Skeptic

1.8 this morning! Gosh I love this meter. If anyone is on the fence, just go spend the $35 already. I typically do a 24 hour fast. If Im feeling adventurous, Ill do a dry fast like yesterday. If dry fasting, its hard for me to go much longer than 24 hours at this point, as I really miss the electrolyte water, and my head gets swimmy. My goal this month is to work up to two separate 24 hour fasts during the same week stretch.

Started carnivore 2 years ago at 295. Began this month at 250lbs. Today I am at 245. Its been 15 years since I was down to this weight!

Today has been a dry fasting day. Began the day at .8 but have now reached 1.2 from the fasting. I feel good!

Now THIS makes sense!

This is a lingering question I had in the back of my thoughts. Ive been doing a fair share of reading about all this, and many folks are saying that urine strips are an accurate way to test, albeit for a different type of ketone than the blood test will show.

Wanted to make a dedicated thread about ketone testing and ketosis. As I learn, more and more of this makes sense. I finally bought a blood ketone meter, and have been testing my ketone levels each morning now. I have to say that I was really surprised by the results, and further surprised that I was NOT achieving functional ketosis nearly as quickly as I had hoped. My levels have been languishing in the .8 realm without additional fasting! For the record, I eat a really clean diet, but the foods that keep me from reaching good keto numbers were things that should never contain any form of sugar or carbohydrate, yet I saw a small rise in blood sugar, as well as corresponding lower keto numbers at the next morning's test. We bought smoked brisket the other night from one of the local restaurants in the area. Who wouldve thought that BRISKET would have added sugars?! Anyway, the meter has added a lot of clarity to the picture for me, and although the stinking test strips are about a dollar each, at this point in the game, its WORTH IT to me to know! This will surely be a lot of review for many here, but I will post what I have learned anyway: When we begin to strive for ketosis, we often have leftover glucose stored as glycogen in the liver. This stored glycogen must be depleted FIRST before ketones are produced and we begin entering ketosis. This is glycogenolysis. Stored glycogen is typically exhausted within the first day or so of either fasting, or a proper diet as we strive for here. Fasting does bring about functional ketosis much sooner. I also now know that our bodies produce three types of ketones! Acetoacetate ketones will only account for roughly 20 percent of the ketones our body is producing, and are the variety that can be detected by the cost effective urine test strips. Beta Hydroxybutyrate will make up the remaining bulk of the ketones being produced, with a slim number given to acetone, being the third type. Beta Hydroxybutyrate can only be sampled via the blood test strips, as in the meter I have. I purchased the KETOBM meter, for better or worse. All meters I researched have a small number of negative reviews that do claim inaccuracy. While this was disheartening, I have also ordered the urine test strips (which havent arrived yet) to remove any uncertainty about test results. Ideally, the strips and the meter will agree, Let me know your thoughts!

In my opinion, there is a lot of truth to that! Its a tough balancing act sometimes. I know that so many people get great results from OMAD, but only if that one meal is enough to cover your nutritional needs with the proper amount of protein/fat for your ideal body weight. Time restricted eating is a really good way for your body to heal, and ditch a lot of toxins. Better to eat during the time a few hours after you awaken to what you would think of as "lunch" I know if I eat close to my sleep time, it wreaks havoc. Going to bed with food on my stomach will not only give me a rotten nights sleep, but keep me from reaping most any benefits of healing during my sleep hours, as I wasnt fasted. True fasting of course is the most fantastic way to lose weight and heal, but that is no food at all. Just be careful to not fall into the middle ground of eating very little compared to your nutritional needs, which would be fooling your body into thinking you're starving, and stall that weight loss right out.

I should have also asked, is this reading only since you have started the carnivore diet? Were your phosphorous levels below 4.5 previously?

First of all, WELCOME, and welcome to the best natural way of eating on the planet! Carnivore has helped me get my life back, and this is a great community. Others that know much more than myself may correct me on this, but to my knowledge, for those with kidney trouble, one of the things that can build up to excess in the blood is phosphorus. Sevelamer Carbonate binds up a lot of this phosphorus in the stomach to prevent initial absorption, thus reducing the high blood count later on down the line. Side effects look to be generally mild, and in line with what would be expected from a binder. Our bodies do NEED phosphorus of course, but in balance. If they can get the dosage dialed in correctly, it may be a helpful medication to take while healing happens on the carnivore diet. With proper nutrition and fasting, it may be possible to reduce and eventually come off the medication as levels naturally improve. I am on insulin for type 1 diabetes, and carnivore has enabled me to steadily decrease the amount I am on (by a great amount!) but I would be VERY sick without it at this point. That all being said, some of the "helpful hints" the medical establishment may throw at you to reduce phosphorus are 1) Discontinue eating red meat 2) Supplement with high levels of vitamin D I personally would steer clear of these recommendations, to put it mildly.

March is when the weather starts to be a bit less like violent winter here where I live. Any sunny days, warmer days ...heck, any day I can out without insulated coveralls and boots is a good day, and I will be outside. We have a dog run to put up this spring, and my wife and I are finally pulling the trigger on getting chickens this year, so a chicken coop will be going up as well. I am looking forward to going outside and being active!!

I got about halfway through that statement with a straight face

I am in the midst of learning more about cholesterol myself. What I have learned so far is that mainstream medicine really makes cholesterol out to be the villain, and needlessly so. Theres a few threads on here that explain it well, but basically our bodies are MADE of cholesterol, and the fact that someone's LDL numbers are up, means they are healing, especially on a carnivore diet! My numbers are up considerably after 2 years on carnivore, and I knew it would happen, as I have a good bit of accumulated damage to undo, and am eating meats and fats like my life depends on it (because it does) How long someone's numbers stay elevated is a good indication of how much healing is going on. LDL numbers show the cholesterol that is traveling from your liver to your tissues. Western medicine calls this "bad" cholesterol, but a high number here is actually a good thing, and means healing is taking place. HDL numbers show what is being carried back to the liver. Now if your LDL and HDL are BOTH high, that is not good, as it means a lot of the cholesterol is coming back unused, and your body is struggling to repair the damage. If your LDL is high, and HDL is low, that is a good thing, as it means your body is working the way it should be, and healing! Taking cholesterol lowering medication will stop the healing process in its tracks, and is a very bad thing akin to driving your truck down the highway with one foot on the brake. Whole grains are my doctor's go-to recommendation as well, but are not what you want to be consuming. The only "grain" I am interested in is the one to cut across when I am eating a steak.

Several years ago we received a pan very much like yours (only square in shape) and I was not sure it would get enough use to justify housing it. Heh. Since carnivore 2 years ago, that pan now doesnt even leave the stove top! It is my favorite daily go-to pan!!

Well, honestly the glucose numbers vary considerably, which is why I have been doing more research. Theres another piece to this puzzle yet. One would assume that when not eating and having reached a fasted state, that glucose numbers would level out and stay steady (provided you arent trapped in a glucose metabolism of course) ...but I see something different from time to time, which is puzzling. SOMEtimes, I will level out and stay around 80 to 90 for as long as I want to fast, but other times (and I dont yet know why) I will see spikes up into the 140-150 range as much as 15 hours after my last meal! Surely there is something else at play here. The next fast I do, I am journaling what I eat for the week prior, and then tracking my glucose levels very closely. I wear a continuous glucose monitor, so that last part should be pretty easy haha. Im also hunting through reviews and doing a little sniffing around tonight for a finger stick ketone tester. The strips are expensive no matter which way I look it seems, but to be able to track ketosis with real numbers should paint a little better picture I hope. You know, this board is REALLY great. The opportunity to post all these thoughts and questions, coupled with shared interest and accountability is a greater encouragement than I ever imagined it would be!

I may have to pop in on future zoom calls. I appreciate the invite! Back when I first started carnivore I was a mess (weren't we all?) and would bottom out whenever I was even a little late on a meal, and we all know why. These days I can easily and randomly skip a meal or two and not even think about it. I can randomly initiate a fast and go for many days with no ill effects. My wife has gotten pretty used to me having a bunch of food at 6 am, 10am and then nothing for midday or supper at all. I missed "Fasting February" but I am determined to pull off a multi day dry fast before spring. Ill definitely be journaling that one.

Great post! I honestly never thought about a ketone METER! Gosh, and they're honestly comparable in price to a glucose meter! What brand are you getting? Anybody else have one they would recommend?

Dang that looks amazing! I can smell that brisket from HERE! It is amazing how we truly do have the best diet in the world, yet can still so easily slip into the mundane "ho hum, guess Ill eat another steak tonight" mentality. Thank you for the encouragement to change it up a little!!

Me either. Not one once. I actually had a doctor tell me once that I wasnt eating ENOUGH carbs (and that was back when I was EATING carbs!!) UGH

I lost almost 50 pounds initially when changing my diet, but then hit a hard plateau, and couldnt figure out why. We are lucky enough to live near a farm where we can actually source raw milk, and I justified my continued consumption based on that. There are a lot of good fats in milk, but also a lot of sugar, which is what pushed me over the edge towards discontinuing my consumption. I eventually cut it out, and the weight started coming off again. I do still have a tiny amount on occasion as a treat when I reealllly get a craving, but for the most part I feel better without. Learning to listen to my body instead of listening to my tastebuds is one of the toughest things, but everyone's mileage may vary.

I had to go look up what my average daily insulin is. Im on a pump, which has a total capacity of 300 units. Before carnivore, I used to have to fill it back up every other day. Currently I am averaging less than 60 units a day. I know I can do even better, but I think I might need to do a food diary to get there.

Now I should preface by saying that this was not my only takeaway from your fantastic response, but I have to sat that I really appreciate the reply, and GREATLY appreciate the sentiment behind what you have said here! My diet is pretty darn strict, Ill tell ya. Morning time I eat eggs and some type of breakfast meat, then lunch and supper are always some variety of beef with butter or beef with actual beef fat. I eat about 3/4 lb of beef midday, and a bit less at supper time. Other times I am simply not hungry at supper, and can easily fast until the following morning without batting an eye. I should have specified when speaking about the carbohydrates and sugars, that it is not a regular thing by any means, but more of an observation that I have made during the times I have unknowingly ingested something sugary that was not supposed to be. I myself hate to hear about folks who are battling type1 and eat all kinds of crap anyway. They rationalize it by saying they will take sufficient insulin to "cover" what they ate, but in reality, excessive insulin has extremely negative effects on our tissues as well! The only way I know of is to minimize. I have a lot more reading and research to do before I am even slightly confident in what I know for sure, but I feel I have come leaps and bounds ahead of where I was when the medical profession was telling me next to nothing about my condition and scheduling dietician meetings for me where they would harp on the carb based food pyramid.

Wanted to start a dedicated thread on this, as I am still learning, and have more questions than answers, but a bit of experience to bring to the table. Sorry in advance if this gets long. I am two years in on the carnivore diet, and (to my knowledge) properly fat adapted. I can consume fats with relative abandon with no restroom related "side effects" shall we say. As a type1 diabetic, I can definitely spend a good portion of anyone's time singing the praises of what I have been informed is something called gluconeogenesis, as it keeps me from having to carry sweet snacks always at the ready. I can work along, and not worry about low blood glucose most of the time, even as a type1. I have proven to myself that a zero carb diet is the way to health, especially with type1 in the mix, but I dont wish this thread to be isolated to those with a specific knowledge of diabetic physiology. As an additional thought, wearing a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) allows me to get a different perspective on what is happening as my body processes different foods and situations. Its my hope that some of this may be a help to others (as well as yours truly!) Many folks here speak about being kicked out of ketosis if they consume carbs or sugars, and while I notice this myself, I ALSO notice that if I eat anything that contains sugar or carbohydrates, it will seemingly hamper my gluconeogenesis abilities, and I will drop terribly low in the hours following the compromised meal. This is as opposed to the normal days where I have eaten "clean" and my glucose level will drop to say, 70 and then self correct and I can go right on working (or sleeping) like its nothing. I have been trying to get a straight story from all my internet searches (heh, get in line, right?!) ...so wanted to poll the community here for everyone's thoughts. In another thread (that I didnt want to hijack) Bob spoke about "adaptive glucose sparing" and some of it's effects. Here are my observations, please critique, or add to these with your thoughts! - When I have been able to keep my diet SPOTLESSLY clean for many days in a row (no cheats, ever) my sugar levels seem to stay right on target and I feel simply amazing! I have been under the assumption that me being properly fat adapted, I am in these times reaping the benefits of adaptive glucose sparing. Something that I am beginning to suspect, is that adaptive glucose sparing is akin to ketosis in that a dietary change can "kick us out" for a while. Is this at all correct? I further notice that *sometimes * when I fast for any longer than one meal, my glucose levels can sometimes rise and stay elevated as if I just ate an oreo cookie! This happened most recently at a dr visit, and I was amazed at how high my glucose level was (145) even though I had not eaten anything for nearly 24 hours! ( @Geezy has made a comment in a recent post suggesting that I may have fasted too long before the appointment, which can throw your numbers off?) Anyway, I say *sometimes, because it doesnt seem to be a hard and fast rule, and on other occasions I can go for days and not have my sugar level rise at ALL, even with fasting! There are also many regular days when no fasting is going on, and my diet has been a proper balance of meats and fats, but I throw some cheese in, I notice that after my midday meal, my sugar level goes up considerably as if I was back on the cookies again! Ill be sitting there later on thinking to myself "what the heck did I EAT??!!" as my blood sugar level is going up past 175! I have so far attributed this discrepancy to diet (perhaps as a result of eating things like cheese maybe?) and that in these times I am experiencing gluconeogenesis without the benefit of adaptive glucose sparing? Am I on the right track here? Is the cheese (or even a small amount of dairy) enough to shut down adaptive glucose sparing to the point that my body begins creating a sizeable amount of glucose from the protein I just ate? Does it work like this? It certainly seems like it, but these are the questions I have in my head day to day. Lastly, I hear just a bit about a process from time to time called glycogenolysis, that is similar to gluconeogenesis, but is instead the body's conversion of glycogen to glucose. Is glycogenolysis actually what is saving me during the times I would drop "low"? According to the internet at large, a high fat diet increases insulin resistance, but I have experienced my insulin resistance going DOWN as a result of carnivore, as well as my A1C. Okay, Im done for a minute. Please let me know your thoughts!

Just wanting to say that I applaud your progress! Its REALLY nice to hear folks getting ahead through proper nutrition! Im in the midst of fighting type1 (different bull, same rodeo) and I am encouraged to hear of your victories.

SPOT ON This is tonight's bacon, and it is DONE cooking.

So, I wanted to thoroughly read this entire post a few times over before replying, but WOW!!! Major thank you right here! I just learned several things. Between the salt in the electrolyte water I drink, and the bit I put on my food, I would estimate that I am getting right around 2 tsp a day of Himalayan pink salt or Mediterranean sea salt, depending. Nothing I eat is processed, so I cant think of any other sodium that would be sneaking in. The USRDA states 1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon per day of sodium for adults. Wow. I would sure like to see similar studies conducted on those eating a proper carnivore diet!!