The ketogenic diet, commonly known as the keto diet is a healthy diet plan. The keto diet consists of high fats and very low carbohydrates.
The macronutrient intake of a strict ketogenic diet is divided into 70 percent fat, 20 percent protein, and 10 percent carbohydrates.
Especially, it is adjusted in such a manner that daily carbohydrate intake stays between 30 to 50 grams per day. This low carbohydrate intake creates a shortage of glucose.
Glucose is used as fuel for our body. As the body loses glucose supply, it starts to burn fats and create ketones to produce energy. This energy production from ketones is known as ketosis.
So, What Are The Symptoms for Ketosis?
During ketosis, your body starts to produce a large number of ketone bodies, commonly known as ketones. This excess ketone production promotes several side effects on the body.
These side effects are called the symptoms of ketosis. The most common symptoms for ketosis are given below.
Change in urine color & smell
Change in urine color and odor are the most common symptom of ketosis. During ketosis, a surplus number of ketones are released through urine.
Furthermore, body wastes are also released through urine along with ketones. The urine color and smell change because of this combination of ketones and body wastes.
But how to identify the ketosis urine symptoms? What color is urine in ketosis? The perfect urine color in ketosis is oily urine.
On the other hand, normal ketosis urine smells like meat or ammonia. Sometimes, keto pee smells like tuna also.
Rapid weight loss
Rapid weight loss is another symptom of ketosis. The Keto diet consists of high fiber and low carb foods. Both of these nutrients are well known for their weight loss promoting capability.
Studies have shown that a low carb diet plan is able to reduce weight (1). Furthermore, another study has shown the weight loss benefits of high fiber foods.
A high intake of dietary fiber promotes weight loss and it is independent of other macronutrients and calorie intake (2). The effect is well observed in obese or overweight people.
Increased ketones
Although a small number of ketones are always present in our blood, during ketosis the ketone levels are increased a lot. It’s because of the rapid production of ketones from a carb-restricted and high fat keto diet.
Ketone strips are used to measure these ketones. These strips change color when it exposed to urine. The deep purple color of the ketone urine strip is considered perfect.
A ketone urine level of 80 mg/dl is considered a perfect ketosis symptom. The ketone strip changes their color to dark purple if this amount of ketones are present in urine.
By following some easy steps you can kick out the excess ketones in the urine.
Smelly breath
Breath acetone is another good predictor of ketosis level. Acetones are one kind of ketone body present in breath. It is easy to measure because breath acetones are like urinary acetoacetate.
Breath acetone analysis is a quick and cost-saving way to measure ketosis levels at home. Moreover, this test can be performed frequently (3).
Breath acetones are measured with minimal discomfort to patients. The breath analyzer is used to measure this body ketones level.
When breath acetones are high a foul-smelling breath is observed by people who are following a standard keto diet. This foul-smelling breath confirms that the dieter is in ketosis.
Dehydration & reduced performance
Dehydration is a very common side-effect of the keto diet. This ketosis symptom occurs within the first week of the keto diet.
The Keto diet causes rapid water loss which promotes dehydration. According to studies,keto diet causes dehydration which affects sports performance (4).
However, by drinking adequate water and fluids this issue can be overcome. Moreover, the keto diet also causes loss of electrolytes.
The electrolyte deficiency can be overcome by eating potassium-rich foods.
Muscle ache & weakness
As the keto diet causes dehydration and electrolyte deficiency, some health disorders are faced by keto dieters. These are muscle ache, weakness, and fatigue.
These symptoms can make a keto dieter drowsy. However, with adequate consumption of high magnesium and potassium-rich organic and keto-friendly foods, all of these symptoms can be cured.
Another common reason for fatigue is the shifting of the energy module or from carbohydrates to fat as body fuel.
Digestive issue
Digestive issues like abdominal pain, gas, bloating, constipation and diarrhea are also observed in the keto diet. The main reason behind this is a nutrient imbalance.
Keto foods are rich in dietary fiber. Intake of dietary fiber increases the occurrence of gas and bloating (5). Moreover, a lot of vitamin C rich fruits and vegetables are inserted into the keto diet plans because of their low carb profile.
Vitamin C is well known for causing acid reflux or heartburn symptoms (6). Moreover, the high FODMAP low carb foods trigger abdominal pain, bloating, flatulence, and diarrhoea (7).
Furthermore, the majority of keto friendly foods are very high in fat. Excess intake of fat-rich foods causes gallbladder pain or abdominal pain (8).
On the other hand, saturated fat rich keto fruits like coconut are able to promote constipation. It’s because a high intake of saturated fat is directly related to constipation (9).
Some other symptoms of ketosis are (10):
- Loss of appetite
- Focus boosting
- Nausea
- Headache
- Vomiting
- Insomnia
