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Remedies for the “Keto Flu”
You might be wonder what the Keto Flu is. Well let me tell you the Keto Flu is a group of symptoms that may appear two to seven days after starting a ketogenic diet. Headache, foggy brain, fatigue, irritability, nausea, difficulty sleeping, and constipation are just some of the symptoms of this condition.
Here are some remedies.
Drink a Ton of Water :
When you go keto, your body initially loses quite a bit of water weight; This is because stored carbohydrates in your body hold onto water, and when you reduce the amount of carbs in your diet, the water is released. So Drinking water regularly is very important.
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Replace Electrolytes:
It’s important to increase your intake of certain minerals when starting keto, to ensure you get enough. In particular, you’ll want to get more sodium, potassium and magnesium.
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Make Sure You’re Getting Enough Fat: The reason you increase your fat so drastically on keto, is because it can help you reduce cravings and feel more satisfied. Plus, when you eat more fat along with moderate protein, your blood sugar stays balanced, which can also help reduce keto flu symptoms.
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What Alcohol You Can Drink.
I know most of you are either college students or older, and most of you probable like to drink on the weekends with your friends. So today I’m gonna tell you what drinks you can have.
Seltzers are really good for drinks if you want a can to hold at a party or bar. Just recently companies have started to make friendly drinks fro people on keto. My favorite seltzers is crook & maker brand but they are kinda expensive
If your just at home and you want a couple of drinks your best bet is to have some hard liquor. Hard liquor doesn’t have any carbs in it what so ever, so its a really good sipping drink if you like that kind of drink.
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Sugar replacements for baking.
Every once in while you are probably gonna want something sweet to eat or even if you don’t I have some good replacements for you.
Stevia- is a natural sweeter from the rebaudiana plant. Stevia contains little to no calories or carbs, which is perfect for the keto diet. The one thing I did notice about Stevia is that it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.
Monk fruit sweetener- natural sweetener extracted from the monk fruit. Monk fruit contains no calories and no carbs, making it a great option for a ketogenic diet. I would prefer this sweetener over all the ones I’ve tried. It leaves no bitter taste in your mouth.
Xylitol- sugar alcohol commonly found in products like sugar-free gum, candies and mints. Xylitol contains just 3 calories per gram and 4 grams of carbs per teaspoon, so its not the best but good on a pinch if you have nothing else.
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How to track your Macros.
Tracking your Macros on the Keto diet is pretty easy. There is plenty of different apps that will help you put in all the information you need to know, by just entering the caloric/nutrition information.
The first app I would like to talk about is LifeSum. I used this app when I first started. It was very easy to navigate. I would definitely recommend it for beginners because it is very user friendly. Really easy to put all your information you need in. You can also take a picture of the bar code on the product and it will put the information in for you.
The second app I would like to talk about is Carb Manager. This app is more for the Keto diet/ low carb community. The app has become a lot more friendly over the time. I decided to use this app more because it was more friendly toward the diet I have been doing. So I would definitely recommend this app for low-carb/ keto dieters.
Tracking your macros has become really easy, just from all the apps avail be for you to track your macros. You will just have to find the perfect app just for you, and make sure you put in the correct information for each day, and you will be well on your way on your dieting journey.
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Good Casseroles Ive Found
Over this course of my Keto diet I’ve tried a wide verity of keto friendly foods and today I’m gonna be telling you some of the best casserole dishes I’ve food so far that I think you will enjoy.
If your really like green beans I would highly recommend this casserole. This ground beef casserole is low in calories and has 8 servings total
Heres the recipe
If you like BBQ chicken. I have are really good casserole for you. With only 265 cals and a total of 6 servings. You will definitely fill your need for BBQ chicken meal
Heres the recipe
If you miss eating chicken cordon bleu. I have a great substitute for you. You lose the breading around the chicken but you still have that gooey inside from the cheese.
Heres the recipe
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Different ways too test yourself to make sure in Ketosis.
Why You Should Test for Ketones
For one, If you want to know if your diet is really getting you into ketosis, then measuring ketones is the only way to do so. In addition, measuring ketones during a fast or after exercise can give you an idea of how your body responds to these interventions.
Blood Testing for BHB
How is BHB measured in the blood? It involves using a blood glucose or blood ketone meter—what you measure is dependent on the type of strip you insert. Many monitors available allow you to enter blood glucose test
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Urine Testing for AcetoAcetate
Through specific measurement techniques, we can then measure the level of AcAc in the urine and use that as a proxy for how much fat our body is using and how many ketones it’s producing. AcAc is less useful than BHB.
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Breath Testing for Acetone
Since we breathe out acetone, we can use special devices in order to measure the amount of acetone in our breath. It’s basically a breathalyzer…but for ketones. Breath ketone testing may also be less accurate measure of whole-body ketone levels than BHB
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Vitamins That Will Help You!
During the Keto diet you might not get all the nutrients you need for your daily life as you once were. I will be telling you the top five supplements you should be taking to help you fill these nutrition gaps.
- Electrolytes
Electrolytes are minerals—sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and bicarbonate. People tend to lose these minerals the fastest on this diet so its best to have supplements for them.
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3. Vitamin D
About 50% of the global population are deficient in vitamin D.[*]This should be taken seriously, considering vitamin D deficiency has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, autoimmunity.
Photo by Michele Blackwell on Unsplash
4. MCT Oil
Medium-chain triglyceride oil (MCT oil) is a form of saturated fat, derived from coconuts, that elevates blood ketones levels. When you consume this oil, it travels quickly to the liver for ketone production. This supplement basically boosts ketosis and provide a quick burst of energy.
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5. Greens powder
Think of greens powder as insurance against micronutrient deficiency. Vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, iodine.
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Things that have helped me along the way
During this journey I had many days where I wanted to stop doing the keto diet and just eat everything that I couldn’t eat on my diet. The foods that I was craving the most where anything that was made out of potatoes.
I had a lot of friends and family supporting me or even starting the diet at the same time as me. So that really helped me at the beginning.
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When you crave for that snack during the middle of the day the best snack for me personally was a bell pepper with cream cheese and everything bagel seasoning. It gives you the crunch you are looking for, which really helped me.
After awhile when you are doing the diet you start to feel less hungry during the day, and worry about eating starts to become less of a problem. Sometimes I forget to eat during the day (probably isn’t healthy for you but it happens to me)
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If you worry about making good meals during the day. I highly recommend going on Pinterest to look for recipes. I have found so many recipes that I really enjoy, that I eat throughout the week. Cream cheese is going to be your friend in a lot of the recipes just a heads up.
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Keto Brands that are good!
Over this course of my keto diet, I have tried Many different “keto friendly” brands. Some have been really good while others just didn’t hit the mark. I will be sharing some of the few brands that I really have been enjoying.
If you are ever feeling like you need a crunchy snack. I would definitely recommend Fat Snax crackers. They are made with almond flour so they fit perfectly for being keto.
credit: fatsnax.com
If you are getting sick of just drinking water all the time and you want something different but still keto. I would definitely recommend Ultima replenisher. I personally have tried all the flavors they offer and they all really taste good.
credit: ultimareplenisher.com
For the people who really love cereal in the morning I would definitely recommend Magic Spoon cereal. They taste so much like name brand cereals its unreal.
credit: magicspoon.com
Even though there are plenty of other brands that you can find out there you really have to look at the ingredients on the back of packages to make sure they are “keto friendly’ and not just saying keto on the package.
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Struggles You Might Encounter
Starting off you might start to realize how hard it is to stay in ketosis, and you might start to feel discouraged when you aren’t losing anymore weight.
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You are probably craving all the foods that you have been eating before trying this new diet. But don’t you worry.
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Cooking nutritious meals and keto desserts isn’t that bad!
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I personally struggled with cutting out pasta and potatoes. But the one thing I switched too, to help me to cut out the carbs was heart of palm for pasta and mashed up cauliflower for the potatoes. Yes I know they aren’t the same but the texture and flavor can be almost identical.
Photo by Megumi Nachev on Unsplash Even once I started to crave sweets, keto has options to help substitute sugar for other sweeteners. Like monk fruit, stevia, erythritol, and swerve. I personally only had stevia and its a great substitute for sugar. One of the most recent recipes I have made is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Shake and it is very taste. Heres the link to the recipe if you want to try it!
If you are ever struggling with anything there is a lot of helpful tools online. Most of you probably have Instagram, Facebook or even TikTok. Their is a lot of accounts that will show you foods you can make or even support if you need it. Social media is a great spot to learn about keto if you need help.
Photo by Dimitri Houtteman on Unsplash