Glucose & Ketone Levels

Three weeks ago I started on a calorie restricted ketogenic diet in a hope of controlling my cancer. A ketogenic diet derives most energy from fat, about 70%, 25% from protein and 5% or less from carbohydrates. Its aim is to starve cancer cells by restricting its primary food source: Glucose. This means eliminating virtually all carbohydrates from my diet.

For my body weight, my aim was to limit protein intake to 50g per day and reduce carbs to 12g or less, while keeping total calories 40% below my basal requirement. It was a good plan, but my current weight is starting to concern me, so I am now trying to up both my protein and calorie levels somewhat.

I received a blood glucose and ketone meter today, so was very curious firstly whether I was able to achieve ketosis, whether I had achieved therapeutic ketosis levels, and what my values are.

My fasting blood Glucose level was 4.7, and my Ketones 1.9 mmol/l – not a bad start.

My ketone levels are within the recommended therapeutic range, however my Glucose is still a little too high. My goal is to reduce glucose to below 4.0 and raise my ketones to above 2.0. Once I achieve this, I will focus on my Glutamine levels.

Progress

2013/08/07 – Glucose: 4.7, Ketones: 1.9
2013/08/10 – Glucose: 4.9, Ketones: 1.0

Resources

Glucose mg/dl to mmol/l Converter
Mercola Article on Ketogenic Diet
Critique of Calorie Restricted KD