For the past few years, the keto diet has been gaining significant attention. This low-carb, calorie-restricted diet is widely popular among the masses. It has proven beneficial for even those with diabetes, acne, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
When on a keto diet, then the body is only fed with limited carbohydrates and calories. Since the cells aren’t getting the required amount of glucose from the outside source, they are forced to burn fat to produce the energy needed for the body to function correctly. This state of the body is called ketosis and leads to the production of ketones, a substance that makes its way to urine when on a keto diet.
Here is what you must know about testing ketosis urine on a strip.
Implementing a Healthy Lifestyle and Ketosis
Practicing a healthy lifestyle means constant feedback to keep one’s self-motivated. But the keto diet is no magic. In this case, there is a variety of products that measure ketones. These are handy in keeping one motivated with positive feedback that the diet is working.
One of these fantastic ketosis measuring tools is a urine strip—a great and easy way to keep track of one’s progress. As ketones are released to make their way to urine and tested on a urine strip, the darker the color on the strip, the number of ketones is released.
What About When the Body Has Been Ketosis for Several Months?
The test is efficient when just starting up, but when a body has been on the keto diet for months, the result often appears to be negative consequences. One must think diet isn’t working anymore but not worry since, in the beginning, the body can’t efficiently use ketones for energy, and so many of the ketones end up in urine.
The Early Stages Of Ketosis and Urine Strips
As during the early stages of ketosis, kidneys cannot tell the difference between ketones and uric acid, so it flushes both of them. In the body, ketones and uric acid are competing with each other, so what happens is that ketones make their way through urine while uric acid levels increase in blood. But in later stages, when the body adapts to ketosis and kidneys learn the difference between ketones and uric acid, the two paths are switched. Now, kidneys stop flushing out ketones which are valuable energy sources, and instead start leaking uric acid in the urine.
Over time, uric acid levels in the blood return to normal. This is a positive sign of keto-adaptation, that body is now utilizing and not wasting the valuable ketones. So the keto strip doesn’t lie, it’s just that there are no ketones in urine, as the kidneys aren’t passing them through as they have become aware of them as an essential energy source.
What You Need to Know
In simple words, if one has been on a keto diet for several months, then a keto strip won’t be the best option as it might indicate only trace amounts of ketones in the sample. This can be quite misleading since people might think they are no longer in ketosis. So, if you are starting up, keto strips are a good option, but it is better to speed up your game and move towards a blood keto test when at an expert level.
