My “carb up” experiment

(Allie) #1

I’ve mentioned on here a couple of times how I’ve been experimenting with “carb ups” here and there, on Friday I did it again and have decided to share the effect it’s had on me. This has now happened in exactly the same way four or five times so it’s not just a one off and can only be caused by the carbs - which have been the same each time, just a plate of chips (fries) as a one off meal.

I have never had any metabolic or blood sugar related issues.

The below graphs are from my Garmin which I wear constantly (unless it’s charging) and they show the amount of stress my body is feeling, based on heart rate and other measurements.

This was Thursday, to show a regular keto day -

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This was Friday when I had the carby meal, I ate at around 1930 then put my Garmin on charge while I was in the bath hence the gap in data. You’ll see that as soon as I put it back on, high stress was recorded which carried on after I was asleep and right through the night…

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Here’s Sat, a day when I actually did very little - walked dog early morning, did some gentle gardening for a while, that’s it. Yet you’ll see my body was highly stressed all day and well into the evening (again after I was asleep).

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And here’s today, and I’ve had a busy day today, got loads done and almost constantly on the move but with the carbs out of my system, back down to normal stress levels.

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So one carby meal put my body under intense stress for a solid 24 hours even though I was unusually inactive for that day. I’m not going to experiment with any more carb ups now.

I hope I’ve got the images in the right order, if not I’ll have to edit and fix them :joy:

#2

Wow, thanks for sharing your experience! When I was mostly LC years ago I remember a few carb-up meals where after I was convinced that my blood pressure was sky high. It never was, but I felt stressed and highly physically agitated…so maybe it wasn’t just my imagination :face_with_monocle:

#3

Could be that switching in and out puts you through some electrolyte changes and/or hydration issues. I think that explains the headaches I get if something reacts badly for me.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

Very interesting Alie, when I started reading I was expecting a ketone or weight thing and when it turned out to be stress you had me. Thanks for an interesting view of a high carb experience from another angle. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Allie) #5

I really don’t think so @carolT, it doesn’t feel anything like electrolytes / hydration.

Part of me is now wanting to experiment with a different type of carb now, just to see, but most of me is wanting to hide from all carbs forever and not even risk it :rofl:

(Allie) #6

Ketones strangely don’t seem to be an issue at all as when I test (blood) first thing the next morning it’s always been around 0.3mmol which is a normal early morning reading for me.

(Alec) #7

Allie
Very interesting. Which Garmin do you have?

(Allie) #8

Vivoactive 3 @Alecmcq

(Edith) #9

Potatoes are a nightshade. Maybe nightshades don’t agree with you. Definitely, experiment with a different carb and see what happens. I’ll be curious.

I have found that when I eat foods my body doesn’t like my resting pulse rate increases, I will have increased pulse rate when I’m sleeping, and my anxiety is up the next day.

(Allie) #10

I don’t have any issues with nightshades normally.

(Allie) #11

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Another normal keto day with lots of activity (outside of sitting at my desk).

#12

I’m finding this very interesting. I too have a Garmin and watch my daily stress levels. I’m usually around 25 but every once in awhile it’ll pop up to 45-50 and my resting heart rate will climb up a bit. Sometimes pain will pop the stress level up (I recently fell on my shoulder :persevere: and am not sleeping well) but often there’s no apparent reason. I exercise a lot for my age (67) clocking 500-1000 intensity minutes a week, but I haven’t found a significant exercise/stress correlation. I haven’t eaten more than 20-25 carbs daily in at least 10 months but there must be something in my diet to consider. Thanks for bringing this to light.

#13

Have you tried heat rate variability (HRV) testing? If you already have a HRM for your exercise, you can get an app that measures and tracks it.

(Allie) #14

You can track it with a smartphone app too, without the need for a monitor.

I use this.

(Jon Borgen) #15

How do you, or rather your Garmin, define stress? That would be very good to know. Is it just an elevated heart rate for a period of time or something else?

(Allie) #16

I’m not sure it is that simple as the heart rate is reported separately @jondrum418

I just looked it up -

(Bunny) #18

Since your experimenting have you ever tried (and your not diabetic) carb backloading (developed by the physicist John Kiefer) which consists of eating at night only anything you want once a week, the one thing about this, is you have to be lifting weights or intense work out before you eat that anything you want and it does not matter what it is and as much as you want but you still remain in ketosis afterwards from glycogen depletion, the rest of the time you remain eating keto.

(Allie) #19

I’ve heard of it but not tried it, and not sure I want to try it tbh as the nights when I lift, I’m done too late to then go on and eat.

(Karen Thompson) #20

How have the carbs affected your weight? I’ve had a few excursions (1 high carb meal once a week for the last 3 weeks) after being strict low carb for 5 months. My weight loss seems to have improved since doing this, which was a huge surprise.

(Allie) #21

Overall since I’ve been doing it, my physical weight has increased, but my main goal at the moment is muscle gain and I can see results there so am fighting myself hard not to freak out over the scale and get triggered back into the old thinking of needing to eat less.