Flu-like symptoms are common bodily reactions that keto dieters experience when they start their journey into the ketogenic lifestyle. If you're new to keto and experiencing "keto flu," keep in mind that it is just your body's initial response to the new diet; thus, it can be temporary. Keto flu symptoms can be reduced, eliminated, or even avoided if you haven't experienced its onset yet by following the helpful steps below.
1Keep Your Body Hydrated
When you start going into a keto diet, your top priority should be staying hydrated by drinking extra fluids. Replacing lost water at the start of a ketogenic diet is essential. It is important to note that maintaining enough water levels in your body will allow for a smoother transition into the ketogenic lifestyle. So ensure to drink plenty of water throughout the day to help reduce symptoms like fatigue, headaches, or brain fog that are often caused by dehydration.
To easily keep yourself hydrated, always keep a drinking water bottle near you, which you can fill and refill so you can drink from it anytime, anywhere. Remember, once you feel thirsty, drink up; better yet, hydrate before you feel the thirst! Since you are more active during the day, it is recommended that you consume more water during this time.
2Replace Your Lost Electrolytes
It would be much better if you stay hydrated with filtered, mineral-enriched water. The same principle applies as when athletes chug sports drinks after a heated performance. Try dissolving some pink Himalayan salt or sea salt (refined table salt is not recommended) into your water to replenish your sodium levels.
If drinking salty water sounds kind of gross, and you're not alone here, you should perhaps consider adding an electrolyte-replenishing supplement to your plan. Just make sure the capsules are sugar-free and contain calcium beta-hydroxybutyrate, sodium beta-hydroxybutyrate, and magnesium beta-hydroxybutyrate. Also, try adding these mineral-rich, keto-friendly foods to your diet: spinach, almonds, avocado, cocoa, swiss chard, Bulgarian/Greek yogurt, salmon, and coconut water.
3Boost Your Ketone Levels
If you can't imagine getting enough fats into your diet to meet the required ketone levels, consider adding an exogenous ketone supplement with goBHB (beta-hydroxybutyrate) to your routine to induce hyperketonemia. Your cells will have more bioavailable ketones to utilize for energy, as the mitochondria within the cells adapt. Just be sure to get an exogenous ketone supplement that contains goBHB!
4Start Supplementing With Ketone Salts
Some supplements advertise themselves to be pro-keto but are not actually ketone salts at all, just a blend of minerals and oils. Products like Keto BHBoost tell you in their name that what you're taking has goBHB in it, so looking for specific product names is always safest to avoid missing out. Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) is an exogenous ketone entirely bio-identical to the ones that your body makes and is chemically fused to a substrate to create a "ketone salt."
Ketone salts are not only useful because they have energizing BHB but also because the compounds used in higher quality exogenous ketones, like Keto BHBoost, are sodium and magnesium, both essential electrolytes. The endogenous ketones that your body makes naturally can either come from adipose tissue (fat stores) being broken down for energy or from metabolizing the fat you eat. Even if you are not on the ketogenic diet, taking exogenous ketones as a supplement will still encourage performance-enhancing effects.
The ketogenic or keto diet is a very low-carb, high-fat diet; thus, in the first few days of being on this diet, it puts your body into ketosis. Ketosis is a normal metabolic process where the body burns fat for energy instead of glucose. This slight change in the energy generation process causes the body to experience symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, headaches, and muscle stiffness. However, this can be easily managed or prevented by following the recommendations provided above. So don't fret and enjoy another happy keto day!
Ardella Sanchez is a graduate of Missouri University Science & Technology, where she received her Bachelor of Science in education. Finding the ketogenic diet was a welcome (although not easy) end to a lifetime of struggling with weight loss. She now lives happily with her vegetarian husband in Rolla, MO.
