insulin will be used efficiently. In this insulin sensitive person there won’t have much interruption in fat burning.

On the other hand, if someone is insulin resistant that means their body does not efficiently use insulin to get glucose into cells so the it makes too much of it and the insulin stays around longer. If someone who is insulin resistant eats a ketogenic meal, they will probably produce too much insulin and 2 or 3 hours later insulin will still be hanging around in enough abundance to make ketone levels go down because it’s switched some portion of the body’s fuel source to glucose.

Your ketones are probably the highest right after a meal because it takes a little while for insulin to take effect. This would especially be true if you are insulin resistant, meaning it takes longer for your cells to use insulin, creating a delayed reaction.

(Bunny) #5

Also beware many things can effect ketone readings also like hematocrit levels and vitamin C and give false high readings.

Blood Ketones: Measurement, Interpretation, Limitations, and Utility in the Management of Diabetic Ketoacidosis

#6

You dont say how long you have been on keto. But I would think that your ketones are highest after eating because you have just added ketones to your body with your food. And when the ketones are used for energy, which is a good sign, then they get lower. If I eat my wonderful béarnaise sauce- and I will eat all of it because it is so delicious - I have a huge amount of ketones in my urine because the sauce is pure butter and egg yolks. You can also drink exogenous ketones to get higher ketone levels in your blood or urine. So how they show on your ketosticks will depend on how much of those ketones you are consuming and subsequently burning. And it will have a lot to do with how fat adapted you have become.In other words- when we really start burning fats - the ketones will get used up. Ketones = energy.( It used to be glucose molecules which produced the energy.)

(CORY SILVA) #7

Hi Jenna thanks for the response. This does make a ton of sense… how would I know if I’m insulin resistant? glucose test? Also at night too is the only time I get decent readings around 1.0? Another thing is i’m around 20% body fat. I’m doing keto do to back\neck. I’m very active hitting the gym 4-5 days a week. I have noticed though that i’m fatiguing very quickly compared to what I was use to. The upside is i’ve not had a headache since starting Nov 20th. I’m a very clean Keto. One thing that made me nervous though is that my liver enzymes came back higher then normal. Bilirubin total was 1.6? On the other hand though my blood pressure was lowest ever at a 110/60. I’m 37 years old 6’2 and 215lbs. blood ketones today ranged all day at .1-.5 the majority of the day i tested 3 times. And just now it tested .9 at 9.50 at night.

(CORY SILVA) #8

I have been on since nov 20th of this year.

(CORY SILVA) #9

That’s interesting though because my hematocrit is slightly elevated to the point where I had 2 give blood couple months ago due to concern. However I’ve never had high levels?

(Jenna Ericson) #10

Hi Cory, As far as knowing if you are insulin resistant, I haven’t looked into that enough, but I think a glucose tolerance test would not being especially helpful unless you went off keto and ate carbs for a week or so before hand, and personally I don’t think it would be worth it. Maybe a fasting insulin test? Someone who is really metabolically healthy will have a fasting insulin that is 5 or below, but a lot of people will be over 10 (going by memory).

It sounds like you are doing keto to help deal with inflammation. I would be interested to know what you mean by eating clean keto. Are you avoiding vegetable oils, seed oils and processed foods? I guess that is what I would consider clean Keto. You might also want to consider doing some sort of elimination diet like trying carnivore then adding in other foods slowly to see if you have any food sensitivities.

I’m not sure what’s going on with your liver enzymes, and I would seek advice from someone else about that if you haven’t already. It’s my understanding that keto can help improve certain issues like fatty liver, but if you already had any kind of other liver issues previous to starting keto I think a ketogenic diet could put extra stress on it. I’m not sure if that could also explain lower ketone levels. Ketones are made in your liver, and that is also where gluconeogenesis occurs, so it’s kind of a heavy load.