Some of the side effects associated with being in ketosis can make you feel rotten initially. Some people are lucky and don’t get any side effects, and others get hit quite heavily depending on the damage that’s going on inside the gut. 

You see, you are not just dealing with sugar withdrawal. You are most probably dealing with leaky gut and candida overgrowth too. When we eat a diet high in sugar, the standard small amounts of candida in our body can start to grow. If candida begins to grow and get out of hand, it can wreak havoc throughout the body. It can also be quite challenging to remove it. Candida has a sneaky self-defence mechanism, whereby if you try to kill it off, it will send signals that make you crave and eat sugar. Candida die-off can cause some bizarre side effects that can include a massive outbreak of thrush.

There is a way to tell if what you are experiencing is keto flu or candida die-off symptoms, and that’s by taking some pink salt. If your symptoms don’t disappear within a few minutes, then the symptoms you are experiencing are most probably from candida and not lack of electrolytes.

What to expect from our article

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF KETOSIS?

The first thing you may notice is a flu type feeling, this can last anywhere up to a week depending on the level of carbs and sugar that you were consuming before you started, and as you progress further, you may experience the following;

  • Irritability,
  • Fatigue, weakness & lack of concentration
  • Decrease in performance
  • Dizziness, lightheaded
  • Heart palpitations
  • Headache
  • Cold/flu symptoms
  • Insomnia
  • Keto Breath, dry mouth
  • Metallic or sweet taste in your mouth
  • Increased ketones in blood & urine
  • Heightened thirst
  • Hunger, sweet or carb Cravings
  • Stomach discomfort, nausea, cramping, constipation or diarrhoea
  • Fast weight loss in the first week (usually water weight)
  • Frequent urination
  • Periods can become heavy, more frequent (this will settle down)
  • Hormonal
  • Hair growth or loss in some cases (this will settle down)
  • Body odour, including vaginal odour (the PH balance is changing in our bodies)
  • Yeast infection (candida dying off)
  • Increased fertility
  • Keto rash

DOES EVERYONE HAVE KETO FLU?

Everyone is different, and while one person may have symptoms, another may not. You may even be experiencing the side effects of Keto and not realising it. The symptoms can differ dramatically from one person to the next.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER?

  • Weight loss
  • Inch loss
  • Improved mental health
  • Improved mental clarity
  • Lowered cholesterol.
  • Lowered blood Sugar
  • More energy
  • Lack of hunger
  • Lack of cravings
  • Improved skin

HOW TO OVERCOME KETO SIDE EFFECTS

Start by lowering your carbs over a period of a few days or even two weeks instead of just quitting altogether. Going cold turkey can make you feel really crappy, especially if you consume lots of carbs and sugar over a long period.

EAT LOTS OF FAT

This will help speed up the transition into ketosis and help your body recognise a new energy source.

MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING ENOUGH ELECTROLYTES

Low carb diets are diuretic which means we don’t hold onto fluid as we do on a high carb diet, so it is important to replenish our electrolytes. We need sodium (salt), magnesium and potassium. You can do this by

  • Upping your sodium (salt intake) to 5g per day if consuming less than 50g of carbs per day, achieve this by drinking 1-2 cups of bone broth, bullion or stock per day and sprinkling pink Himalayan rock salt on your food
  • Eating your leafy greens and including avocado for potassium
  • Supplementing with magnesium
  • Doing this will ensure that your electrolytes are topped up daily.

DRINK LOTS OF WATER

It is easy to become dehydrated following a keto diet, so you need to drink plenty of fresh bottled water if you can add some pink Himalayan rock salt to your water with a squeeze of lemon. Do not force yourself to drink x amount of water per day as this can be just as bad as not drinking at all. Try to spread your water intake out, taking sips throughout the day rather than drinking a large amount at once.

MAKE SURE YOU TAKE SUPPLEMENTS

The only supplements needed on a Keto way of eating are

  • Magnesium
  • Potassium
  • Sodium
  • B12 complex
  • Vitamin D
  • Good all-round multi-vitamin
  • Probiotic 
  • Digestive enzymes (optional)

HOW LONG DO THE SYMPTOMS LAST?

When starting Keto, the symptoms you may experience are not permanent; they last for a few days or up to a week or maybe even the first two weeks, but you will feel a lot better afterwards.

Remember, this is not a quick fix. We have all damaged our bodies with bad eating habits, sugar and toxins, so all of these things will be corrected first before the weight comes off.

Each of us has a different level of damage depending on how long we were eating poorly and the degree of damage to our health. This is a long term lifestyle change, and the benefits far outweigh the negatives, so hang in there and stay strong.

EXOGENOUS KETONES – MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING

Do not be fooled by these so-called Ketone products that promise to get you into ketosis in an hour. They do not work! They are nothing more than a multi-level marketing strategy designed to take your money from you. They put Ketones into your body, but you quickly pee them out. Your body does not benefit from it and can hinder your weight loss journey.

I Luv Keto will never promote or endorse ANY FORM of weight loss products if it comes in the form of:

  • Pills
  • Exogenous ketones
  • Shakes
  • Bars
  • Drinks
  • Tablets 
  • Wraps
  • Raspberry ketones

do not use it. The only thing you need to do to lose weight is following the keto lifestyle.

My weight loss has been lost purely by changing my lifestyle, weight loss products DO NOT work, yes you may see results in the short term, but I can promise you that just like I did, you will gain all the weight back and more once you stop.

GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO SETTLE INTO KETO

It would be best to give yourself time to settle into this new way of eating before adding bread, cakes, and desserts for at least 12 weeks. What people do, and I’ve done it myself, is trying to re-create recipes from what they remember food tastes like, nothing they make matches up to the REAL thing, so they start sneaking a bit of cake here or a bit of chocolate there, thinking that little bit won’t hurt when in fact it will.

Adding in all these treats at the beginning can seriously affect weight loss. They are higher in carbs, so eating them may even stop you from getting into ketosis.

Staying under 20g carbs a day is hard to do when you spend a massive amount of your carbs on Keto treats. Once you are in ketosis, you will be able to tell which foods kick you out and which foods cause cravings etc., so you will avoid them.

Once our bodies adjust to being on Keto, our tastes change, we start to enjoy our food more, so when we add in the Keto treats, we see them as just that, treats! Also because our tastes have changed to accommodate our new way of eating we are less likely to go for the old bad food we used to eat.