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So you can objectively track when your “bouncing” in and out of ketosis, like say for instance the way your heart beat changes ? urine test strips only measure

So you can objectively track when your “bouncing” in and out of ketosis, like say for instance the way your heart beat changes ? urine test strips only measure acetoacetate. Urinary ketones often correlate poorly with serum levels because of variability in excretion of ketones by the kidney, influence of hydration status, and renal function. (Wikipedia - I’m being a bit lazy). I’m not arguing against fasting, or low carb diets. I’m making the point that ketosis isn’t as easy to “bounce” into as people think (though it doesn’t mean there are not benefits from fasting or low carb diets).

beagle3 6y ago
I suspect what the keto community calls "fat adapted" is basically that "easily bouncing in and out" state -- which some people reach easily, and some take weeks or months to achieve on keto. (but as far as I know, takes at most 3 days to achieve while fasting)
ravenstine 6y ago
Your urine isn't going to show acetoacetate unless you're in ketosis. You're not supposed to use ketones to test accurate levels. It's to give you an idea of what's going on. There's no way your strips are going to show purple if your body isn't producing ketones for energy transport. The exact level doesn't even matter that much because what shows up in the urine is excess. Sure, acetoacetate is not the only ketone, but it doesn't just get created within the body for no reason. If you are fasted and you eat a bunch of ice cream, your ketone strip test will plummet to showing no signs of ketones at all. If you are fasted and you eat a fatty steak, at best you might see a slight decrease because of protein intake. This is consistent and easy to reproduce. I've repeated this test dozens of times. Carb and sugar heavy food plummets urine ketone levels and keto macros don't. Your body isn't going to produce an appreciable level of ketones when it's got simple carbs ready to go, which is because the body is going to prefer glucose every time it's given a choice. And yes, you do bounce in and out of ketosis when you fast long enough, and it really doesn't take that long. Once you've expended your glycogen and you've digested all your food, your body doesn't have a choice but to dig in to fat stores. Depending on how much glycogen you have stored, what you've eaten, and how long it's been since you've eaten, getting into ketosis becomes ridiculously easy because the energy your body uses has to come from somewhere. You don't need to measure ketones to have confidence in this. It's well studied. If someone thinks that ketosis is hard to enter, I doubt they've gone more than a day without food. Once you get used to fasting for longer than 48 hours, it becomes obvious when your body is out of glycogen.

beagle3 6y ago

I suspect what the keto community calls "fat adapted" is basically that "easily bouncing in and out" state -- which some people reach easily, and some take weeks or months to achieve on keto. (but as far as I know, takes at most 3 days to achieve while fasting)

ravenstine 6y ago

Your urine isn't going to show acetoacetate unless you're in ketosis. You're not supposed to use ketones to test accurate levels. It's to give you an idea of what's going on. There's no way your strips are going to show purple if your body isn't producing ketones for energy transport. The exact level doesn't even matter that much because what shows up in the urine is excess. Sure, acetoacetate is not the only ketone, but it doesn't just get created within the body for no reason. If you are fasted and you eat a bunch of ice cream, your ketone strip test will plummet to showing no signs of ketones at all. If you are fasted and you eat a fatty steak, at best you might see a slight decrease because of protein intake. This is consistent and easy to reproduce. I've repeated this test dozens of times. Carb and sugar heavy food plummets urine ketone levels and keto macros don't. Your body isn't going to produce an appreciable level of ketones when it's got simple carbs ready to go, which is because the body is going to prefer glucose every time it's given a choice. And yes, you do bounce in and out of ketosis when you fast long enough, and it really doesn't take that long. Once you've expended your glycogen and you've digested all your food, your body doesn't have a choice but to dig in to fat stores. Depending on how much glycogen you have stored, what you've eaten, and how long it's been since you've eaten, getting into ketosis becomes ridiculously easy because the energy your body uses has to come from somewhere. You don't need to measure ketones to have confidence in this. It's well studied. If someone thinks that ketosis is hard to enter, I doubt they've gone more than a day without food. Once you get used to fasting for longer than 48 hours, it becomes obvious when your body is out of glycogen.