How much salt should you eat daily on a low-carb diet?

Do high ketones cause muscle cramps? How much salt should you eat daily on a low-carb diet? And should you not eat red meat if your triglycerides are high?

Get the answers in this week’s Q&A with Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt:

High ketones and muscle cramps

I’ve been following a keto diet for six weeks and I’m doing well. I’ve had a few episodes of muscle cramps in my calf muscles. I checked my ketones with a blood meter and I remembered my ketones were 6.0 with two different episodes of muscle cramping, I didn’t check on the other times I had muscle cramps. Could there be a correlation?

Donna

 
I don’t think it correlates with magnesium per se, but a keto diet can increase losses of electrolytes through the kidneys, so there may be an increased need for sodium, potassium and magnesium. Usually getting enough salt is enough, but sometimes supplementing magnesium is required too, in order to stay keto without that side effect.

Read more: Low-carb side effects: Leg cramps

Best,
Andreas Eenfeldt

How much salt should I consume daily on the LCHF diet?

I’m a 31-year old man.

Oleksandr

 
As long as you feel fine, just add salt to taste (provided your blood pressure is under control). If you get symptoms of salt deficiency – like feeling tired, dizzy, a headache, you might want to try adding a few grams of salt per day temporarily and see if you improve.

Best,
Andreas

Should I not eat red meat if my triglycerides are high?

I started doing keto at the end of last year. I have had some good success losing weight and continue to work on the plan. I did some blood work and my triglycerides were high so I am looking at everything I am eating to see what else I should change.

Jeffrey

 
Hi Jeffrey,

Meat should not raise trigs. In fact, a low-carb diet is usually great at lowering fasting trigs, which is what should be tested. Were you fasting for 10+ hours when doing the test? If not, I’d recommend re-doing it.

To lower trigs further, stay low carb, especially low sugar. Also be careful with alcohol consumption. Finally, intermittent fasting can help.

Best,
Andreas Eenfeldt

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