Hydration when on Keto Top 5!

Top 5 Thing you need to know about hydration when on Keto
Cold clean water, nothing better on a hot day or Keto

Now that we have learned how to Get enough fat, We know the rules of keto it is time to learn how to enjoy the time in Ketosis. We need solid hydration when on Keto plan. 


Dehydration is the cause of all kinds of impairments like memory, reasoning and cognitive function, this can cause fatigue and make you feel like Shite. Some research has suggested that while on keto you may have increased risk of developing kidney stones. This the result of not getting enough water. Along with water you need to get enough electrolytes, if you fail in this area you can have problems like muscle cramps/spasms, headaches and the worst as far as I am concerned constipation (this is a for certain if you lack magnesium. 

Living the keto lifestyle really changes the way your body process water and electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and magnesium). Luck for us we will learn how it all works and can make adjustments to our diet to reduce the change of these side effects. 


  1. Dehydration is a side effect of ketogenic diets

When on Keto. your body excretes more salt (we will talk about this in more detail below). When your body doesn’t have salt we have a tough time retaining water. At the beginning of your Keto journey, your body produces ketone bodies which are dehydration. In short, when living the Keto lifestyle you need to drink more water to reduce/eliminate this side effect. 

There is an opposite side to this, drinking water liter after liter till you are over-hydrated and have an electrolyte imbalance. The goal isn’t to have as much water in your body that is can physically hold. It is to have as much as it needs.

So how much do we need? A great measure is the color of your urine. I know gross (looking at your urine) but light yellow urine is an optimal sign of hydration when on Keto. 

Note: if you are supplementing B vitamins or a multivitamin at the point your body can not absorb the supplement it will turn your urine bright yellow. 


2. Fluid balance 

Electrolytes (e.g sodium, potassium, and magnesium) are the key. to fluid balance and maybe as important as water. 

Most people can buy into supplementing or eating potassium and magnesium-rich foods but struggle with the notion that sodium/salt is not a bad thing. We have been taught this is bad because the normal North American diet is on salt filled meal after another. Much like why we have been taught that fat is bad because it was delivered in sugar. We can not live without salt, the lack of salt can be very dangerous. We can become weak, get muscle cramping and feel fatigued. 

On Keto, we have already eliminated most of the ultra-salty processed foods that add to the normal North American diet. Plus Keto lifers excrete more salt then non-Keto followers. Our goal is to maintain low levels of insulin. When this level is maintained the body flushes out sodium. 

The result of all this is Keto lifestyle followers need to be aware of electrolyte levels, mostly salt. You can get great benefits from increasing these items to increase the level of salt in your body

3. Best Hydration when on Keto supplement is mineral water.

Other then the price Mineral water is great. Even if you can only have it on occasion. It is a tremendous source of magnesium and calcium. The magnesium will help with cramping and the calcium is great for Keto’rs that are dairy free. 

Tap water does have some minerals, generally less than mineral water. Tap water is not equal in all areas so has more minerals than others. Become luck of the draw. That being said people often add a reverse osmosis filtration system and this stirps our minerals. Keep a close eye on what you are drinking if you choose not to have mineral water. 

4. Cheat meals on Keto cause water weight changes

We all see that huge weight loss in the first few days of strict keto living. This is one of the reasons we get so into this lifestyle at the beginning (immediate results). Unfortunately, this doesn’t last for long. 

The reason is straight forward, your when you eat carbs your body stores water. Rule of thumb is 3-4 time water is stored to carbs. So 1 gram of carbs is equal to 3-4 grams of water. So work that out to your body size and that could be multiple pounds. Ultimately this means when you go keto and burn off all the stored carbs there is no reason for the water. So be ready for multiple trips to the washroom! and the scale to drop. 

On Keto, you have been doing all these things that seem wrong like eating fat and adding salt to everything. Well, they are essential to our success and health. Even adding salt to our food is most likely less than the average North America diet. Water will cause water retention and less salt means less water retention. 


5.  Sparkling water, Tea and Coffee are all good way to hydrate.

Research shows that drinking things other than plain water is just good. Caffeinated drinks are equally as good in reasonable amounts.

Studies have been done that show people use to drinking coffee and tea are just as hydrated as drinking water alone. 

We don’t limit our hydration to just things that come from a bottle or cup. We get a great source of hydration when on Keto from really “juicy” veggies like cucumbers. Think about what a cucumber looks like if you leave it on the counter for the day. 

If you don’t like the taste of water, then don’t be afraid to hydrate with some or all the other methods we have spoken about here today. (Sparkling water, tea, coffee (within reason) and vegetables, just remember to kill your keto success by adding sugar to any of them. 


To sum this all up, 

Drink lots of water -Urin is light yellow

Salt your food, drink bone broth

Mineral water is a gold mine

Coffee, tea, and vegetables are just as helpful! (as long as you have not added sugar)


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The Keto Rules for a Seccessful​​​ Journey

Today I would like to discuss the Keto rules for a successful journey!

I know we have so many rules, how much fat, how many carbs but this is more about how do we keep ourselves accountable. So let’s call this self-accountability help.


I believe we need 5 Rules

  1. Discuss your progress
  2. Find recipes that satisfy your cravings
  3. Track your progress
  4. Know your Why
  5. Love the process

A detailed look at each of the Keto rules for a successful journey.

Find Recipes that satisfy your cravings.

Try different Keto friendly foods, sauces, veggies or dips till you find one that satisfies your craving. I crave salt over sweat so Pork Rinds with baba ganoush dip is my goto. My wife it sweats so mug cake does the trick for her. Check in with that facebook group or Instagram following to see what is out there for you to try.


Track your progress

Use a phone app to document what you ate. How it matched up to your macro goals. This gives you the ability to go back and find what is working for you and what is not. I have added the breathalyzer to this rule (as seen in post Let me show you a better way to measure if you are in Ketosis!) With the breathalyzer I can confirm that the meal didn’t affect my blood sugar or reduce my level of ketone production by hidden carbs. If the number goes down adjust the next meal. My point to this rule is information is power.


Know Your Why.

This is exactly what it sounds like. Why are you on this journey. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be more healthy? Once you know the “why”, it is much easier to make deals with yourself when that little voice is asking for a large fries or a pizza. You can say to yourself, “my why is more important to me (if true) then what the little voice is selling. Let me tell you, my little voice is a great salesperson but I am not buying and that tells me that my “why” is solid and true. 


Love the Process

You need to make this Keto journey a lifestyle. Learn to love food choices. My kids wouldn’t eat sushi (Keto friendly) but if we moved to Japan they would learn very quickly. Use the power of your “why” to learn to love the keto friendly food choices. You master that and you no longer on a diet you are just eating! Learn to love prepping food on the weekend (do it with a friend or loved one). My wife and I get quality time talking about our weeks while cutting veggies or cooking meals for the week. I look forward to our time together and this time to talk with her and the weekly food prep gets done in no time. 





You are the Ruler, Govern your daily activity to achieve your goals. What you do today will ultimately move towards success in the future. 




Are you In Ketosis? How to Measure.

Are you In Ketosis? How to Measure.
This is how I measure level of Ketosis I am in daily

Are you In Ketosis?

Are you In Ketosis? We need to measure our progress. Not our weight or pant size but are you in Ketosis? There are currently three methods of measuring, peeing on a stick (yuck), Blood, pricking your finger and dabbing it on a very expensive strip of paper. Then put it into a very expensive machine (ouch)! And breath, using a very cheap and easy to get breathalyzer (Fun).   
I have found measuring give me a better handle on how my body reacts to different carb loads, how much wiggle room I have to stay in nutritional ketosis.  I like testing for Ketosis, it gives me confidence that I am reaching and staying in a nutritional state of ketosis.

The First Method (peeing on a Stick) Are you in Ketosis?

Many start this keto journey by peeing on a stick. In the first two weeks-Feeling excited and proud to see it turn deep purple. But as your body gets more efficient in a few weeks, your body will be more efficient and fat adapted. This will drastically reduce the number of ketones wasted in your pee. This change of efficiency makes the pee test less effective.

How I Measure (this will help you)

You can drop a hundred or so on a Ketonix breath meter (reviews are not great for a product with a price tag like it has). 
Or you can buy a cheap blood alcohol detector on Amazon (click here to order unit pictured above
It works really well to detect breathe acetone levels witch track fairly close to BHBs in the blood. The breathalyzer needs to be the cheap version that cannot detect the difference between alcohol and acetone. Please don’t worry you will not get a DUI if you are in Ketosis, Police breathalyzer do not detect acetone only alcohol.

Jonathan Savage of fellrnr.com did a BHOB blood test correlation to Ketonix and cheap breathalyzers; he concluded that cheap breathalyzers actually correlate better to blood levels than Ketonix.   I am exceedingly grateful to the super serious experimenters like him that have done cheap breathalyzer correlations and have generously shared the results.)

Measure regularly between 0.02%-0.04% BAC which would be mild nutritional ketosis correlating to 0.7mM to 1.0mM range according to this spreadsheet and also brown fat’s chart. 0.5 to 3.0 mM. is the official definition of nutritional ketosis.

The Conversion Cart (Are you in Ketosis)

0.01 BAC% = 0.26 ppm = ketonix 28 : blue:
0.02 BAC% = 0.52 ppm = ketonix 40 : blue just shy of green:
0.03 BAC% = 0.78 ppm = ketonix 47 : marginally green:
0.04 BAC% = 1.04 ppm = ketonix 50 : green:
0.05 BAC% = 1.30 ppm = ketonix 53 : green

The forums indicate anywhere between 0.01% to 0.05% BAC is decent ketosis.
 I agonized even over carb levels in healthy vegetables and wouldn’t eat garlic, onion, or shallots. I would cut up a tiny celebratory shallot on the weekend. I think the strictness in the first 2 months did help my body transition into fat adaptation a little bit quicker but that kind of miserly living going forward would have driven me to failure.

Now I  measure my breath once in the morning and a few more times during the day.  Eating normally healthy but higher carb vegetables like onions show little or no impact on my numbers so  I can push my carby veggie further. 
Please follow me on Instagram @brentbowserketo and you will find daily images of foods I choose to eat with before and after BAC% values to show the impact of each meal on my level of ketosis.

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Discussions about Cheap Breathalyzers:

  • http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1236978/breathalyzer-for-ketosis-check
  • https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/test-breath-ketones-without-a-ketonix-using-a-cheap-breathalyzer/9450/2