One of my good friends on the Atkins Diet, Izaboutime, talked to me regarding a scare he had. He was following the diet religiously and working out fiendishly in the gym. In that time, he sweated the potassium of his body and put himself into a hypokalemic state. He thought he was having a heart attack. The post script to his tale is he found out what it was and wanted to be sure others knew as well. That was why this video was created. Hypokalemia health.google.com www.nlm.nih.gov en.wikipedia.org What is Potassium Good for? * important for neuron (brain and nerve) functioning * maintaining osmotic and pH balance – electrolyte * fluid balance * heart, kidney and adrenal functions * preventing muscle contraction Recommended daily intake of over 4-5000mg. Is it a common problem? Biochemical abnormalities of the ketogenic diet in children. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov This study discovered serum levels of sodium, potassium, and calcium were similarly unaltered in humans consuming a ketogenic diet. What causes a hypokalemia? * Diuretics, Stimulant Laxatives or Eating Disorders (Bulimia) * Excessive Sweating / Extreme exercise * Diarrhea * Diseases that affect the kidney’s ability to retain potassium (for example, Cushing syndrome) * Surgical procedures to shorten the intestines where Potassium is absorbed * Extremely rarely poor diet In the case of Atkins or most diets, the initial state is diuretic with the loss of glycogen which can temporarily influence electrolyte levels. This …
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Thanks!
Yeah, the only relief I get from the cramps is actually to stop losing weight, sad to say. So, I decided to take the good with the bad and deal with the cramps! lol I also get headaches when I need to eat, rather than hunger pains on this woe. I listen to my body more now and when I feel head-achy, I know I need to eat. When I get leg cramps, I know I am losing weight. I know also, that if I do not eat enough vegies I get a headache too. I try to balance it all. Thanks again!
Wow that is a pretty unique weight loss indicator. If it’s as simple as just changing salt, I thought I would be foolish not to change. It’s good to have your addition to the talk.
Great information in the video and comments section. I have been suffering from leg cramps for a long time. In fact, I know when I will show a weight loss on the scale by the severity of leg cramps each night. It does not matter what diet I am on, even the grand WWatchers causes me to get them at night. I do eat leafy greens, avocado, meat, etc each day. And I have tried the supplement of Potassium and Magnesium Aspartate 250 mg, with no results.
I will give the salt a shot! Thanks!
Going to get away from the cold, huh? Hope you have a great time in FL.
I live near Des Moines, Iowa, so we have at least 3 or 4 decent Indian restaurants. Trying a new ethnic food is a bit intimidating as trying to figure out a new restaurant carb-friendliness on top of a whole new menu option. I might try one that has a buffet option that way I might have an option on seeing the food before I pick it.
I am really however looking forward to my trip to Florida on Friday. We get to go to a Brazilian steakhouse again, which is a treat for us.
I only know a few things, but I love a dish called *saag*, which is spinach & mustard greens (boiled), then spices and butter are added. Yum! Anything they make with eggplant is delicious too. I am not an okra fan, so I don’t order it. I just avoid the rice, the “naan” (flat bread – to die for), and desserts. Just order stuff mild, as otherwise, it could be insanely hot (spicy). Do you live in a large city?
The problem is that is literally ONE study. That’s it (although there’s another they’re working on). I agree that one study is not enough to be definitive; however, it does make me interested. Good news about the meat, though. The original study used very lean meat and very lean fish, so I assume that a fattier cut would give a lower insulin index score. Also, they tested only about 30 foods, most of whose insulin index agreed with the glycemic index (makes sense), but not all.
Indian food is one thing I have always been curious on eating. What food should I order when I visit a restaurant other than sans the rice?
I am not entirely convinced on the Insulin Index as gospel yet. There are few journal articles reporting it, and they all seem to come from the same group of authors. Now gluconeogenesis can certainly cause the protein to convert to glucose and thereby cause an insulin release, but to the same rate as oatmeal or brown rice?
That just doesn’t make logical sense. I am still keeping an open mind, but my initial reaction is fat in foods are the one things that can’t cause that insulin rush.
There is no straight formula to define balanced diet, I meant balanced diet eating foods from all the major food groups like you do. Just watching what you eat you can easily have an idea about that. My challenge to the people who eats nothing but vegetable or nothing but banana nothing but low carb. That makes me crazy.
On the “Insulin Index”, beef, surprisingly, elicits the same insulin reaction as does brown rice. I was amazed to learn that, but there was a study done in Australia that shows that. Fat, however, is simply eaten in small quantities, hence less need for insulin, and is an excellent choice. Again, the French with their buttery sauces — they found the right mix of some meat with a fat-based sauce. (In fact, I’m having some steak with a beefy, buttery sauce right now.)
You nailed it! When I first started induction, I had thought maybe I’ll just go zero-carb (some people do); however, that just doesn’t work for me, due to the BOREDOM factor. But with effort, I found that I can have veggies – no, not unlimited – but have them nonetheless. Indian food is very Atkins-friendly, as lots of spinach, eggplant, etc (dump the rice). Induction is only challenging because our whole country is used to burgers, fries & cokes (well, I guess the meat’s okay).
But I agree some people take a positive and make extremes out of it like having no vegetables or staying Induction after seeing issues. It is possible to mess anything up without being informed. I am hoping by posting these videos at least people are thinking about these things now…
Remember the focus is like you said is on Fat not necessarily lean proteins as protein can be converted in glucose and cause the insulin reaction. There is certainly a wide wealth of vegetables available on Induction — things like Broccoli, Cauliflower, mushrooms were are K rich.
Then again Atkins Induction only has to be 14 days long, and if people are having problems with potassium intake on Induction, they should be migrating onto OWL. Leg cramps was one of the sign posts Dr. A gave us.
There is however nothing wrong with eating a cup of spinach on Induction. Here is one example:
Breakfast:
4 oz ground beef 495mg, 1 cup of Salad Veggies ~100mg. 1 TBS Salsa 50mg,
1 oz cheese 50mg
Total – 700mg
Lunch:
Chicken Salad (1.5 cups) – 537 mg, 1 cup mushrooms – 500mg, 1 oz cheese 50mg
Total – 1087mg
Dinner:
12 oz of Sirloin Steak – 1485 mg, 1 cup of Spinach – 882mg, 1 oz cheese – 50 mg
Total-2417mg
Day Total-4204mg
On Atkins, the emphasis tends to be on protein (although fat is fine as well). I like meat but I simply cannot eat too much of it at one time. So, vegetables have been an important part of my induction… but low-carb ones. 8 oz of cooked mustard greens is only 5 gm of carbs (458 gm potas.) and with several pats of butter is delicious. (Remember: eating fat does NOT make us fat… it’s the carbs that make us fat).
Hypokalemia may be a problem for us Atkins fans. Here’s why. An 8-oz steak has 862 mg of potassium, so a person on Induction, to meet the 4,000 mg potassium requirement, would need to eat 4 1/2 steaks. However, 8 oz of cooked spinach has 1057 gm of potassium (& only 9 carbs), so there’s a chunk of potassium right there!
But the whole question is who determines the apppropriate “balance.” I mean I still eat foods from all the major food groups — just restricting some like grains and sugary fruits (like oranges and bananas). So while we may be free to eat of all the foods in creation, he doesn’t necessarily tell us how much to eat of them.
I find all this discussion is total nonsense. All the food over there in nature created for us by God to eat them all. Best diet is balanced whole food diet.
He had blood work done by a doctor. Like I suggest in most of my exercise-related video, you simply have to be cognizant of electrolyte lost and address them. I have personally been fine working out on Atkins, but I am going for strength and performance not necessarily muscle size. Since the original post, Iz is back to working out and is doing really well on Atkins.
dairy has potassium too. how does he know he was low in potassium? maybe he was just adjusting to a new diet and working out too hard. i read the atkins diet is good for losing weight but for gaining muscle you need more carbs. if youre trying to lose weight u should probly just do more cardio and work out longer not so vigorously.
Some were even mentioned in the video if you had watched it.
Swiss chard 28%
Avocado 25%
Spinach 24%
All acceptable on Induction. Here’s more Induction acceptable ones:
fennel, kale, mustard greens, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, winter squash, blackstrap molasses, eggplant, and tomatoes.
Finally more:
parsley, cucumber, bell pepper,turmeric, apricots, ginger root, avocado, tuna, halibut, cauliflower and cabbage…
It’s hard to shake a stick and not hit an Induction acceptable Potassium source.
I am wondering why you would believe an Atkins Diet would be any different. All the things you listed are acceptable on Atkins. Some in different phases than others; however some of them would not be on a vegan diet LIKE TUNA and HALIBUT.
Of course, BEEF has more potassium per Calorie than does tuna. I personally had plenty of K tonight in cabbage and pork, but if others are forced to take supplements, it would be no different than some taking b12.
Very good sources of potassium also include fennel, kale, mustard greens, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, winter squash, blackstrap molasses, eggplant, cantaloupe, and tomatoes.
Good sources of potassium include parsley, cucumber, bell pepper, turmeric, apricots, ginger root, strawberries, avocado, banana, tuna, halibut, cauliflower and cabbage.
A vegan diet would never have you potassium deficient.
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