What will the mojo keto meter tell me about my body

newbies

#21

Hi Dee, What it will tell you kind of depends on the context of why and how you are eating keto.
Since you say you want to know if you are
“doing this right”…it again depends on why and how you are doing keto. If you are doing it for weight loss I have no idea.
If you are doing it because you have a damaged metabolism, type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance it will tell you if you are adapting to using fat for fuel instead of blood glucose and therefore whether you are allowing your metabolic damage to heal.

If you do a search on Amy Berger you will find her blog which is very informative.

Context is everything. Really hard to answer your question with no context of what you are doing keto for.

Good luck!


#22

Although I’ve never been diabetic (or even prediabetic) I’ve used a glucometer and blood ketone meter everyday for almost 2 years. It was instrumental in guiding my dietary efforts and in keeping me motivated during my weight loss journey. I’m now at optimal body weight, but I still use it everyday to guide my efforts as I work to optimize my metabolic health.

Rather than using general rules of thumb, or measuring/weighing my food and tracking macros, I used the glucometer to measure my body’s specific reaction to the foods I ate. With a bit of testing, I determined my personal carb tolerance. I learned that my BG (and by inference insulin) responds differently to beef vs fish vs pork vs chicken.

I am person that thrives on feedback. Seeing how what I ate effected my body kept me motivated to stay on course. I also used a smart scale that synced with my phone to track my weight. And a FitBit to track my activity, sleep, and HR during workouts.

I use a Mojo to measure ketones. I typically only do it once, first thing in the morning. I use a glucometer from Walmart for BG because the strips are cheap and readily available. For the first few months, I tested my BG multiple times a day, after meals to assess the impact. Currently, I use my morning BG reading to guide my eating/fasting regime. I’m thinking about increasing the resistant starch in my diet, which will require re-incorporating potatoes, rice, beans, or grains into my diet. The glucometer will be essential to helping me figure out how I can do this.

I don’t like to guess at what can easily be tested. Not only do I know when I’m in ketosis, I know the degree of ketosis. I calculate my GKI and strive to keep it under 3 most of the time.

This video does an excellent job at explaining how and why the glucometer is a useful tool:


(Janelle) #23

It sounds like the glucometer has been more useful than the Keto Mojo? If you measure and find an unsatisfactory ketone result, do you change your diet? Fast?

My doc ran a full blood panel a year and a half ago, my A1C was 4.8 but my glucose was 97 - was then put on a statin and I’ll just bet my glucose got worse after that (but never tested). Been keto for only 4 months and have a full blood panel again in 2 weeks. I’ve wondered about getting a glucometer. I’ve never actually stabbed myself intentionally (I’m not squeamish though and I guess you get used to it). Blood panel again in 2 weeks. I guess I’ll see what that says.


(Kenneth) #24

It will help you identify if you are in Ketosis based on your Glucose/Ketone Index. Lots of Keto Evangelists say if you are .5 and above you are in ketosis … not exactly. Your blood sugar has lots to do with that. So if you are .5 and above, your body is producing ketones, but might not be getting the benefits. GKI is the best way to determine where you are in the process.

https://perfectketo.com/track-your-glucose-ketone-index/#3


#25

I find both meters useful, but if I had to choose between having a glucometer or a ketone meter, I’d pick the former. Ideally, I’d like to monitor insulin, but since this isn’t practical, I use BG as a proxy. That’s why I manage my efforts using BG rather than ketones. Additionally, BG strips are only 10 cents, a fraction of the cost of ketone strips.

Ask your doctor to check your fasting insulin level so that you can calculate your HOMA IR. This is an indication of your insulin sensitivity- how hard your pancreas is working to maintain your basal BG level.


(Todd Allen) #26

Your dots replaced the edited out “releases liver glycogen”.

Glucagon does not shut down ketosis but too much sugar in ones blood can. Released glycogen by glucagon needs to be balanced by insulin response for stable blood sugar. When one has unbalanced insulin responses in various tissues such as liver, kidneys, brain, adipose and muscle results can vary. Although we speak of insulin resistance as if it were a monolithic concept reality is more complicated.


(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #27

You mean people like Dr. Phinney and Prof. Volek? The guys who invented the definition of nutritional ketosis?


(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #28

But I was focusing on the words, “reduce and maybe stop ketosis.” In one post, you write that glucagon does not shut down ketogenesis, and in a later post you say that it can reduce and maybe stop it.

To me, shutting down something and stopping it are the same thing. Please remember that I am easily confused, lol! Obviously, the two phrases mean something different when you use them, but I am not picking up on what that is, sorry!

My understanding is that it is insulin that shuts down or stops ketosis, but only when the insulin/glucagon ratio is high. In the absence of dietary carbohydrate, the insulin/glucagon ratio remains low, whatever their actual values. So, far from “shutting down” or “stopping” ketosis (remember, I am using those two phrases as synonyms), enough glucagon stops the effect of insulin and actually promotes ketosis.


(Kenneth) #29

I have not heard Dr. Phinney and Prof. Volek address the issue of being in Ketosis in light of Dr. Seyfried’s scientific advances (cancer as a metabolic disease) and clearer understanding of BG affects on the nutritional ketosis in the body. So I would say a distinction needs to be made … specifically distinctions that are accepted and utilized by leaders in the field such as Dominic D’Agostino and Dr. Benjamin Bikman.

How do they define “being” in a state of ketosis; because I think we are dealing with degrees of that definition. Anything from the body consistently producing ketones; all the way to the body producing ketones to the degree that it has a measurable impact/effect on the body. I think P&V and Seyfried definitions would differ. Meaning, that according to P&V: one can be in the state of Nutritional Ketosis if the body is producing measurable ketones (.5+). While Seyfried would make the distinction that though Ketones are being produced (Ketosis) there may or may-not be a Nutritional element to its presence; so one may be in ketosis, just not nutritional ketosis. His work is based on the Glucose/Ketone Index that there are degrees/stages of Ketosis … as noted in the article … when GKI is:
<1 Therapeutic
1-2 Optimal
2-3 High Level
3-6 Moderate
6-9 Maintenance
9+ No Ketosis

So according to the GKI approach, technically both parties can be correct. For example: If you have ketone levels of .5 and BG of 81 or below, your GKI would be 8.99 or lower (the Maintenance stage); there would be some benefits. However, if you are producing ketones at a .5 level but have a BG of 90, giving you a GKI of 9.99, there is “no ketosis,” no benefits. But of course there is ketosis, because the body is producing ketones in measure … What Dr. Seyfried is pointing out that there are insignificant benefits to the human person at this stage.

So, my response to your reply is: Based on the Distinction made by the scientific data, by their peer Dr. Thomas Seyfried, Dr. Phinney or Prof. Volek, could be both correct and incorrect based on the person’s blood glucose.


(Todd Allen) #30

Paul, glucagon does not shut down ketosis. Insulin shuts down ketosis. Glucagon releases glycogen. Glycogen is our stored form of sugar. Sugar raises insulin and inhibits lypolysis which can shut down ketosis. In a healthy person consuming protein with minimal or no carbohydrates ought to result in stable blood sugar as it stimulates just enough insulin to take up the amino acids circulating in blood and glucagon in balance to release sugar to counteract the sugar depleting effects of insulin. But in a metabolically unhealthy person these systems get whacked out probably with the insulin response being less effective at storing amino acids and sugar than it is at inhibiting lypolysis. The end results depend on how these hormones interact with multiple tissues which can have differing degrees of resistance and response and aren’t going to be uniform for everyone under all conditions.