The Keto diet has been all the rage for the last few years. VIGEO agrees that being in Ketosis (producing ketones) is a good thing. It means you are relying less on sugar and glucose, and accessing your fat stores for energy. The Keto diet focuses on good fats, good meats, and gets rid of a lot of processed foods. That’s all good.
Here’s a couple of caveats.
First, you don’t need to be in ketosis all the time. Our ancestors may have been in ketosis at times when they were eating a lot of meat. Perhaps during the winter or a lean spring. But in autumn, they weren’t going to pass up a ripe juicy apple either! Dawn mostly eats a keto diet at home, and then enjoys something fun during a dinner out with friends. That’s being metabolically flexible. You could eat carbs for just one meal a day, and then be back in ketosis the rest of the time. That’s ok, too. Use carbs systematically before a hard workout or if you need quick energy.
Second, more is not better. The actual amount of ketones you are producing doesn’t really matter. Here’s a few ways to measure them to know what’s going on under the hood.
Bad: Urine Strips. These strips only work for the beginning stages of your keto diet. After a while, your urine output of ketones decreases, and the strips don’t tell you the real story. Why does this happen? Because the body learns how many it needs to produce and then gets more efficient. Peeing out ketones means you are wasting them!
Good: Keto Mojo blood testing strips. This is the most accurate way of testing, for sure. However, it takes time and energy and motivation to poke a hole in your own finger to test your blood.
Better: Cheap Breathalyzer. Blow into this for 10 seconds. If it shows any number other than zero, you’ve either been drinking or you’re in ketosis, it can’t really tell. Hopefully you will know, lol! You can get more expensive versions of each that only measure alcohol OR ketones, but why? This little tool has been in Dawn’s toolbox for years and still works great.
As the story goes, a car rental place in Europe installed a breathalyzer in their cars. You had to blow into it before the car would start…but they installed the cheap ones like this. Someone in ketosis couldn’t start the car! That didn’t go over so well…
Don’t forget to take in lots of electrolytes and salt if you are eating Keto.
Want to learn more about Keto?
Want to learn more about Measuring Ketones?
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