What Is Keto Flu? Who wouldn’t want to lose weight up to a dozen pounds in just a few months? Almost many people with excess weight definitely want this. Well, one of the ways that can make it happen is the keto diet.
Since recent years, ketogenic diets have become increasingly popular as a natural way to lose weight and improve health. This diet has a characteristic, namely limiting carbohydrate intake and replacing it with foods high in fat and protein in moderate quantities.
Although this diet is considered safe for most people, there are still less pleasant side effects of this diet. One of them is keto flu, which is also called carb flu. Keto flu is a term coined to describe the symptoms they experience when starting a keto diet. Let’s check out the review further through the following review.
What Is Keto Flu?
Keto flu is a symptom that some people experience while undergoing a keto diet. It is usually felt at the beginning of a phase that feels like the flu. This is due to the body adapting to the diet by receiving a small amount of carbohydrates.
Reducing the carbohydrates consumed makes the body burn ketones to get energy compared to glucose. Ketones are the result of decomposed fat and become the main source of the keto diet.
Normally, fat is a source used after glucose is not available. The change of fat burned into energy is called ketosis. By applying a keto diet, carbohydrates will usually be reduced by 50% every day. This drastic change will certainly make the body shocked and cause loss of energy, until it feels tired.
Keto Flu Symptoms
As the name suggests, keto flu has symptoms that resemble the flu. Such symptoms will usually appear within 1 to 2 days after starting the keto diet, and it will take a period of at least 2 weeks to completely heal. Some of the symptoms that will be experienced are as follows:
- Headaches.
- Diarrhea.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Easily tired.
- Abdominal pain.
- Constipation.
- Muscle pain.
- Difficulty sleeping.
However, these common symptoms appear not always the same in everyone. There may even be people who do not experience these side effects at all, when going on a keto diet. In other words, the symptoms of keto flu appear only in the body that is not able to get used quickly to dietary changes.
How to get over keto flu
Keto flu can make you feel miserable.
Fortunately, there are ways to reduce flu-like symptoms and help your body get through the transition period more easily.
Stay hydrated
Drinking enough water is necessary for optimal health and can also help reduce symptoms.
A keto diet can cause you to run out of water supplies, increasing the risk of dehydration.
This is because glycogen, a stored form of carbohydrate, binds to water in the body. When the carbohydrate diet is reduced, glycogen levels decrease and water are removed from the body.
Staying hydrated can help with symptoms such as fatigue and muscle cramps.
Replacing fluids is essential when you have keto-flu-related diarrhea, which can lead to additional fluid loss.
Avoid strenuous exercise
While exercise is important to stay healthy and keep weight in check, heavy exercise should be avoided when experiencing keto-flu symptoms.
Fatigue, muscle cramps and abdominal discomfort are common in the first week after a ketogenic diet, so it may be good to give your body a break.
Activities such as intense cycling, running, weight lifting and strenuous exercise may have to be put on the back of the stove while your system adapts to new fuel sources.
Although this type of exercise should be avoided if you have keto flu, light activities such as walking, yoga, or leisurely cycling can improve symptoms.
Get Enough Sleep
Fatigue and irritability are common complaints of people adapting to a ketogenic diet.
Lack of sleep causes stress hormone cortisol levels to increase in the body, which can negatively impact mood and make keto-flu symptoms worse.
