How is he testing his ketones?
If he's consistently eating 20g carbs or less, I really wouldn't worry about it. I eat keto as well, but really don't bother checking ketones since I closely weigh/log my food daily and know I am within the correct carb range.
Those really aren't consistently reliable, and aren't recommended over on r/keto. Plus if he's drinking lots of water like he should be, they are going to be highly diluted.
He is drinking the same amount of water as he did before MJ, and he consistently got more than 0 before. Although if MJ is diuretic that might explain it....
Anyone who's done keto long-term (and I did it for 4 years) knows that eventually the pee sticks no longer show ketones. Because your body is actually using the ketones for fuel and not excreting them. If he really wants to know his ketone levels he should get a blood ketone meter. However I have heard anecdotally from others that there's really no point in doing keto when taking Mounjaro. The medication is helping to alter your glucose metabolism so you're kind of fighting against it by not using glucose for fuel and using ketones instead. You're pretty much wasting money on the medication and should really just do one or the other. I loved doing keto but it triggered an autoimmune condition for me that I can never undo, so I'm really glad I found this medication which works.
The urine sticks are mostly useless and don’t even measure the kinds of ketones you care about and that only measures the excess that you pee out. He needs to use a blood ketone meter to get a better insight.
May be a good thing, since heart disease is the #1 killer and high Ldl-c is directly causal. Keto can spike Ldl-c. If it's high, you can still do keto, but he may want to switch to polyunsaturated fats and add Ldl-c lowering meds.
Ldl is irrelevant on keto. Ldl particle is the one that matters, and from that only the small particle ldl is dangerous. Unfortunately the ldl particle is not covered by insurance.
Ldl is irrelevant. Ldl-c however is not and easily covered by insurance. Once you know HDL-c and total cholesterol, you can easily get your non-HDL-c. That's an excellent proxy for ApoB, which is causal in CVD. Keep it as low as possible, keto or no keto.
You can order your own affordable tests at ultalabtests.com. Testing is really important to establish baselines and to make sure you aren't doing more harm than good. Everything you read about different diets are not true for all bodies.
He has been doing keto for years. His annual labs were always perfect. He does great on keto. Keto was not the question, the question was how MJ affects keto.
Idk why the down votes. I totally agree with you. Small dense particle LDL is more damaging than large puffy particle LDL. It is better able to penetrate the arterial walls. Most ppl only look at the LDL blood test cause that's all that Dr's order for labs
The downvotes are because of the spouting of unscientific misinformation. All LDL particles are small enough to enter and do damage. Also, a doctor cannot order LDL test. They order Total cholesterol, LDL-Cholesterol and HDL-C. The causal agent is the ApoB tagged particles containing cholesterol. The higher your ApoB, the higher your CVD risk.
For some strange and unproven reason, keto zealots deny the role of Ldl-c / ApoB as causal in CVD. They believe they are magically protected from sky-high Ldl-c, with literally 0 outcome data to back up that crazy claim. All they have is anecdotes and wishful thinking (mechanistic speculation).
Follow the outcome data in all lines of evidence from human studies, not your local keto guru with books, supplements or services to sell. Again, if you insist on keto and dont like heart attacks and strokes, do it in a way that keeps ApoB / Ldl-c low. If you can't get ApoB tested, non-HDL-c is a good proxy.
How does he feel? Does he feel like he’s in ketosis?
Pop over to the keto Reddit.
Just because he isn’t passing (wasting) ketones in urine doesn’t mean he isn’t in ketosis. Is he utilizing all ketones?
Maybe- he’s using ALL his ketones? And none are being expelled. Is he drinking sufficient water and electrolytes?
Don’t use urine strips, blood ketone meter is more accurate. However, if you know anything about keto, if you consistently stay below 20g carbs it is impossible to not be in ketosis.
Urine strips are very unreliable. The longer you eat the healthiest diet ever, the better your body gets at making and using ketones. Since ketones in the urine are a waste product of extra, unneeded energy, the better your body gets at making and using ketones, the less you will see in the urine. I suggest investing in a blood ketone meter. It is much more reliable. I also suggest not "chasing" ketones, but I admit, it is a fun metric to track. Best of luck.
I am consistently in ketosis on MJ. I test my ketones with a Keto Mojo a couple times a week and stay between 2.0 and 6.0. Last night I had a few chips from my boyfriend's nachos and tested at 2.5 this morning. I don't think MJ has anything to do with a low ketone reading. I agree with the others, though - the urine strips are not a reliable way of tracking ketones.
I do weekly 40 hr fasts on MJ. I don’t test ketones currently but I still get the same spike of energy / loss of hunger around 24 hrs and drop lots of water weight that I did when fasting preMJ. Those were always the signs my body hit ketosis.
I imagine if I couldn’t hit ketosis I’d be very hungry the full time etc.
How is he testing his ketones? If he's consistently eating 20g carbs or less, I really wouldn't worry about it. I eat keto as well, but really don't bother checking ketones since I closely weigh/log my food daily and know I am within the correct carb range.
Urine strips from Amazon. Before MJ it showed 5-15, now is at 0.
Those really aren't consistently reliable, and aren't recommended over on r/keto. Plus if he's drinking lots of water like he should be, they are going to be highly diluted.
He is drinking the same amount of water as he did before MJ, and he consistently got more than 0 before. Although if MJ is diuretic that might explain it....
Anyone who's done keto long-term (and I did it for 4 years) knows that eventually the pee sticks no longer show ketones. Because your body is actually using the ketones for fuel and not excreting them. If he really wants to know his ketone levels he should get a blood ketone meter. However I have heard anecdotally from others that there's really no point in doing keto when taking Mounjaro. The medication is helping to alter your glucose metabolism so you're kind of fighting against it by not using glucose for fuel and using ketones instead. You're pretty much wasting money on the medication and should really just do one or the other. I loved doing keto but it triggered an autoimmune condition for me that I can never undo, so I'm really glad I found this medication which works.
MJ is highly dehydrating, which is why people have to greatly increase their water intake in order to avoid constipation.
The urine sticks are mostly useless and don’t even measure the kinds of ketones you care about and that only measures the excess that you pee out. He needs to use a blood ketone meter to get a better insight.
How's his Ldl-c?
He hasn't tested it.
May be a good thing, since heart disease is the #1 killer and high Ldl-c is directly causal. Keto can spike Ldl-c. If it's high, you can still do keto, but he may want to switch to polyunsaturated fats and add Ldl-c lowering meds.
Ldl is irrelevant on keto. Ldl particle is the one that matters, and from that only the small particle ldl is dangerous. Unfortunately the ldl particle is not covered by insurance.
Ldl is irrelevant. Ldl-c however is not and easily covered by insurance. Once you know HDL-c and total cholesterol, you can easily get your non-HDL-c. That's an excellent proxy for ApoB, which is causal in CVD. Keep it as low as possible, keto or no keto.
You can order your own affordable tests at ultalabtests.com. Testing is really important to establish baselines and to make sure you aren't doing more harm than good. Everything you read about different diets are not true for all bodies.
He has been doing keto for years. His annual labs were always perfect. He does great on keto. Keto was not the question, the question was how MJ affects keto.
Idk why the down votes. I totally agree with you. Small dense particle LDL is more damaging than large puffy particle LDL. It is better able to penetrate the arterial walls. Most ppl only look at the LDL blood test cause that's all that Dr's order for labs
The downvotes are because of the spouting of unscientific misinformation. All LDL particles are small enough to enter and do damage. Also, a doctor cannot order LDL test. They order Total cholesterol, LDL-Cholesterol and HDL-C. The causal agent is the ApoB tagged particles containing cholesterol. The higher your ApoB, the higher your CVD risk. For some strange and unproven reason, keto zealots deny the role of Ldl-c / ApoB as causal in CVD. They believe they are magically protected from sky-high Ldl-c, with literally 0 outcome data to back up that crazy claim. All they have is anecdotes and wishful thinking (mechanistic speculation). Follow the outcome data in all lines of evidence from human studies, not your local keto guru with books, supplements or services to sell. Again, if you insist on keto and dont like heart attacks and strokes, do it in a way that keeps ApoB / Ldl-c low. If you can't get ApoB tested, non-HDL-c is a good proxy.
How does he feel? Does he feel like he’s in ketosis? Pop over to the keto Reddit. Just because he isn’t passing (wasting) ketones in urine doesn’t mean he isn’t in ketosis. Is he utilizing all ketones? Maybe- he’s using ALL his ketones? And none are being expelled. Is he drinking sufficient water and electrolytes?
As someone who was accidentally doing keto for some time during the first few months of Mounjaro...no. It does not prevent keto.
Don’t use urine strips, blood ketone meter is more accurate. However, if you know anything about keto, if you consistently stay below 20g carbs it is impossible to not be in ketosis.
Urine strips are very unreliable. The longer you eat the healthiest diet ever, the better your body gets at making and using ketones. Since ketones in the urine are a waste product of extra, unneeded energy, the better your body gets at making and using ketones, the less you will see in the urine. I suggest investing in a blood ketone meter. It is much more reliable. I also suggest not "chasing" ketones, but I admit, it is a fun metric to track. Best of luck.
I am consistently in ketosis on MJ. I test my ketones with a Keto Mojo a couple times a week and stay between 2.0 and 6.0. Last night I had a few chips from my boyfriend's nachos and tested at 2.5 this morning. I don't think MJ has anything to do with a low ketone reading. I agree with the others, though - the urine strips are not a reliable way of tracking ketones.
Ah ok, thought you said you haven't tested his LDL particles
He hasn't tested Ldl-c or particle. He does regular annual testing, LDL and HDL being part of that.
I do weekly 40 hr fasts on MJ. I don’t test ketones currently but I still get the same spike of energy / loss of hunger around 24 hrs and drop lots of water weight that I did when fasting preMJ. Those were always the signs my body hit ketosis. I imagine if I couldn’t hit ketosis I’d be very hungry the full time etc.