It’s easy to forget how weird we all are. You spend your days reading this and other health blogs, communing with Primal and keto folks on social media, staying abreast of the nutrition literature, arguing about arcane metabolic minutiae on forums, counting your linoleic acid intake, and you forget that most people don’t know 2% of...
For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering questions from the comment sections of the recent posts on daily keto carb limits, within-meal keto carb limits, and electrolytes. I’m addressing questions about alcohol, uniform carb allowances versus personalized, potassium supplementation, salt appetite, salt water, electrolytes after the transition, whether fruits fit in, and why I...
If you look around the online keto-sphere, you’ll notice that 20 or 30 grams is often the standard daily limit for carbohydrate intake. Any more than that, they say, and you’ll never get into ketosis, never become fat-adapted, and waste all your efforts at reducing carbohydrate intake. And then you come to Mark’s Daily Apple,...
The one piece of advice all newcomers to the ketogenic diet receive is to “get enough electrolytes.” It doesn’t matter what flavor of keto diet you’re talking about—paleo, carnivore, Primal, standard, clinical, mainstream, salami-and-cream-cheese. They all mention the importance of getting your electrolytes, particularly during the transition from a higher-carb diet. I’ve said it. I say...
How many carbs can you eat in a sitting and still “stay keto”? What constitutes a “keto meal”? I’ve gotten many questions about this topic. First of all, let’s get this out of the way: Keto is not a religion that punishes heretics with eternal damnation (or eternal reliance on exogenous sugar for energy). This post is...
If you read any of those “10 Reasons Keto is the Worst” articles out there, the common anti-keto argument you’ll see is that it’s too hard. The premise: keto must be unsustainable because eating meat, eggs, avocados, veggies, nuts, coconut, etc. is just too arduous long term. I’m sure you can guess how I feel...
Have you been thinking about going keto—or recommitting to a keto routine? Are you looking to lose extra pounds? Enhance your fat-burning ability and metabolic flexibility? Improve your energy levels and general well-being to kick off summer? Then you’ll want to join us for the June Keto Reset. It’s one month of personal guidance, exclusive resources,...
A couple months ago, a study came out that seemed to show that cheating on your keto diet with a high-carb meal opened you up to severe blood vessel damage. Nine healthy, normal weight adults followed a keto diet (70% fat, 20% protein, 10% carbs). Then they ate a high-carb “cheat meal,” measured their blood...
There are a lot of possible reasons each of us eats the way we do. We like the way it tastes, or the memories it conjures, or maybe because we were raised eating that way. Perhaps certain foods make us feel good and energized — or an alternative food makes us feel crummy, so we...
It seems every “keto for women” forum abounds with stories about menstrual cycles gone wild in the first few months of keto. Irregular cycles, breakthrough bleeding, and periods lasting much longer than normal are common complaints. Sometimes these stories are cited as evidence that keto isn’t good for women, at least not premenopausal women, and...