Nutrition The Glucose Ketone Index

[Kenny Croxdale]

For those on the Ketogenic Diet or who might be interested, here is some interesting information on....

The Glucose Ketone Index

The GKI measurement is something that Dr Thomas Seyfried came up with. Seyfried's research revolves around the use of the Ketogenic Diet for cancer. The GKI measures if you are in ketosis and if so the degree of ketosis you are in.

The GKI is now being used for individual who have Alzheimers, Parkinson's, and for those on a Ketogeinc Diet to ensure they are in ketosis

The GKI Degrees of Ketosis Chart



How to Calculate Glucose Ketone Index (GKI) - Siim Land

This article provides more in depth information on the GKI.

My Chart

I began tracking my Glucose and Ketone before I found the GKI. I went back and plugged in my GKI numbers; see chart at bottom.

As you'll see, my numbers are all over the place. It's part of the learning process.

The low GKI numbers (low is good) were from when I was taking a lot of MCT oil. My ketone numbers jumped up to 1.9, 2.8, and 2.5 with a low Glucose number.

My high GKI numbers (high is not good) means that I wasn't in ketosis). I consumed too much protein. I thought I was consuming too much protein. The readings confirmed it.

My ketone numbers were .7, .5 and a reading of "Low".

The .7 and .5 indicated that I was in mild ketosis. However, my high GKI numbers demonstrated that I was NOT in ketosis.

My objective for now is to keep my GKI in the 3 - 6 Moderate Range. That appears to be a realistic objective that I can live with on a day to day basis.

As Einstein said, "Research is what I am doing, when I don't know what I am doing".

Kenny's	1/6/2020	1/12/2020	1/18/2020	1/25/2020	2/1/2020	2/8/2020	Recommended
Ketones	*1.9	*2.8	*2.5	1	0.7	**0.5	> 0.5
Glucose	103	78	78	96	92	96	< 100
GKI	2.9	1.53	1.72	5.27	7.22	10.5	< 6 (3-6)
	2/15/2020	2/22/2020	2/29/2020	3/1/2020	3/14/2020	4/1/2020
Ketones	**Low	1	1.8	1.2	1.2	0.9	> 0.5
Glucose	107	90	98	107	100	98	< 100
GKI	???	4.95	2.99	4.89	4.5	5.98	< 6 (3-6)
	5/1/2020	6/1/2020​	7/1/2020	8/1/2020	9/1/2020	10/1/2020​
Ketones	1.4						> 0.5
Glucose	108						< 100
GKI	4.23						< 6 (3-6)
*High MCT, Ketone Intake
**Protein Intake Too High

 

[seward]

Interesting. Do you know what your protein consumption was on the "too high" days?

I had a stretch of a week or two on keto when I was pretty serious about limiting protein (averaging a little over 100g a day), and subjectively my energy levels were amazing. Found it too difficult to stay satiated at such a low level of protein, regardless of how much fat I ate.

 

[Kenny Croxdale]

Interesting. Do you know what your protein consumption was on the "too high" days?

Protein Intake

I find when I keep my protein intake around 25% and my fat intake right at 70% plus, I am okay.

When my protein intake gets up around 30% and my fat intake drops, my ketone reading drops.

How to Bulk and Gain Weight (Muscle) on Keto


Thomas DeLauer provides some interesting research on increasing protein intake for gaining muscle mass.

Protein intake was increased to around 1 gram per pound. The caveat was that to remain in ketosis, fat intake was increased to around 78% of caloric intake.

The Take Home Message

The research (Journal of Physiology) found a high protein intake (in this case 1 gram per pound of body weight) did not kick someone out of ketosis; as long as fat intake the percentage was high; to reiterate, in this study the fat percentage was 78% of calorie intake.

At the beginning of DeLauer's video he goes into the research of individuals being on the Ketogenic Diet for 10 weeks. The final week was a Carb Load week.

..."The KD condition gained 5 kg of mass from weeks 10-11." That weight gain, as you probably realize was water weight, Cell Voluminizing, as with creatine.

"... Drastic changes in water flux during the last week of the study. It is important to emphasize that there are profound changes in renal handling of sodium during which would drive a great deal of water retention in all tissue following reintroduction of carbohydrates."

"..From weeks 1-10 of training we found that the overall decrease in body fat was significantly greater in the KD group
Source: The Effects of Ketogenic Dieting on Body Composition, Strength, Power, and Hormonal Profiles in Resistance Training Males, Dr Jake Wilson

limiting protein (averaging a little over 100g a day)

Leucine Intake

Research shows that the Ketogenic Diet is more effective at protecting and preserving Leucine; the anabolic trigger for increasing muscle mass.

Base on the research, around 1.6 to 1.8 gram of quality protein is recommended for individual on the Ketogenic Diet.

Around 30 to 50 gram of quality protein per serving is required to obtain the right amount of Leucine to trigger the anabolic response.

Found it too difficult to stay satiated at such a low level of protein, regardless of how much fat I ate.

My Situation

I found that was my hunger triggered my increased protein intake, like you mentioned.

What I do now is when I increase my protein intake, I increase my fat intake, as well.

I found that allows me to consume more protein and satisfy my hunger and keeps me in ketosis.

 

[seward]

I haven't tried specifically shooting for those ratios before, sounds like it's worth investigating. Thanks for the info!

 

[Kenny Croxdale]

I haven't tried specifically shooting for those ratios before, sounds like it's worth investigating.

The Atkins' Diet

Since others read these post, let first start off with the Atkins' Diet.

It is NOT a Ketogenic Diet. The diet starts off being ketogenic with low carbohydrates.

Over a period of weeks, you gradually reintroduce carbohydrate back into your diet and use the scales as your yardstick. This is to determine how many carbohydrates you can consume without gaining weight.

If you start gaining weight, you cut back on your carbohydrates.

At some point most individual end up consuming more carbohydrates that someone on a Ketogenic Diet is allowed to have.

Secondly, Atkins' does not put a limit on protein intake, which can take you out of ketosis, via gluconeogenesis.

If protein intake it too high, the additional protein is converted to glucose.

The Traditional/Classic Ketogenic Diet For Epilepsy

This diet is around 90% fat with approximately 5 - 8% coming from protein and about 2 - 5%from carbohydrates.

As expected, it is extremely hard to comply with. That is one of the reason for the...

"The Modified Atkin's Ketogenic Diet, MOD"

Dr Eric Kossoff is one of the individual who came up with this. His research determined "MOD" worked of most individual. It was somewhat easier to maintain.

The macro percentages vary a little, dependent on who you talk to. However, they fall roughly into this range.

1) Fat Intake: 65% to 75%

2) Protein Intake: 15% -25%. Some individual may be able consume up to 30%, but very few.

3) Carbohydrate intake: This is a definitive number of 50 gram per day or less. The general percentage recommendation is 5% or less.

Getting Into and Maintaining Ketosis

Getting into and remaining in ketosis means you need to follow the guideline above.

Reason Many Never Get Into Ketosis

1) Not consuming enough fat.

2) Consuming too much protein.

This is appears to be a primary issues. That because most individual have limited knowledge on what the Ketogenic Diet.

3) Consuming too many carbohydrates.