I'm on day 3 of very strict Atkins 72 induction and today I picked up keto test strips at the pharmacy...the last time I tried these was on a half a*$ version of the new Atkins a year or so ago and they never showed anything.....today I've dank about 24oz of water an half a diet Snapple and its showing deep purple 160ml or mg whatever they are...is this a good indication what do you guys think? What's been your experience?

Sounds as though you are indeed in ketosis. I have read that if it the keto-stix reads the darkest shades it is an indicator of dehydration; however, I am not sure if this is true. For myself, I have noticed I lose the most when in the medium color range.

If you're turning the sticks purple, this always means you're in ketosis. You can get a false negative reading, but a false positive is unlikely.

Various experts say that once you're ketone adapted, you may spill less ketones in the urine, but still be in ketosis. This might be true, but the strips still seem to be a reliable indicator for some people.

I like this from the Atkin's 72 book;




I've mislaid my copy of the book, this is from the Atkins '72 support thread. I like it because it states pretty clearly that what we're calling "nutritional ketosis" these days really is the original Atkins diet.

Almost exactly the same.

Keto sticks are SO unreliable. Let me explain. Since its based on saturation of ketones in your urine. So if you drink a lot of water (like you should be) then the reading will be lighter, then if you drink less water the next day your reading is darker - ARE YOU IN MORE OF A KETOSIS STATE -- NO! The best way to measure is to get a blood glucometer like diabetics use and then use ketone blood strips. This is a real reading from your blood - not a by product reading like in your urine. Also urine ketones are not beta hydroxybutarate (which are the ketones you want to focus on). I made a video about it here if your interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsS5NLfYQX4

I call shenanigans. Let's see some studies to back up your two assertions. Double dog dare you.

No response. That's too bad.

There are plenty of studies showing high correlations between urine ketones and blood ketones. There are also plenty of studies showing that the simple injection of saline does not "dilute" blood ketones. There are plenty of studies showing that by eliminating ketones through the urine the concentration in the blood is reduced and NOT by drinking water.

Raj, you brought up a two year old thread for what purpose?

Hmmmm. JEY, you wouldn't suspect someone with something to sell, would you?? But I might.

To sell an exciting narrative?

To rouse the rabble?

I was roused. But in the opposite fashion from what was intended, I think....

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...t00204-0169.pdf

I like this study for looking at what urine ketones mean.

During total starvation, subjects were given between 7.5 and 15 grams of glucose. Urine ketones went down, but serum ketones stayed high. Ammonia production was reduced, less protein was degraded through gluconeogenesis. If everything else remained equal, but there had been this decrease in ammonia spilled in the urine, the urine would have become more acidic, ketones spilled in the urine decreased enough that this didn't happen. If this applies to somebody in ketosis while eating a ketogenic diet, then a person could reduce their carbs until the ketostix showed purple--and then think that adding ten grams of glucose a day keeps them out of ketosis, even if all it's doing is somehow prompting the kidneys to reabsorb ketones and spill a little less. Dr. Atkins called induction levels of carbohydrate biologically zero carbohydrate, I'd say that's what was going on here, if the carbs these guys ate just replaced glucose that would have otherwise been synthesized from protein, they spared protein without actually increasing glucose metabolism.

I have an old book on bodybuilding by Arnold Schwartzenegger. In it he uses a controlled carb diet. He advised cutting carbs as low as you need to to show ketosis on the stix--and then add just enough carbohydrate to show a negative. This was supposed to keep carbs low enough to promote weight loss, but high enough to prevent the muscle wasting that was supposed to happen if you went into ketosis. But following that advice, judging by urine ketones, some people might have actually been in ketosis.