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For the last few weeks I've been having muscle spasms and "pins and needles" feelings throughout my body, but especially legs/feet and arms.
I know these symptoms from the past and took corrective action- increase Vitamin D (since I'm normally deficient in that and COVID hasn't helped), increasing magnesium and potassium.
Those helped a tiny but bit what really made a huge difference this weekend is having a ton of salt. And by ton, I mean several teaspoons worth of salt.
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Sodium is probably the mineral that I ignore most, usually just adding a small bit but it's ultimately needed as a transport for muscles and nerve function. When on keto, I my body doesn't hold onto sodium a lot, so I need to supplement a great deal. I even filled a little shot glass with about a teaspoon of large grain pink salt that I'd grab a few grains every so often and ate that over the weekend.
Far fewer symptoms now.
A good reminder that keto, for me, requires diligence.
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Too extreme for what?
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I mean as far as I know, the keto diet is used by people who want to achieve some result very fast
The price is the strain on the organism
That's why usually people do relatively short periods of keto
I was wondering what result are you pursuing
I tend to worry about the strain, that's all
In fact...
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I need to lose >100lbs of weight... (about 50kg).
I lost about 40lbs last year (~18k) and then after COVID I ate it all back :(
Now I'm slowly, slowly losing again.
But I've found my overall health is better on keto. My energy levels are better, my mood is better regulated, etc.
As for "strain on the organism", I'd be happy to look over any studies you can show me.
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In people with normal or mild kidney failure, the keto diet is shown to be effective at repairing the damage:
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this is the opposite of what I was told 🤷♂️
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I did a bunch of research based on this conversation.Someone else (maybe it was you?) and I had a conversation like this about a year ago.
The "kidney damage" hypothesis is not well supported by research. There's a single study showing a slightly more elevated risk, but part of the problem with the study were that the diet conditions weren't the same, and they aren't taking other factors into consideration, such as mineral supplementation and hydration.
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Health, Diet
When a person is on the ketogenic diet, they need to up their minerals and electrolytes due to the fact that these aren't as readily stored. This can be done through a number of means, dietarily or supplements.
They also need to up their hydration, since the ketogenic diet is a low inflammation diet, and so water flushes more quickly.
Lastly, though, the ketogenic diet isn't specifically high protein. It's high fat.
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Low carb, moderate protein and plenty of fat, with (honestly) the body supplementing the fat it needs internally. Keto folks do tend to eat a lot of meat, but only because meat tastes good.
Most doctors aren't trained in diet, at all. This is well known problem. I even had one doctor tell me "Just lose weight". He suggested I "eat less and move more", a suggestion that has generally doesn't actually work based on study after study.
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This is a better (easier to read) article on the topic of keto and kidneys:
https://perfectketo.com/ketosis-kidney/
Obviously the source is biased, but cites research.
The other issue is "Keto vs what?"
Keto or being morbidly obese?
Keto vs a calorie restricting diet?
These are the hard questions.
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One more last bit... kidneys don't need carbohydrates to function.
The much of the body can run on glycogen or ketones. The body parts that can't run on ketones and must use glycogen benefit from gluconeogenesis, a process by which fat (ideally the fat we have stored in our body) is then turned into glucose, which is then delivered into the body.
Basically, in a healthy person (a person whose kidney is not in a failure) will get enough glucose and be healthy.
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@emacsen
the strain is on the kidneys
They can't work properly if the carbo proportion is too low
That's what I have been warned about 🤷♂️
I have no materials at hand right now