Ketone meters

[Goemon_]

Oh and they ship internationally from Canada.

Not to France : "The products and service provided by this website are not available in your jurisdiction."

For French users strip here at 10 for 17€ : _http://www.pharmacie-sante.com/freestyle-optium-b-cetone-bandelettes-10.html

 

[trendsetter37]

Oh and they ship internationally from Canada.

Not to France : "The products and service provided by this website are not available in your jurisdiction."

For French users strip here at 10 for 17€ : _http://www.pharmacie-sante.com/freestyle-optium-b-cetone-bandelettes-10.html

Hmm..ok good catch Goemon_, I tried to go back to the universal drugstore site to check up on any other shipping restrictions and apparently now it is having issues and will not let me access the site because of a server issue? Weird...I guess it's good that I already submitted my order.

 

[hlat]

I ordered the Precision Xtra ketone blood test strips from _americanlivestock.com and am waiting to receive the shipment.

 

[A Jay]

Hey A Jay, wow those sugar levels are looking good! Well done. :)

Thanks! :)

I am wondering though, can dehydration lead to low blood sugar levels and nausea? I added too much salt to my morning salt water yesterday, and it lead to some very unfortunate and dehydrating bathroom visits. I think it's called a 'salt flush'. After two or three of these visits, I felt very nauseated and when I tested my blood sugar it got down to 56 mg/dL. Which I know is really low. The only thing that helped was drinking a lot of water, which eventually got me back up to 77 mg/dL this morning. So again I'm wondering if it's the dehydration, low salt, low potassium, or a combination thereof that was causing my low blood sugar and subsequent nausea. Rather unpleasant experience, but it's helping better understand everything so I guess it's not so bad. :/

Now, off the topic of ketone meters, I've been following your dialogue with trendsetter about weights and training with interest. Sounds like BBS is a good read, I'll add that to my (never-ending) book list. Do you guys have any recommendations or suggestions for toning up? I'm a petite (5ft1") female, and I don't want to bulk up, just convert some flab to muscle. Ketone levels vary from 0.6- 2.5 mmol/L, and sugar between 3 & 6 mmol/L. I'm restricting carbs to around 25gm, protein to 60 gm and fats 100 gm. I don't drink much water & it's definitely something I need to do more of.

I have a gym set at home (I tried going to the gym, but got totally scared by all the Incredible Hulks). So any ideas of a basic routine that I could do at home?

Sure, I can make some suggestions. What type of equipment do you have access to?

BBS is a great read, I highly recommend it. There is a portion pertaining to the 'Inroad Theory of Exercise' that is off the mark, which is something I forgot to mention in my comment to trendsetter, but it's still very solid otherwise. I'll go back and edit my comment to include the caveat.

Umm, that salt flush does not sound pleasant. :/ Maybe watch the salt/water intake- also what supplements are you taking? When I first started dramatically increasing fat intake, I had to take digestive enzymes or I would feel nauseous.

I've been taking HCL again with any high fat meals, and my nauseousness is pretty much non-existent. Thanks for the suggestion!

I have a home bench press, similar to this:

with a barbell/dumbell set like this:

After reading Dr. Darden's newest book "The Body Fat Breakthrough" and experimenting with his training recommendations, I would suggest based on what the you've shown me doing a single set of the following twice a week (such as Mon. and Fri.) for 2-3 weeks: lying leg curl, bodyweight squat, push-ups, bent-over row, L-sit dips using chairs with feet on the ground, sit-ups.

The cadence or speed of your repetitions depends on your methodology, and after reading the good doctors new book I would suggest his 30 second negative-30 second positive-30 second negative style as it is very effective. Though it would be best to start off with weights (for the barbell exercises) and ranges of motion (for bodyweight exercises) that are easy for a 20 seconds negative-20 seconds positive-20 seconds negative set on each exercise and then go up from there as you get stronger.

After 2-3 weeks, add in a leg extension before the squat and a bent arm pullover after the dips. After another 2-3 weeks cut back to only once a week and substitute a barbell squat for the bodyweight squat, a bench press for the push-ups, a barbell overhead press for the dip, add in shoulder shrugs after the bent arm pullovers, and add a side crunch after the sit-up.

Once you're done with the full 6-9 weeks, take a week off and start all over. It's also a good idea to read the paper I shared with trendsetter, as it will better help you understand why I made these recommendations. The second go around you could play with different repetition speeds such as 4 second positive/4 second negative or 2 second positive/8 seconds negative (both being to positive muscle failure), and you could also keep certain exercises instead of others (like not doing push ups and just doing bench presses the whole second 6-9 weeks).

Hope this helps, and apologies for the late response!

 

[hlat]

I ordered the Precision Xtra ketone blood test strips from _americanlivestock.com and am waiting to receive the shipment.

I received the test strips with an expiration of 3/2015.

I did not realize that the metal needle to get the blood is one time use only. I'll need to get more. Hopefully they are not expensive.

 

[A Jay]

I ordered the Precision Xtra ketone blood test strips from _americanlivestock.com and am waiting to receive the shipment.

I received the test strips with an expiration of 3/2015.

I did not realize that the metal needle to get the blood is one time use only. I'll need to get more. Hopefully they are not expensive.

They aren't. I think I picked up a box of 100 for just a few bucks.

 

[Arwenn]

After reading Dr. Darden's newest book "The Body Fat Breakthrough" and experimenting with his training recommendations, I would suggest based on what the you've shown me doing a single set of the following twice a week (such as Mon. and Fri.) for 2-3 weeks: lying leg curl, bodyweight squat, push-ups, bent-over row, L-sit dips using chairs with feet on the ground, sit-ups.

The cadence or speed of your repetitions depends on your methodology, and after reading the good doctors new book I would suggest his 30 second negative-30 second positive-30 second negative style as it is very effective. Though it would be best to start off with weights (for the barbell exercises) and ranges of motion (for bodyweight exercises) that are easy for a 20 seconds negative-20 seconds positive-20 seconds negative set on each exercise and then go up from there as you get stronger.

After 2-3 weeks, add in a leg extension before the squat and a bent arm pullover after the dips. After another 2-3 weeks cut back to only once a week and substitute a barbell squat for the bodyweight squat, a bench press for the push-ups, a barbell overhead press for the dip, add in shoulder shrugs after the bent arm pullovers, and add a side crunch after the sit-up.

Once you're done with the full 6-9 weeks, take a week off and start all over. It's also a good idea to read the paper I shared with trendsetter, as it will better help you understand why I made these recommendations. The second go around you could play with different repetition speeds such as 4 second positive/4 second negative or 2 second positive/8 seconds negative (both being to positive muscle failure), and you could also keep certain exercises instead of others (like not doing push ups and just doing bench presses the whole second 6-9 weeks).

Hope this helps, and apologies for the late response!

Hi A Jay, nice to hear from you and I'm glad the HCl worked out for you. I still rely on them occasionally if I my fat intake is really high. And thanks for the recommendations on exercising, it is very much appreciated! I will add the paper you mentioned to my reading list. Will let you know how I get on!

 

[Arwenn]

I ordered the Precision Xtra ketone blood test strips from _americanlivestock.com and am waiting to receive the shipment.

I received the test strips with an expiration of 3/2015.

I did not realize that the metal needle to get the blood is one time use only. I'll need to get more. Hopefully they are not expensive.

I had a question about this too - provided that the pricking device is only being used on oneself, would it be sufficient to buy alcohol swabs just to disinfect the tip of the needle? (if there are multiple users, it makes sense to have disposable sterile tips). My glucose and ketone strips are valid till April next year.

 

[hlat]

If they are only a few bucks for 100, it seems to make sense to get the 100 instead of taking any chances with reuse.

 

[theos]

I ordered the Precision Xtra ketone blood test strips from _americanlivestock.com and am waiting to receive the shipment.

I received the test strips with an expiration of 3/2015.

I did not realize that the metal needle to get the blood is one time use only. I'll need to get more. Hopefully they are not expensive.

I had a question about this too - provided that the pricking device is only being used on oneself, would it be sufficient to buy alcohol swabs just to disinfect the tip of the needle? (if there are multiple users, it makes sense to have disposable sterile tips). My glucose and ketone strips are valid till April next year.

I've reused the lancets (pricking devices); two sticks with one lancet on myself. I've suffered no ill effects. I wouldn't recommend that practice with multiple users though.

 

[A Jay]

I ordered the Precision Xtra ketone blood test strips from _americanlivestock.com and am waiting to receive the shipment.

I received the test strips with an expiration of 3/2015.

I did not realize that the metal needle to get the blood is one time use only. I'll need to get more. Hopefully they are not expensive.

I had a question about this too - provided that the pricking device is only being used on oneself, would it be sufficient to buy alcohol swabs just to disinfect the tip of the needle? (if there are multiple users, it makes sense to have disposable sterile tips). My glucose and ketone strips are valid till April next year.

I've reused the lancets (pricking devices); two sticks with one lancet on myself. I've suffered no ill effects. I wouldn't recommend that practice with multiple users though.

I always used an alcohol swab to disinfect my fingertip before using my lancets as a precautionary measure, but never thought to disinfect the needle itself. Not sure I would want to try it either, I would be too scared of bending the needle or accidentally stabbing myself.

Like Odyssey, I also reused my lancets with no ill effects, but you wouldn't want to use a lancet more than 2-3 times as each stick becomes more painful than the last. The friend of mine that gave me her Nova meter just graduated med school and she also reused lancets without issue. FWIW.

 

[3DStudent]

I think most of the disposable lancets you get are sterilized. So you'd only need to sterilize your finger. The lancets I had were "irradiated".

Didn't know what that exactly meant, but according to this:

2.( tr ) to expose (food) to electromagnetic radiation to kill bacteria and retard deterioration

 

[trendsetter37]

Really high ketone readings...

Or maybe just high based on what i've read in the past. I guess I will start by saying that I haven't taken readings in awhile because I was out of ketone strips. However, the ones I ordered from Canada came in and this is what I saw.

Date		Ketones (mmol/L)		Glucose (mg/dL)	Comment
02Jun		3.1		77	No BreakFast
03Jun		5.9		67	BreakFast / No Lunch
04Jun		3.4		68	B4 Breakfast
04Jun		5.2		58	Breakfast / No Lunch
04Jun		7.2		60	2-3 hrs after dinner

So at first glance...well, who am I kidding these readings appear to be a bit on the high side. However, I will say that I feel great! I thought I read somewhere that your ketones should go down after you eat so I tested them 2 hours after my meal tonight. And they were the highest i've ever seen them at 7.2.

Again, supposedly your ketone levels are low upon waking up in the morning but when I tested this mine were around 3.4. Now I will say that when I first started out my ketones were low after eating or waking up in the morning. So i'm trying to figure out what's going on or if i'm just humming along in ketosis now. Any comments?

FWIW, I usually eat bacon or sausage in the morning with a fatbomb maybe and a fatbomb when I get home from work at the end of the day. I'm so FULL the rest of the time I despise food. And really that may be why my numbers are higher. The fatbombs, because starting out I didn't have high numbers like that. The morning numbers would come in around 0.5 and after eating dinner they would be close to the same (this was probably 6 months ago).

 

[A Jay]

Could dehydration be playing into it at all? I know my numbers were affected by how much water I drank. Then again, are numbers above 3 necessarily bad for the ketoadapted individual?

 

[Phill4]

I got 15 on the color scale and the up another shade and down to normal, when I got a urine test done (had to go to the hospital and ran this test on me) it said 15 and highlighted on bold.

I have a question, does the levels of ketones stay on the urine even after burning energy on them? or what exactly is the byproduct of the utilization of ketones that the body releases, if it does?

I'm not exactly sure on the chemical process from generation of ketones to utilization and byproducts. I understand mainly that the body creating Ketones on the liver when it stops running on glucose, but once ketones are burned, wouldn't that alter the overall result on a urine test?