Many people following a ketogenic diet focus on meal planning and neglect the importance of hydration planning. Overlooking the importance to hydrate when eating keto is one of the biggest mistakes you could make. Proper hydration can make or break your keto experience!
You ask, how to stay hydrated on keto? When your body is in ketosis, it processes water and electrolytes differently. You also excrete more salt on keto. The more salt you consume, the less water you retain. This is why dehydration is a common side effect of a keto diet. If you’ve ever followed a keto diet and felt dehydrated or experienced the symptoms of keto flu, you understand what we’re talking about!
Keto flu refers to the symptoms you may feel two to seven days after starting keto, it can feel like a hangover. Headache, brain fog, fatigue, irritability, nausea, difficulty sleeping, and constipation are just some of the symptoms of keto flu. Although researchers aren’t aware of the exact cause of keto flu, dehydration is thought to be one of the main causes of these symptoms.
Even mild dehydration can cause impaired memory, reasoning, and cognitive function, fatigue, and causing you to feel less than your best. Whether you follow a ketogenic diet or not, staying hydrated is crucial for overall health and wellbeing.
Staying hydrated involves more than drinking water. Electrolytes are essential to proper hydration. Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electric charge. They’re found in your blood, urine, and sweat and are involved in many essential processes in your body. One of the main functions of electrolytes is to keep you hydrated.
Many overlook their need for electrolytes while on a keto diet. Instead, they focus on consuming as much water as possible. The truth is, too much water can deplete your body of electrolytes, giving you the opposite effect.
While following a keto diet, you’re eliminating most of the ultra-salty foods that make up your daily sodium intake. While staying away from processed snacks is important for a healthy lifestyle, salt itself isn’t all bad! The key is using seal salt, which contains electrolytes your body needs to stay properly hydrated, especially on keto.
Sea salt is not only high in Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium, and Sodium, it contains 84 traces of minerals. While kosher salt and table salt have zero electrolytes and minerals other than sodium.
How to stay hydrate on keto with an easy-to-use supplement? Try our keto-friendly Recovery Chewables!
