Starting on Keto? It doesn't come in a pill

Recently I was exploring the products in the Dollar General store in Stephenson, Michigan (USA.) I noticed, not far from where the few Atkins diet products were kept, there was a bottle of pills labelled ‘Keto.’

‘Keto’ is not the name of a fast-weight-loss gimmick pill! ‘Keto’ is short for ‘ketogenic’ which is the name for an EATING PLAN (or lifestyle) which puts your body into a state of KETOSIS.

Scientific research shows that the state of ketosis can have health benefits of many kinds. It can help with brain conditions such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s Disease, it can help diabetics control their blood sugars, it can help in treating cancer and may show promise in reversing diabetic kidney disease. And, oh yeah, it helps people lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived. 

This is the first post in the Starting Keto series. 

The first popular ketogenic eating plan was published by Dr. Robert Atkins in Doctor Atkins Diet Revolution in 1972. It actually advised that people test for ketosis daily! It allowed unlimited amounts of zero-carb foods like meats and fish (and eggs, which aren’t quite zero.) Other allowed foods were limited in quantity, so one could have about 20 grams of carbohydrate per day in the initial phase, called Induction. 

Many ‘keto’ advocates, such as the podcaster Jimmy Moore, started out on Atkins. Many started when the common name of the eating plan was ‘low-carb’ rather than ‘keto.’ 

There are also diets which claim to be low-carb diets but are not. Dr. Atkins warned in his first book about it— there were diets such as the Drinking Man’s Diet which restricted carbs but allowed you 60 grams of carbs a day— enough to keep you OUT of ketosis. Today, there is a diet called the ‘Controlled Carb’ diet, which allows more carbs at ONE MEAL than I can eat in a day. And it expects you to eat three meals a day, plus snacks! If the 60-grams of carb diets are more moderate-carb than low-carb, the ‘Controlled Carb’ is more of a moderate-high carb diet. 

Because ‘keto’ is often seen as a trendy fad diet right now, it’s very important to get your ‘keto’ information from a good source. Don’t pick up stuff from random web sites and blogs (not even this blog.) You need accurate information, or you will end up like the patients of Dr. Jason Fung who were put on low-carb eating plans but in their food diaries had merely replaced their ordinary bread with pita bread. They were still eating plenty of carbs!

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: If you are thinking of staring a keto *low-carb eating plan, or renewing one you tried  before, your first step is to find accurate information. BUY one of the basic Atkins books— either Dr Atkins’ Diet Revolution (1972) or Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution (1992.) Read it cover-to-cover. Pay special attention to the chapter called ‘The Never-Hungry, No-Limit, Steak-and-Salad-plus Diet’ in original Atkins or Chapter 8, ‘The Rules of the Induction Diet’ in new Atkins— these are the chapters that tell you what to eat and what to restrict on your new eating plan. EXTRA CREDIT: Buy and read both books. After the first read, read about a chapter’s worth of one or the other book every day to help keep you inspired. 

Learning to measure your ketones

I started out on the Atkins diet, and on that diet I first learned about the benefits of being in ketosis, and how to check if I was in ketosis using urine test strips.

But the urine test strips are not the most reliable method of testing your state of ketosis. You can be in ketosis and not be putting out many ketones in your urine.

The ideal way is to measure your blood ketones. There are meters for that, similar to the little meters you use to test your blood sugar if you are diabetic.

The problem is the little test strips you have to buy can be pricey, ranging from $1 per strip to $6 per strip, according to Jimmy Moore. It is probably worth doing anyway, but if you have limited funds, there is another way of measuring your state of ketosis that's better than the urine test strips, but not such a big ongoing expense.

This alternative is KetonixⓇ, a meter that tests your breath ketones. I have had one for some years now, and I can test and test and test without having to buy strips or anything for each test. You blow into it, and it lights up in colors, which tell you how deep in ketosis you are.

My own Ketonix is an older model. The current one costs $270 and links up to your computer (I think) and so does more. They only have the one model available, at least on Amazon.com.

For a blood ketone monitor, the KETO-MOJO is advertised on Jimmy Moore's podcasts, and the ketone testing strips are about a dollar each. I'm seriously thinking about getting one, since this is the best test, but my old Ketonix is still working well, and as long as it does, it will do well as a backup device. Maybe I would alternate days between the two testing systems so I would use half as many strips?

Anyway, the important thing is if you make keto testing a daily part of your life, you can tweak your keto diet to work better for YOU. I mean, if I get kicked out of ketosis every time I eat a certain food, maybe I shouldn't eat that food.

Do you test for ketones daily? What method do you use? Are you thinking of trying another method? Do you think testing helps you stay in ketosis?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~