How I Completely Avoided the Keto Flu
How I Managed to Completely Avoid the Keto Flu
Everyone’s giving the most popular diet craze a try, the Keto Diet. With good cause! The Ketogenic Diet has not only proven to be very effective at aiding in weight loss but Ketosis can also remedy a myriad of health ailments. The Keto Diet has been proven to aid in symptoms of IBS, epilepsy, PCOS, and many more.
But there is a catch that you will probably suffer from when switching to a low carb Keto Diet. The dreaded Keto flu. Keto flu is also known as carb withdrawal. As your body learns to entirely switch gears from utilizing carbohydrates for fuel to using fat for fuel instead, you often suffer severe symptoms that mimic the flu.
- Exhaustion
- brain fog
- nausea
- vomiting
- headache
- irritability
- muscle cramps
…and more are quite common symptoms to suffer from for up to a week after beginning a Keto Diet.
I have actually tried the Keto Diet twice with extremely different results each time. I’ll share the differences in lifestyle and diet between my two experiences with the Ketogenic Diet that helped me to completely avoid the Keto flu the second time.
After suffering from an intense 7 days of Keto flu my first attempt at following the Keto Diet.
RELATED: My first Keto diet experience, results, and why I couldn’t quit after 30 days
My Keto Diet Experiences
The first time I decided to give the Keto Diet a try after reading an article about a woman who had very similar health symptoms as mine, who found them all alleviated by following a Ketogenic Diet plan.
If a dietary change had the possibility of alleviating my health concerns, (including daily indigestion and bloating as well as severe varicose veins) I was wholeheartedly willing to give the Keto Diet a try.
My First Experience with a Keto Diet plan with Terrible Keto Flu
The second day after beginning a Keto Diet I began feeling the intense Keto flu symptoms. I was exhausted, nauseous, and in a total fog.
At the time my diet, while relatively clean, was often changing dramatically due to nightly indigestion and terribly uncomfortable bloating.
Plus, I had developed a bit of an addiction to peanut butter cookies. Normally I don’t eat sugar but that had become dramatically different in the months leading up to my first attempt at following a Keto Diet.
I was also breastfeeding on demand a two-year-old who did not nearly sleep through the night. My body was drained and probably toxic due to being unable to detox for the 3 years prior due to breastfeeding and pregnancy.
Lack of sleep and switching to a Keto Diet left me feeling in a fog and exhausted. Those two symptoms did not cease even once the Keto flu vanished.
RELATED: How to Kick the Keto Flu to the Curb Faster, every trick you need to beat it!
What Changed the Second Try at Keto with Absolutely No Keto Flu
But what is truly amazing is how drastically different my second experience with a Ketogenic Diet plan was with my next attempt over 6 months later.
At this time I had just weaned my daughter and immediately began detoxifying diets.
I began with a full week of exclusively juicing. Cleansing my liver, kidneys, and gallbladder with pure fruit and vegetable juices.
After that first week, I continued my body detox and cleanse with a strict whole food diet that also omitted all forms of sugar.
Cleansing fruit and vegetable smoothies and detoxifying vegetable soups were my main foods for 2 months. I ate plenty and was never hungry.
I incorporated detoxifying drinks into my diet daily including:
- green tea
- lemon juice with cayenne pepper
- dandelion tea
- apple cider vinegar
I also began fascia blasting which detoxified my body even further and aided in alleviating my chronic joint and muscle pains. Learn more about what fascia blasting is and how it can help you detox.
After 2 months of cleansing and detoxifying, which I wasn’t able to do previously because of pregnancy and years of breastfeeding, I decided to give the Keto Diet a try again.
There were aspects of the Ketogenic Diet that I really loved including quick water weight loss and fat loss.
This time when I began a Ketogenic Diet plan I felt absolutely no Keto flu after the first two days.
I was astounded. After the terrible Keto flu, I suffered for a full week the first time I thought it must be a fluke. That perhaps I was consuming more carbohydrates than I realized and wasn’t, in fact, using fat for fuel already.
I began counting my macros daily and was sure to stay at a super strict Keto Diet at under 16 grams of carbohydrates a day.
As I continued with my Keto Diet the dreaded Keto flu never came.
No nausea, no exhaustion, and no brain fog. In fact, I was feeling wonderful! The complete opposite from the last time that I tried the Keto Diet.
I know that preparing my body for the dietary switch with detoxing and clean eating leading up to beginning a Keto Diet plan made all the difference for me.
After a full 30 days of being on a Keto Diet, I am still feeling phenomenal. I once again achieved losing all my excess water weight and fat.
I have so much energy this time in fact, that I am even able to complete rigorous workouts while still following a Keto Diet plan! Something that was unachievable the first time because I was so physically and mentally exhausted.
Steps I Took and Tools I Used to Totally Avoid the Keto Flu
- I started with a 1-week juice cleanse. Drinking this juicing detox plan which includes 1 full week of juices consisting of 6 juices a day! Everything is laid out for you, flash frozen, fresh, and pure. This set really makes a juicing cleanse a lot easier because keeping up with it can be really hard. Laid out beforehand is key to success.
- I ate ONLY whole foods for 2 months. My diet was mostly vegan with lots of easy crockpot soups and detox soups for dinner, huge salads for lunch, and energizing smoothies for breakfast.
- I eliminated sugar from my diet for 2 months before beginning a Keto Diet. I supplemented all sugar with stevia and monk fruit. Pick stevia up here and monk fruit sweetener up here. I did still eat some fruits in my smoothies though. How to do a 3-day sugar detox to eliminate sugar from your diet.
- I drank multiple detox drinks per day for the 2 months leading up to beginning the Keto Diet. I would switch up which I drank each day but for 2 months I was drinking some combination of detoxifying green tea, the master cleanse, this Traditional Medicinals dandelion tea, and unfiltered apple cider vinegar.
- I began fascia blasting to detoxify my body as well. I began using the tiny face blaster on my chronic pain in my arms and shoulders, but after getting amazing detox symptoms and pain relief the first time using it I immediately upgraded to the full-size fascia blaster so I could use it on my legs and hips as well.
Final Thoughts About How I Avoided the Keto Flu Completely
Keto flu can be avoided. Preparing your body for a new diet with cleansing and omitting terrible foods well BEFORE beginning a Ketogenic Diet can make the transition immensely easier on you.
It’s also worth noting that if you are still breastfeeding there’s a chance the Keto Diet may not be the right fit for you. I know a handful of mamas that is NOT the case with. However, it’s worth noting that the energy expenditure that creating breastmilk takes may makes the Keto Diet not fit for you at this time. Worth giving a try though.
Are you curious about giving the Keto Diet a try? Whether it is for weight loss or attempting to alleviate other health concerns, the Keto Diet is well worth giving a try. Just be sure to properly prepare yourself for the experience.
More Keto Resources from Vigor it Out
- My first Keto Diet experience and why I couldn’t give up after 30 days
- Chocolate blueberry cheesecake fat bombs
- Snacks you need to keep on hand at all times for a successful Ketogenic Diet
- Keto Crockpot recipes the whole family will love
One Comment