I Came Down With Keto Flu
The “keto flu” is a term you’ll see on keto blogs and forums. For me, it was a very real event, but not everyone will experience it.
As your body breaks through the carb cycle and enters ketosis , you may experience fatigue, mental fogginess, even irritability. My “keto flu” only lasted a day, and once I passed it, I never experienced the symptoms again. I even ate a cookie one day during the diet to celebrate my birthday. I certainly came out of ketosis when I ate that treat, but I didn’t experience any repercussions for it. .
Low Carb And Fasting Advantage
We see that eating a healthy low-carb diet keeps insulin levels low, which limits fat storage. When fat is not being stored, it can be released, making weight loss possible.
With intermittent fasting, theres no food coming in, so insulin never goes up. And, that is how a low carb diet coupled with intermittent fasting gives body fat the one-two punch. During your fast, insulin is naturally low, and when you start eating, you keep insulin low by limiting carbs.
To follow a low-carb diet, you need to know which foods are low in carbs. I have a ! Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week!
A Sample Menu For Keto And Intermittent Fasting
If youve gotten the green light from your healthcare team and want to try this combined approach, you might be wondering what youll eat . Your instincts are right: This diet is all about the timing.
Below, heres what Shemek says three days on the plan might look like when done with time-restricted eating in a 16-hour fast, 8-hour feed pattern. This approach isnt the only way to do IF there are many ways to fast. For example, you can also do a 12- or 14-hour daily fast.
In this plan, youll see that snacks are optional. Also keep in mind that your carb, protein, and fat needs to stay in ketosis depend on your individual health. Working with a registered dietitian familiar with keto-IF can help you determine those ratios.
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Intermittent Fasting And Muscle
Two ground-breaking studies have recently been published on the effects of intermittent fasting on males. One group of researchers studied the effects that 16 hours of intermittent fasting had on males that lift weights. They found that muscle mass stayed the same, fat mass decreased significantly, and the males who fasted for 16 hours a day burned more fat for fuel compared to the control group that only fasted for 12 hours.
Another study showed that combining 20 hours of fasting with resistance training resulted in an increase in muscle mass, strength, and endurance, and this was achieved by eating ~650 calories per day less than normal.
The benefits of intermittent fasting translate to untrained overweight and obese individuals as well. One study published in Obesity Reviews found that eating fewer calories is effective for fat loss, but it does come with some muscle loss. However, if the subjects fasted for 24 hours and ate as much as they wanted on the next day for a period of 12 weeks, they lost significantly less muscle mass.
Yes you read that correctly 24 hours of intermittent fasting without any resistance training and these subjects were able to preserve more muscle mass than the subjects that ate fewer calories every day without fasting at all. This finding contradicts our common sense, but when we dig deeper into autophagy we can find the mechanism behind this result.
Additional Tips For Intermittent Fasting
- Strive for 12-16 calorie-free hours.
- Avoid snacking between meals and at night to let your body burn fat between meals.
- Stay active throughout the day to help build muscle.
- Drink water or a calorie-free electrolyte beverage during fasting times to help you stay hydrated and reduce cravings and hunger.
- If coffee or tea is part of your normal routine, you can consume them during your fasting period.
- Dont binge after fasting, eat to satiety, but dont overdo it.
- Ride out the hunger periods, they will pass!
Learn more healthy tips, find inspiration and motivation, and connect with our online community when you start your Atkins journey today. For more information on intermittent fast, check out our intro to intermittent fasting and these Atkins-approved IF meal plans.
1 Before starting IF, consult with your doctor or healthcare provider for guidance on whether IF is right for you.
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What Foods You Can Consume When Doing Low Carb During Fasting
In general, following a low-carb intermittent fasting plan helps you achieve a healthier lifestyle. And though only some foods are permitted in this plan, based on their carbohydrate scores, you can still experience a variety of meals and flavors.
As you will see in the following list of acceptable foods, the choices include high-fat products, lean meat, dairy goods, and non-starchy fibrous vegetables.
Eating this type of balanced plan allows you to restrict the number of carbohydrates in the food, as well as allowing your metabolism to become accustomed to burning fat instead of carbs and sugar. You will feel healthier, more energetic, and lighter by following such a diet, keeping your carbs below about 20 to 57 grams per day.
Do Keto First Fasting Second
The goal of the ketogenic diet is to lower carb intake to 20-50 grams per day, about a quarter of what the average American eats. Low carb intake helps the body make ketones, which diminish hunger. Fraser says its easier to get used to the ketogenic diet before adding on intermittent fasting. If you do keto first, you avoid that sensation of hunger as you decrease your eating window.
Lisa Amorao, an open water swimmer and LIFE apps user who has been following a ketogenic diet since 2016, says the ketogenic diet helped her become aware of processed carbs. Once she eliminated them she stopped feeling hangry. This meant that eating was no longer an emergency and I could take the time to shop and prepare food that I actually wanted to eat, she says.
Due to ketones keeping you full longer, the ketogenic diet also makes longer fasts more doable. LIFE apps user Elaine Pomerleau has been doing intermittent fasting together with a ketogenic diet for the past year, but she started following a ketogenic diet first. A few weeks later she added intermittent fasting, progressively increasing her fasting hours until she was able to do a 5-day fast. I have lost 85 pounds, no more diabetes, no more fatty liver, and almost no polyarthritis, she says.
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How Many Hours Should You Intermittent Fast On Keto
It depends on your goals, schedule, and lifestyle. However, most people who are doing keto and intermittent fasting will fast for 16 hours and eat within an eight-hour window . This is a good starting point for most people. You can adjust the fasting periods as needed to suit your goals and lifestyle.
Menu Switches And Diet Fixes
Combining keto with intermittent fasting can be challenging because you are reducing the range of food options available and restricting the window within which you can eat.
However, trying out one at a time can be effective, especially since both revolve around your body’s production of ketones which is achieved in the keto diet through ketosis and fasting.
If you’re thinking about changing your wellness routine, be sure to prioritize whole foods, protein and nutrient-rich sources, and hydration to achieve a well-balanced, energized diet. Kromas Lifestyle Reset can show you just what its like to feel full, holistic wellness just by making superfoods a part of your regular routine.
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An Easier Way To Eat A Low
Lets look at a regular meal plan first.
You certainly can use a food diary app like My Fitness Pal to track your carbs and calories tightly, but ballparking works for a lot of people! The easiest way to do that is to use the Healthy Plate method: half non-starchy vegetables, one quarter lean protein, and one quarter starches like rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, or breads. The version you may have seen come home from school with your kids includes more fruits, but if youre looking to limit carbs, move your fruit to one serving at breakfast and one at a snack. Choosing complex, high fiber carbs can give you carb limit wiggle room because they lessen the effect on your blood sugar, so opt for those at least half the time.
Can I Have During A Fast
The general rule is that anything with calories breaks a fast. The main exceptions are supplements, electrolytes, and medications:
- Supplements: You can continue taking any that are recommended to take on an empty stomach. Read labels to know for sure, and pay attention to how you feel if you take them while fasting.
- Electrolytes: Its a good idea to take these during a fast. Just make sure they dont have calories or sugar. If you want to be less strict, you can have a keto electrolyte drink which has 8 calories, probably few enough to be okay for a fast.
- Medications: Many of these need to be taken with food or taken at certain times for optimum absorption. Talk to your doctor before changing when and how you take medications.
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This Can Be A Very Low
Keeping your carb count near 20 reduces your calorie consumption too. Carb-heavy foods are some of the most calorie-dense foods we eat, mainly because we eat a lot of them. If you cut carbs, you dramatically reduce your possible calorie intake.
Some days, I struggled to get over 1,200 calories. For my goal of 1,800 calories, I fell short almost every day. That’s enough of a calorie deficit to produce weight loss, even without the low-carb count.
How Long Should You Intermittent Fast
How long is intermittent fasting sustainable? When it comes to intermittent fasting for beginners, 24 hours or fewer is a safe limit.
Those more experienced with fasting may go 48-72 hours, or even longer however, youll have to experiment and work up to a long fasting window, and stop if it doesnt feel right or keeps you from doing daily tasks.
You can incorporate some form of fasting into your schedule every day, as long as you stay healthy and nourished with the right foods during your eating windows.
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What Happens When You Combine Fasting And Keto
Intermittent fasting has the potential to support your ketogenic diet and increase your bodys ability to switch to a state of ketosis.
In a fasted state, your body naturally has to become fat-adapted to maintain its energy balance which is the basis of the keto diet. When you fast, your insulin levels decrease and so do your glycogen stores which help to support the process of using fat as fuel.
However, it only does this during your fast and when you resume your normal eating, your body will simply choose the most convenient way to fuel up. If that means youre consuming a moderate to high carbohydrate intake, it will be glycogen not fat.
Intermittent fasting can also help to support you to reach ketosis more quickly if youre already on the keto diet. This is because fasting helps to stimulate your metabolism by inducing thermogenesis in the body. As a result, your bodys ability to burn fat faster enhances and you may see the progress of your dietary modifications quicker.
Rule #: Be Careful With Sugar
Although lower-carb diets are not necessarily totally sugar-free, watch how much you are getting. You will be healthier if you choose more unprocessed, unsweetened, whole foods. Sodas, juices, syrupy coffee shop beverages, the office candy bowl, honey mustard or other sweet dressings, the second trip by the office candy bowl, even more than a tablespoon of ketchup can really add up. You might be happier if you slowly cut back on those things rather than going cold turkey overnight, but do pay some attention.
In short, limit added sugars, aim to eat a moderate amount of carbohydrate spread more or less evenly among your meals, and always include some protein, fat, and fiber with your carbs. But what if you never cook? Always skip breakfast? Dont worry there are still ways to do this that may work for you.
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Lower Blood Pressure And Improve Heart Health
Research revealed in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health that low carb diets effectively lower high vital signs, one of all the cardiovascular risks that individuals with kind 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance face. Having a low-carb diet makes healthy food choices and healthy fats that facilitate cholesterol management, which interprets into vital vessel protection. A keto diet may additionally reduce low-density lipoprotein and raise high-density lipoprotein levels.
The Bottom Line On Combining The Keto Diet With Intermittent Fasting
The keto diet is a restrictive high-fat diet, and intermittent fasting restricts the number of hours you will be eating. There is a lack of research on each diet alone, along with this combined plan, so its unclear exactly what youre getting into if you try them individually or together.
If you decide to give the diets a go, know that they are extremely restrictive, so it may be difficult to stick with the low carb count and confined eating window.
Before deciding to follow keto and IF together, be sure to consult your healthcare team. Your provider can help you determine whether this combined diet plan is a good fit for you, and then they can help you adjust any meds youre on to help increase your chances for success in the safest way possible.
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Atkins’ Shared Benefits With Intermittent Fasting
While its currently popular to combine low carb living and intermittent fasting, its not strictly necessary. When adapted to a low carb diet like Atkins, your body is already trained to burn fat for fuel, and your diet is already helping to maintain your blood sugar levels. Some people may find that if the caloric deficit that can occur while intermittent fasting is too great, it can also slow their metabolism, hindering their weight loss goals. One helpful suggestion is that if you are pairing intermittent fasting with Atkins, make sure to consume adequate protein during your feeding window in order to help maintain muscle mass. An Atkins bar or shake is a great way to up your protein intake right before you begin your fast.Rather than using IF as an all-the-time diet, some people already living a low carb lifestyle use IF as a way to get back on track. If following a diet like Atkins 100, which allows for more fiber-rich carbohydrates per day, you may find IF slightly easier.
Intermittent Fasting For Healthy Weight Loss
As weve said, not all weight loss is the same. Its essential to make sure youre losing weight in a healthy way. Can intermittent fasting help with healthy weight loss?
Here, the data are conflicting.
On one hand, intermittent fasting can help improve metabolic health by reducing blood sugar and blood pressure while also improving blood lipid levels.4
On the other hand, two trials suggested that intermittent fasting may not lead to greater weight loss than usual care, or even worse may lead to greater loss of lean muscle mass than usual care or continuous calorie restriction.5
A healthy weight loss intervention also should be relatively easy to comply with and maintain long-term. Fortunately, intermittent fasting may fit that criteria.
One study reported that working adults found time-restricted eating with an eight-hour eating window easy to comply with and maintain for three months.6
That fits with frequent clinical experience suggesting many people easily adapt to time-restricted eating, especially when they follow a low-carb or high-protein diet that helps improve satiety and reduce appetite.7
So, in terms of convenience and ease in your approach to healthy weight loss, intermittent fasting seems to be a winner.
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Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss
Social channels are filled with reports of significant weight loss using intermittent fasting. Studies show efficacy, too, but the reported weight loss is frequently much smaller.
One difficulty with assessing the scientific support for intermittent fasting for weight loss involves comparing different fasting protocols. For instance, some studies evaluate time-restricted eating with daily fasting windows ranging from 14 to 20 hours. Others investigate alternate-day fasting, while others focus on severe caloric restriction to mimic fasting physiology.
Another issue is factoring in the baseline diet followed by study subjects. Are many of them eating a high-carb standard Western diet? Or are they eating a low-carb, high-protein diet? The difference may matter as those eating low carb and/or high protein may find fasting easier, and thereby stick with it longer to see greater healthy weight loss benefits.
Despite the discrepancies, most fasting interventions show benefits for weight loss.
One meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials looking at time-restricted eating found an average weight loss of 4.4 pounds in up to 12 months.2 While the absolute weight loss may not be much, thats still pretty impressive considering that participants didnt change what they ate. They only changed when they ate.
So its safe to say that intermittent fasting has the potential to help people lose a little weight.
Practical Application: Tim Ferriss 3 Day Ketosis Boost
If you want to raise your ketone levels or kickstart your ketogenic journey, try a 3-day fasting protocol like the one below. If intermittent fasting doesnt sound like its something that can work for you, you can also kickstart your keto diet by fat fasting.
Thursday Evening
- Eat a ketogenic dinner and make that the last meal of the day. Go to bed as normal.
Friday Morning
- Get out the door and walk within 30 minutes of waking. Drink coffee or tea if needed, but it is best to limit your caffeine intake because it will cause you to excrete more minerals and fluid than usual.
- Bring at least 1 liter of water, with some added unrefined salt, and sip as you walk to avoid cramping.
- Walk for 3 to 4 hours, sipping water as needed.
- Arrange phone calls or something similar for your walk to make the time productive.
- The idea behind the walk is that you use up your glycogen stores, forcing your body to move more quickly into deep ketosis. The quicker you get into ketosis, the less time you spend feeling drained.
- If you prefer to shorten the time frame, you can do a 45-60 minute bout of HIIT exercise.
Friday Day
- Consume MCT oil 2-3 times throughout the day.
- An affordable, good quality MCT Oil we recommend is NOW Foods MCT Oil.
- This provides you with energy until your ketone levels elevate naturally.
Saturday Morning
Saturday & Sunday Day
Sunday Evening
- Break your fast with your favorite ketogenic meal. Take a look at our Keto Recipes to find your new favorite!
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