[GeishaGirl]

When your sugar is high and you've been eating carbs, ketones are a sign of ketoacidosis and are BAD.

When you've been eating low-carb and your sugars are normal, ketones are a sign of ketosis and are GOOD.

Is that right?

And, finally, how few carbs do you have to eat to enter ketosis?

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by GeishaGirl

When your sugar is high and you've been eating carbs, ketones are a sign of ketoacidosis and are BAD.

When you've been eating low-carb and your sugars are normal, ketones are a sign of ketosis and are GOOD.

Is that right? ...

Not quite. The body makes ketones when it burns fat for energy. And it usually only does this if it can't get hold of enough glucose. So ketones get made when you are exercising, if you haven't eaten for a long time, if you are losing weight, you eat low-carb, or if there is inadequate circulating insulin. High blood sugar does not cause ketoacidosis. You can be as naughty as you like, eating all the carbs you can lay your hands on. You won't make ketones, as long as you haven't skipped an insulin shot.

Ketones are only a problem if there is a huge amount of them. They cause the blood to become acidic, which becomes dangerous. Small amounts of ketones are a natural occurence and are nothing to worry about.

The literature suggests that if you eat less than 130 carbs a day, you go into ketosis. I eat much less carbohydrate than that I don't see ketones when I do the test. So I don't know what the magical number of carbs is. I suspect that the body becomes more efficient at using these ketones as the amount of carbo eaten is reduced, so you don't see evidence of them in the test.