question for those in ketosis...how did you get there?

[CarolM]

I'm not diabetic or pre, yet, but about 3 months ago I went to very low carb diet because I did not like my fasting BG numbers. Ten years ago I started on a low fat diet, and went to a lot of carbs to fuel my long distance bike riding. I know I was good at burning fat on the long rides, but I am afraid my body got too used to carbs, too.

So after reading the ketosis thread I picked up some ketostix, and found I was not in any stage of ketosis, not even first thing this morning after a very low carb Wednesday.

I am finding it very hard to go all the way into any kind of induction phase like Atkins. I still like my oatmeal 3-4 times a week, and a piece of wheat bread on other days...just something to make me feel normal.

Those of you in ketosis, did you have to go into induction before you got there, or were you able to get there through modified induction?

[foxl]

I have read that it is hard to go into ketosis as a type 2 because your liver will pump out glucose to foil it.

How are your blood sugars?

Despite being a T1.5 I am not sure I ever went into ketosis either. I never got over the "Atkins Flu."

[CarolM]

I have read that it is hard to go into ketosis as a type 2 because your liver will pump out glucose to foil it.

How are your blood sugars?

Despite being a T1.5 I am not sure I ever went into ketosis either. I never got over the "Atkins Flu."

Good question. Lab numbers are usually 95-99. I haven't tested lately, I guess I could but it seems the Relion always reads > 100 and it got to be depressing after awhile. But I will test again tomorrow.

My goal is to get my body burning fat again because I think I would sleep better and not wake up feeling hungry at 3 am.

BTW what brought up my question was this interesting article about ketosis. I didn't know ketogenic diets were used to treat seizures.

Your Brain On Ketones | Psychology Today

[MCS]

My finding about Ketosis are that my lowest levels are in the morning. My body has 7 hrs to manufacture glucose and glycogen from all of the protein I ate the day before. I usually do not find Ketones in my urine till after lunch. They are at the highest in the evening before dinner. I did find out when consuming fish oil at 45 grams a day and taking L-Carnitine (5g) I was in Ketosis and showing ketones most of the time. My diet is with out grains, rice, or potatoes, I eat pretty much everything else. If I increase my fat consumption I can tell I am in ketosis simple by my breath and body odor.

[foxl]

I had a nephew with seizure disorder. His mother had him on the ketogenic diet for years, but it did not help him. I know a lot of autism moms use that diet, now, too.

[CarolM]

My diet is with out grains, rice, or potatoes, I eat pretty much everything else. If I increase my fat consumption I can tell I am in ketosis simple by my breath and body odor.

Similar diet to mine, except for the oatmeal and occasional bread.

What do you do for fat? I'm trying to load up on the butter and bacon, and cook with bacon fat now, but need some other ways.

[jwags]

I have been doing some version of low carb for almost 5 years. Before that I was a low fat vegetarian but had terrible numbers. My numbers now have much improved and I am at my lowest weight in over 30 years. I try to limit carbs to under 40 per day. The only time I will consume carbs like a protein bar is right before exercise. I find when I binge on carbs the cravings increase and for days I want more. I make my own bread now using flaxseed and chia seeds. My fat of choice is coconut oil. You can find tons of ways to use it in the recipe forum. I also eat grass fed meat and organic eggs and cheese for fat. I get my best bgs when I eat organic beef. I also eat nitrate free bacon and real organic butter and sour cream. Avacados are also a great source of fat. I try to avoid all breakast cereals, fruits and anything made with wheat. It is my understanding that if you are eating over 75 carbs a day it is hard to be in ketosis. That doesn't mean you still can't lose weight on other diets. The trick is to keep it off. Every other diet I ever used I always gained back the weight. LC/HF is a lifestyle.

[CarolM]

I think I'm under 40 carbs a day. It gets easier as I go along. Atkins shakes help a lot.

[foxl]

Similar diet to mine, except for the oatmeal and occasional bread.

What do you do for fat? I'm trying to load up on the butter and bacon, and cook with bacon fat now, but need some other ways.

Virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil is WONDERFUL!

[CarolM]

Virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil is WONDERFUL!

Is it hard to find? do you use it for cooking or what??

BTW, my fasting BG was 97, low for me. Hopefully that means it's more toward 90 now since home testing is always higher than the lab.

[foxl]

You can cook with it, eat it plain, or float it in coffee. I buy in bulk on Amazon, personally. Nutiva is one brand, Tropical Traditions is I think another.

[Seagal]

This is from Diabetes Solution forum.

Re: Ketosis and the Ketogenic Diet



CathyCACLC wrote on Oct 23rd, 2007 at 8:47pm:

If you ever wonder how much fat you need to be eating in order to be in ketosis, I have some "for instances" based on the rather complicated "ketogenic formula." I plugged the formula into an Excel spreadsheet that allows for easily playing with the numbers. I'm posting some examples here.

You need a ketogenic ratio of at least 1.5 (meaning the non-glucose-generating part of your meal is 1.5 times as much as the glucose-generating part).

Here are some examples. If you eat:

* 6 g of CHO and 3 oz protein food (18 g protein) you need at least 21 g of fat.
* 6 g of CHO and 4 oz (24 g) protein, you need at least 24 g of fat.

* 12 g of CHO and 3 oz protein, you need 33 g fat.
* 12 g of CHO and 4 oz protein, you need 36 g fat.
* 12 g of CHO and 5 oz protein, you need 38 g fat.

As far as I understand it, being in ketosis is not a requirement of Dr. Bernstein's WOE. But if you want to be, these are minimums for fat, at least according to this ketogenic formula. I've read that the higher your ratio (achieved by eating more fat in relation to everything else), the deeper you are in ketosis and the more fat burning you do. (Ha! But, seems to me, the more fat you eat, the more you need to burn!)

If you have spreadsheet software, you can download a copy of my easy-to-use ketogenic formula calculator at

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...2bw&output=xls

I also, get my Nutiva coconut oil from Amazon on the Subscribe & Save plan, my last order of two 54 oz. containers was about $37 with free shipping.
The spreadsheet was very helpful when I was putting in all my figures in the beginning.

[CarolM]

Wow...what is CHO?

I'm not sure I have the guts to go so high-fat, due to all the conditioning to avoid it all my life!

Can you go sorta high-fat and get into sorta ketosis?

[foxl]

CHO = carbohydrate.

It's okay -- you can work your way up! And as you see it working ... it becomes easier.

There really is no sorta-ketosis though.

[NickP]

I'm not diabetic or pre, yet, but about 3 months ago I went to very low carb diet because I did not like my fasting BG numbers. Ten years ago I started on a low fat diet, and went to a lot of carbs to fuel my long distance bike riding. I know I was good at burning fat on the long rides, but I am afraid my body got too used to carbs, too.

So after reading the ketosis thread I picked up some ketostix, and found I was not in any stage of ketosis, not even first thing this morning after a very low carb Wednesday.

I am finding it very hard to go all the way into any kind of induction phase like Atkins. I still like my oatmeal 3-4 times a week, and a piece of wheat bread on other days...just something to make me feel normal.

Those of you in ketosis, did you have to go into induction before you got there, or were you able to get there through modified induction?

IMHO, I doubt you will ever see Ketosis with eating oatmeal and wheat bread. Everyone is a little different, but for most, to achieve Ketosis, you need a very low carb state, and eating wheat and glutten will definately sabotage any effort to achieve this result.

Your body can store quite a bit of excess glucose, so a day or two of low carbing will not put you into Ketosis.

For me, I stay in Ketosis by eating less than 50 grams of carbs a day and exercising. Even for me, there are some days where the ketostix does not turn pink....