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I would continue. Coffee is something that people with very severe uncontrolled PCO might have to eliminate but you're doing so well on diet you can have it and over time it may even help improve blood sugar (coffee has been shown to prevent diabetes in some studies)
The more I read, the more I’m confused. I read on a keto forum that ketoers should supplement with electrolytes because it’s easy to get depleted on a low carb diet. I looked up because I had a powerade zero one day while shopping and put on 2 pounds overnight! I probably put on water weight due to the sodium in the drink, and they said I was probably depleted. Now I’m so very confused about supplementing, some recommende ketorade (solution made of water, potassium magnesium and sodium), others warn that it’s easy to overdo potassium and die. I hope you don’t mind me asking you, but you always come up with careful and clear answers. I also read (and I’m sorry if it was somewhere else but I can’t remember where I read that) that a girl sway should be high magnesium and calcium, and low sodium and potassium. But since I’m low carb, I could have a potassium deficiency. I can’t check with my doc for blood work, I’m in canada, public health system, and he won’t order anything for “dieting” purposes, especially since I had some in January and the only deficiency was vitamin D.Quote:
Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush
So should I supplement or not? And what? And how much?
I take prenatals with 50 mg magnesium and 250 mg calcium. I bought magnesium powder which has 205mg per tsp. I don’t eat much salt because I took the habit to limit salt, because I grew up being told it’s bad. I have no idea how much potassium I get from food. I eat mostly eggs for lunch because it’s quick, low carb and well tolerated by my crohn’s. For dinner I usually eat a big salad made of mixed greens (store bought mix of different lettuce and baby spinach) with a bit of tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil mayo, and mostly chicken (sometimes other mest or fish but mostly chicken).
How do I know if I’m depleted? I have had no symptoms other than constipation (which could be due to crohns) and leg pain (which could be due to my arthritis). I had a few days episode of heart palpitations early January but I got an espresso machine for Christmas and was overindulging, and it kinda stopped when I reduced to 2 caffeinated coffees per day. It still happens but like maybe once a week, at night, and it’s gone when I wake up in the morning. Would I have signs of low potassium before anything really bad happens?
Keeping a pink sway (and a minimum of fertility and health) in mind, what would recommend?
You did not gain 2 pounds because you had a powerade. Now you may have been retaining fluids or whatever but it is normal and healthy for your weight to fluctuate by up to 5 lbs daily just by virtue of water or food in your stomach.
No one's weight was ever meant to rest on one specific number. We didn't even have scales until recently. Weight goes up, weight goes down. It happens to all of us whether or not we're on keto.
What I would do is focus on eating things that have potassium in them like coconut water and vegetables. Your body is much better at dealing with potassium in foods.
The body is ~fairly~ good at regulating potassium. When you need potassium it will retain it from the foods you eat and if you have too much it will excrete more. I have read about people messing up their electrolytes on keto, so it is a possibility especially at first, but meat and dairy does have a fair amount of potassium in it too.
Potassium levels fluctuate so even if you were to have a blood test it might be that it wouldn't register even if you had been low.
But all that having been said, I hope you're not limiting potassium anyway. It does not work for swaying, so if that's why you don't want to have the ketoraide it won't hurt your sway. If you had like one of them a day you're unlikely to have too much of it.
The problem is I don’t eat many sources of potassium. I can’t do dairy, and I have to limit red meat, and high carb veggies. Which leaves me with limited sources. From what I read, I only get potassium from eggs and a few leaves of spinach a day.Quote:
Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush
And what about magnesium? Should I supplement?
There is potassium in poultry and eggs. Surely you're eating something, right? Chicken has more potassium than bananas. I would suggest eating more low carb veg just for your overall health anyway and those are all good sources of potassium.
Because potassium is not seen as a "critical nutrient" many sources will list "ZERO" potassium (such as My Fitness Pal) when there's actually quite a bit.
If you feel you need the Ketoraid, use it.
For swaying I don't recommend supplements but if you're on a diet where you need it for your health, I don't find it as strong a swayer as say Vit. D and B12 supps.
Haha yes I do eat. I calculated about 1000 mg potassium from food daily (using google) Is that enough? I keep reading they recommend much higher amounts (3500 and more) it’s like I’m lacking 2500 mg, there’s 75mg in a powerade, I would have to drink 33 powerades a day, doesn’t make sense. How do people get enough potassium even on a regular diet? I could throw in a cup of lettuce more without throwing off my macros but if I add more I will have to add fat, so calories, and I won’t lose anymore. I don’t feel any symptoms of low potassium though. I also calculated roughly 100 mg magnesium in food AND prenatals, and they recommend at least 300 mg. So I guess they are right, it IS hard to eat enough electrolytes on a keto diet. I’m tempted to pay for the full version of my tracker.Quote:
Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush
I take prescription vitamin D supplements because I had a deficiency back in January, it’s 10000 ui per week, and I have only one week left. My prenatals have 2.6 mcg b12 and 15 mcg vitamin D. Should I top up with b12 and vitamin D supplements?
You need 2500 mg minimum for your health. It's entirely possible to get enough potassium via a regular diet but many Americans don't get enough (because they don't eat their fruit and veg!). The reason why Powerade has little potassium is to prevent people from overdoing it, because potassium is in most everything, and too much potassium is dangerous.
You should be eating enough food to get enough potassium. If you aren't, you have a whole different set of problems. I suspect you're likely getting more than you think but have a coconut water every day to make up any differences.
I would not pay any money for a nutrient tracker. They are really unreliable and you're likely better off just using a paper and pen.
If you want a girl you should not take any Vit. D and B12 (though you should continue the amount of Vit. D weekly because you were deficient. Those things sway BLUE. My point was that if you feel the need to take magnesium it's not as bad for your pink sway as D and B12 are.
Oh gotcha! No more vitamin D!Quote:
Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush
I can’t have coconut water, the sugar amount in a cup is more than my daily limit of 20g. If I’m getting more than I think I don’t know what I get it from! I eat 2 eggs for lunch, and chicken or fish with 3-4 cups of mixed lettuce and olive oil mayo for dinner. Now I’m kind of worried, should I ask to see my doctor? Would I have signs if I was low on potassium?
If you need the Vit. D because you're deficient the rules are different.
Your doctor will probably laugh you out of the office to be honest (docs are SOO unhelpful about stuff like this.) Plus your levels of potassium can vary so much it's hard because you could go in and be tested and be fine in that moment but then still be low much of the time.
I can't answer your question about your symptoms - people do have symptoms of stuff sometimes they don't notice so I don't feel good about advising you there. You can absolutely be low in potassium and not notice symptoms.
Can you eat avocado?
Yes! I put some in my salads sometimes. I will try and have 1/2 an avocado daily! I will try and speak with my GI because people with crohn’s constantly have deficiency so she might agree to check a few things.Quote:
Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush
I’ve been trying to drink more water and a powerade a day since a few days and I always have a headache. Why does it have to be so complicated :sigh: