It’s called the “keto flu” for a reason: you feel miserably sick. Many people (not everyone) who begin a ketogenic diet experience what’s called the “keto flu” or the “induction flu” for the first 3-4 days while the body is adapting to utilizing ketones instead of glucose as the primary fuel source. The basic symptoms of keto flu are:
- headaches
- nausea
- upset stomach
- lack of mental clarity (brain fog)
- sleepiness
- fatigue
So what can you do about it? First, make sure you are not dehydrated. Drink PLENTY of water during the keto flu and while you’re on the ketogenic diet.
Keep firm control over your electrolytes. When the body is getting rid of excess insulin from your former carbohydrate laden diet, you´ll likely lose a lot of fluids (sometimes called “peetosis”) that have been retained in your body. This causes the rapid weight loss most people see in their first few days of ketosis. When you lose all the retained water you also lose electrolytes like sodium, magnesium and potassium. Lacking these electrolytes will make you feel worse, so try things like chicken/beef broth and look for foods rich in these minerals. A good multivitamin may help too.
Try eating more fat. Absolutely go crazy with the fat! Butter everything, baconize everything, eat fatty meats and put heavy cream in your coffee. Doing this and ingesting more fat will force your body to speed up the transition from carbohydrate burning to ketone buring. It sounds counterintuitive and you’re probably thinking you will never lose weight eating this way, but you absolutely will.
Don’t eat too much protein – The body can metabolize the amino acids from protein into glucose so if you eat too much protein the first days it will slow down the transition and keep up the misery. Look to eat fatty cuts of meat and cheese if you can, and even add fat to protein shakes etc. Your first instinct when you’re on a diet might be to grab a chicken breast to lose weight. Don’t do that unless it’s smothered in cheese, wrapped with bacon and has some mayo on the side.
Giant Keto can help you avoid the keto flu and transition your metabolism into ketosis.
