what the keto flu is
In: Biology
The keto flu are the symptoms some people have after switching to a ketogenic diet. Headache, nausea, fatigue, etc. Drastically altering your diet can affect your body overall, and take some getting used to. It should also be noted that the “keto flu” hasn’t been studied or researched at all, so the evidence and discussion of it is purely anecdotal.
If you’re asking biologically what it is, that’s probably too much for ELI5.
But basically, it is symptoms some people get because of the lack of carbs in the diet, it feels like some of the symptoms of the flu.
When I tried it I felt weak and clammy, headaches, nausea sometimes. Did not like it at all.
“Keto” is a type of fad diet where the person eats extremely low carbohydrate foods. The point being to reduce a persons overall carbohydrate intake down to only a few grams per day, literally the equivalent of just a few carrots. In place of carbs the person eats a diet high in protein and fats, for example meats, eggs, and leafy green vegetables.
The point is that the human body can get energy for a variety of nutrients but the modern Western diet focuses heavily on sugars and starches (forms of carbohydrates) and so the body *learns* how to process these in a sort of lazy way. It’ll always prioritize these nutrients in it’s chemistry, and usually this means storing excess nutrients (which the Western Diet has tons of) as body fat. Hence – why you need a diet.
So when a “lazy” body suddenly gets deprived of carbohydrates it needs to switch to a different set of chemistry so it can focus on burning fats and proteins for energy. This doesn’t happen overnight and some unfortunate side effects can arise while it adjusts.
The “Keto Flu” is the term for the side effects, it’s not all a single thing and it’s not caused by an infection (like a real flu) it’s more of like a “carbohydrate withdrawal” syndrome. The symptoms are generally body and head aches, confusion and problems concentrating, muscle weakness & exhaustion, and constipation.
From personal experience I can tell you a keto diet can be quite hard on a body especially if you have health issues already, it’s literally similar to something like withdrawal from an addictive drug and not something you can just *do* without some potential problems.
When you first start a ketogenic diet, it’s a fundamental change in how your body is fueled. It takes a few days for the body to adapt, especially if you aren’t drinking enough water or getting enough salts.
That can lead to a ‘drained’ feeling very much like having the flu, complete with headaches, nausea, fatigue, lethargy, etc. Just keep drinking water and avoiding carbs and it will go away in a few days on its own as the body adapts.
This can also be largely prevented/fixed with electrolyte supplements and lots of water. I use [this product](https://www.amazon.com/Keto-Chow-Fasting-Drops-electrolytes/dp/B07DGKSF1P) and it works great but there’s plenty of others- just keep in mind many ‘rehydrating sports drinks with electrolytes’ have carbs in them and thus aren’t appropriate for a keto diet (drinking even one bottle can knock you out of ketosis).
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