The Low Carb Flu: Symptoms and Relief

Many people (not everyone!) who start a low carb diet experience what’s called the “keto flu” or the “induction flu” in the first few days while the body is adapting to burning ketones instead of glucose. The basic symptoms are:

• headaches
• nausea
• upset stomach
• Lack of mental clarity (brain fog)
• sleepiness
• fatigue

It’s called the “flu” for a reason: you feel sick.

 How long will the low carb flu last?
It depends. Some people don’t experience any symptoms at all, but some suffer anywhere from a day to a week. Rare cases up to two weeks. Everybody’s bodies are different and some people handle switching over better than others. You might consider starting on a weekend or sometime when you’re able to get good rest deal with the symptoms.

For those of you that are going through the flu, don’t give up! 

So what can be done to lessen the symptoms?
First you have to understand why your body is reacting this way. Your body’s been burning glucose for energy so it’s basically full of enzymes that are waiting to deal with the carbs you eat (and probably store them as fat). But now the body needs to make new enzymes that burn fat for fuel instead of carbs, and the transition period causes your flu-like symptoms. There are some things you can do to lessen the symptoms of the low carb flu and to make it go away sooner (to force the body to transition sooner) What to do:

• You’re probably dehydrated. Drink PLENTY of water while you’re on the diet. And then some more.
• Watch your electrolytes. When the body is getting rid of excess insulin from your former carb-crazy diet you´ll lose lots of fluids that have been retained in your body. This causes the rapid weight loss most people see in their first few days of ketosis, it’s mostly water, sorry. When you lose all the retained water you also lose electrolytes like sodium, magnesium and potassium. When you’re lacking them you´ll feel like crap so when you’re feeling really ill on the keto flu try things like chicken/beef broth and look for foods rich in these minerals. Take a multi-vitamin and a multi-mineral.
• Eat more fat – Yup, load up. Butter everything, bacon everything, eat fatty meats and put heavy cream in your coffee. This will force your body to hurry up the transition. You´ll think this is crazy and think you´ll never get skinny eating this way, but you will.
• Don’t eat too much protein – The body can transform protein into glucose so if you eat too much of it in the first days it will slow down the transition. Go for fatty meat and cheese if you can, add fat to protein shakes etc.

adapted from:  http://elowcarbfoodlist.org/the-keto-flu-symptoms-and-relief/