Let me guess, you did a ton of research about the keto diet and got excited enough to try it, but after a couple of days, you feel like crap.
You’re tired, extremely hungry, can’t seem to focus on anything and get irritated easily. You start asking yourself, “Am I doing something wrong?” After all, you started this diet to feel healthy, not the other way around.
You have what’s known as the keto flu.
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Below we’ve written about what the keto flu is, symptoms you can expect, how it impacts your body and how to make sure you never go through it again.
Make sure to read all the way through to learn how to get rid of that nasty keto flu.
What is the keto flu?
The keto flu is the compilation of symptoms you’ll typically experience as your body begins to adapt to the ketogenic diet.
When you’re on the ketogenic diet you’re inherently forcing your body to change its main source of energy from glucose and stored glycogen (derived from carbohydrates) to fat.
Making a major dietary change like this can lead your body to react poorly and show flu-like symptoms, hence the name keto flu.
Some symptoms include:
Going through this initial adapting stage can be extremely difficult and often times makes people quit the keto diet.
A good way to make it easier for you to beat the keto flu is to understand why these symptoms happen and learn a couple of ways you can combat those symptoms.
Why does this happen?
While on a keto diet your body will undergo a couple of major changes that are important to know.
- Your body won’t produce as much insulin due to the lack of carbohydrates.
- Fewer carbs cause your kidneys to expel more sodium.
- Less sodium in your body leads to less water retention and more water excretion.
- Low sodium levels in your body create an imbalance of key minerals that your body needs also known as electrolytes.
The lack of electrolytes is one of the main reasons that people quit the keto diet.
Although there are various types of electrolytes, the lack of potassium, sodium, and magnesium tend to be the main triggers for the keto flu symptoms.
Potassium is especially important to intake while on a keto diet since it helps regulate muscle contraction while avoiding those painful muscle cramps, deters headaches, mood swings and the list goes on.
The bad news is that many of these foods rich in potassium are off-limits when you’re on a keto diet since they’re loaded with carbs. Some of these foods include bananas, potatoes, beans, yogurt and many more.
It goes without saying that you need to be meticulous and disciplined about what you eat because a few bad choices can bring you out of ketosis.
This is why electrolyte supplementation is key to remedying those flu-like symptoms and staying on track with your keto goals.
Even more important to your overall health, these electrolytes are essential in keeping a healthy balance of water in your cells, maintaining stable blood pressure levels and for adequate muscle and nerve function.
That being said, it’s extremely important that you choose the right supplement.
Many supplements tend to include sugar and other additives that will knock you out of ketosis and you’ll start feeling that dreaded keto flu coming back again.
This is why we created Adapted Nutrition's Keto K1000 Electrolyte Powder, the most powerful, Keto Flu fighting electrolyte supplement available.
Keto K1000 is an electrolyte supplement specifically designed for a keto diet.
Dissolve one scoop inside a 16-ounce glass of water to get 1,000mg of potassium which will help you to beat keto flu and support muscle recovery and high energy levels.
In addition, it also has no sugar or maltodextrin so it won’t spike your blood sugar levels which makes it one of the best keto-friendly products out there.
Summary
For those short on time, here are some of our main takeaways from the article.
Make sure to check out our store for the best products to help you maximize your keto journey.