Avoiding Keto Flu
1.Continue to drink plenty of fluids.
In addition to dehydration caused by the fast loss of water reserves on a ketogenic diet, there are other negative consequences.
Dehydration may cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms, including headaches, lightheadedness, and, in some cases, brain fog. Making sure you drink enough water will help ensure that you do not suffer from any of these unpleasant side effects.
By consuming enough of water and decaffeinated herbal teas to keep hydrated, you may significantly lower your chances of getting keto flu.
Making sure to refill liquids is also a smart approach to help you feel more full, which may result in you feeling less hungry and satisfied after eating.
2. Make sure you get enough sleep.
Another symptom of keto flu is feeling exhausted or irritated. It is possible to lessen the symptoms and risk of heart disease by prioritizing sleep and ensuring that you are receiving adequate sleep at night.
Additionally, sleeping for extended periods of time and ensuring that you are receiving enough sleep might aid in the management of low energy levels.
Distractions such as phone usage and television viewing should be avoided before going to sleep. It is critical to focus both the quality and the amount of sleep that you are getting each day.
Excessive physical activity should be avoided at all costs.
When starting a ketogenic diet, fatigue, muscular cramps, and stomach pain are normal, so it’s best to give your body as much rest as possible.
Weight-lifting, biking, and jogging are all activities that may significantly sap your energy and leave you feeling incredibly sluggish afterward.
Instead, engage in lighter activities like as yoga, meditation, or taking a stroll, which may help to significantly alleviate the unpleasant symptoms of keto flu and enhance your overall health.
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3.Electrolytes must be replaced.
It is common for insulin levels to drop while following a ketogenic diet. Insulin is a hormone that aids the body’s ability to absorb glucose from the circulation.
Additionally, fruits, legumes, and starchy vegetables are prohibited on the ketogenic diet because of their high potassium content.
It is critical that you replenish the essential nutrients that you may be missing out on due to a lack of regular consumption..
Because they are a convenient method to rehydrate and restore electrolytes lost during the keto flu without adding any more carbohydrates or calories, sugar-free sports drinks, as well as bone broth, are credited with alleviating the symptoms of keto flu.
5. Increase the amount of fat you consume daily.
As a result of eliminating carbohydrates from your diet, you must ensure that you are supplementing the calories you lose via acute hunger, which might mirror the symptoms of keto flu.
It’s critical to provide your body with lots of healthy fats, which you can do by increasing your consumption of naturally fat-rich foods that may help you transition to a ketogenic diet.
6.Knowing when to call it a day is important.
The ketogenic diet isn’t for everyone, and that’s just OK with me. The keto flu may be quite uncomfortable, and it’s perfectly OK to cease completely if you’re feeling them.
If you have cheat days or make a mistake, that’s completely OK. It does not imply that you are a failure or that you are not putting forth any effort at all.
The greatest diet is one that allows you to be happy and healthy while not limiting your food intake or exposing yourself to unpleasant side effects from your food consumption.
When it comes to losing weight, many individuals have chosen to experiment with the ketogenic diet. It seems that restricting your carbohydrate consumption to a bare minimum may help you lose a few pounds, at least in the first few weeks to months after starting the diet.
Although we have some evidence to support it, we do not know if establishing and sustaining ketosis is more beneficial for weight reduction than other diets over the long term. Almost every intervention, including the ketogenic diet, has the potential to have negative outcomes. Known as “keto flu,” this condition is one of the most well-publicized side effects of ketosis.
Keto flu is defined as follows:
Symptoms of the so-called keto flu develop two to seven days after beginning a ketogenic diet and may last anywhere from two to seven days. One of the symptoms of this ailment, which is not recognized by medicine, is a headache, fogginess in the brain, weariness, irritability, nausea, insomnia, and constipation, to name a few.
In the search engine PubMed, which indexes medical research papers, there is not a single result for this phrase. A search on the internet, on the other hand, will turn up hundreds of blogs and articles regarding the ketogenic diet and its side effects.
Because we are left with only our own views and experiences, it is difficult to articulate precisely what occurs following a diet change. These symptoms may not even be specific to the ketogenic diet; some of my patients have had comparable symptoms after reducing their intake of processed foods, or after deciding to follow an elimination or an anti-inflammatory diet, for instance.
So, what exactly is the cause of keto influenza?
As for why some individuals feel so ill after making this nutritional modification, we aren’t quite certain on that. Are there any links between this and a detoxification factor? It’s possible that it’s related to a carbohydrate detox. Is there any evidence of an immune response? Perhaps a shift in the gut microbiota is to blame for this occurrence. However, it seems that the symptoms associated with the keto flu may occur in some individuals after “cleaning up” their diet. This is not true for everyone, but it appears to be the case for some people.
Do you know what to do if you get the keto flu?
You should not get annoyed or give up hope if, for whatever reason, you decide to modify your diet and you feel fatigued and a bit odd. A few pointers include the following.
Purchasing pricey supplements from the internet is not required. With little evidence to back up their claims, several websites are attempting to earn large profits by selling goods that promise to help you feel better.
No, this is not a virus like the flu, despite its name. You will not develop a fever, and the symptoms will very rarely render you disabled as a result of the infection. It’s important to see your doctor if you’re feeling really unwell since it’s possible that something else is wrong.
Make sure you get lots of fluids into your system. You may get dehydrated as a result of certain diets.
More frequent meals, as well as a variety of colored vegetables, should be included in your daily diet. It takes a significant amount of effort to make the transition away from a conventional American diet that is high in simple carbohydrates, trans fats, and saturated fat.
In addition to providing calories and energy, food serves as a means of communication between your cells and your environment.
Maintain your commitment to the strategy you have in place. Your energy level may be depleted for a few days, but by the end of a week, it will most likely have returned to normal, and you may even feel better.
Consider introducing the new diet more gradually, rather than “cold turkey,” if all else fails.
When you start eating differently, you may experience some unpleasant symptoms in the first few days. However, while picking what to place on your plate, this should not be the decisive decision. In an ideal world, you would consume the most complete and nutritionally rich diet possible, and the Mediterranean and DASH diets are the most scientifically proven to promote a long and healthy life cycle.