melissaknight's Journal, 20 April 2018

I started keto diet about three weeks ago. Before that I had been eating huge anount of carbs, pop tarts, chocolate bars, donuts, etc. I would get huge cravings and low blood sugar after a couple hours. To get me through withdrawl off of carbs, I used some junk food ; slim jims and pork rinds. Not a whole bag of them, just a few instead of a carb snack during afternoon when I got craving. After a couple days I no longer had carb cravings anywhere near like I used to. So ... if you're really craving carbs, find a pure fat snack with no sugar instead, which will make you feel full. If you have just a little restraint, you really don't feel like eating a whole lot of pork rinds I have found! Anyway, please don't purge yourself of food you ate, that is absolutely not going to help anything. Just try and substitute a fatty / protein non carb snack (nuts, beef jerky, slim jim, peanut butter, pork rinds, celery with salt, carrots) and I think you'll be back in ketosis before you know it. I know carrots are not recommended for keto diet, but you don't have to eat many of them, I got the baby carrots, and they are sweet and just a small number satisfies craving for processed sugars and pastry. I don't eat them more than a couple times a week for snack. I found also a snack of a cup of spinach, with sesame seeds, some garlic chopped up, fried in peanut oil with some sesame oil leaves me feeling full. Good luck !  

Oh yeah, and for first week I would eat sausage and egg from Mcdonalds for breakfast, no bread or muffin with that. I lost about 8 lbs over this month, and don't feel deprived. I eat a square or two of dark chocolate for dessert most nights. 

Thank you, I appreciate your response! ❤️ 

Hi Melissa I am a binge eater and I know it is tempting to purge after you eat a bunch of food that is not on your program, but that is not good for you. I don't even check for ketosis because the body can change often and as long as I am eating low carb and good proteins and fats I just go with the assumption I am there or close to it. If you are going to test for it and have that response then it's better you don't test. Don't worry about messing up! Just recommit to your program and try again. I just messed up bad over the weekend but I am going to just keep trying. I am really impressed that you were willing to put your private thoughts out into the community. Good for you! I look forward to seeing your posts again.  

If you check ketones and blood glucose in the morning, you may see lower blood levels of ketones and higher glucose. It's called the Dawn Phenomenon and is due to hormones and overnight metabolism of proteins. I generally check ketones late afternoon or evening for that reason.