Why do people feel hot on a keto diet?

Feeling Hot

People who follow a keto diet are often seen complaining about experiencing hot flashes. But unfortunately, people do not know a lot about hot flashes. Let us take a deep dive and talk about the nature of hot flashes and their relevance to the most popular keto diet [1].

What is meant by hot flashes on a keto diet?

Hot flashes are the sudden and spontaneous feeling of intense warmth that runs across your body further followed by chills. Hot flashes are most intense on the upper part of the body specifically on the face, chest, and neck. On other parts of the body, these are comparatively moderate.

For how many minutes do the hot flashes last?

They come suddenly and their lifetime keeps varying. Some heat flashes last for few seconds while others may continue for as long as 10 and more minutes. However, for most of the individuals, they last for about 3 to 5 minutes. This is therefore the average timing of hot waves.

What are the symptoms of hot flashes?

Whenever you experience a hot flash, you will be going through the following things :
1. Heartbeat becomes really fast
2. The skin turns red and blotchy
3. There is a tingling in the fingers
4. Sudden and heavy perspiration (mostly on chest, face, neck, and back)
5. Frequent chills run across the body
6. Appearance seems flushed for some time

Reasons behind feeling really hot on a keto diet:

Hot flashes on a keto diet do not arise out of nowhere. There definitely are some reasons that induce hot flashes and make you uncomfortable. In order to fix them, it is imperative to know the reasons and its origin first so that you know could hit the hot flashes at their roots.

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Dehydration causes hot flashes:

When people start a keto diet, they experience many things. One of such things is dehydration. As a lot of water is lost dehydration occurs. Dehydration, therefore, starts a chain of many negative impacts and hot flashes are one of them. It is a common understanding that during the first few weeks of a keto diet, people experience huge weight loss. While some of the weight loss is the one from fats, a major portion of the weight is lost due to water loss. Around 3 to 4 lbs of water are lost during the first few days of a keto diet. With this huge amount of water lost, each and every segment of the body feels deprived of water, giving rise to hot flashes off and on.

Electrolyte imbalance accelerates hot flashes:

Electrolyte imbalance [2] and dehydration go side by side because when water is lost electrolytes are also lost leaving the body dehydrated. Tons of electrolytes are depleted from the body in this process. On a keto diet, the body is already short on carbohydrates. With the removal of electrolytes too, regulation of the fluid in the body becomes complicated. Without the proper repletion of sodium, potassium, and magnesium along with water, the body gets heated up and that results in hot flashes on a keto diet.

Low blood sugar also induces hot flashes:

Low blood sugar levels are always associated with a low carbohydrate diet such as a keto diet. Hypoglycemia is experienced when blood sugar levels are quite low. It is a condition that results due to low blood sugar levels. What happens is that when blood sugar levels drop, the amount of ketones in the body increases rapidly. Due to the wide number of ketones in the body, hot flashes are felt on a keto diet.

Some foods cause hot flashes:

There are some certain foods that may induce and accelerate hot flashes specifically on a keto diet. The most notorious of such foods is coffee. Caffeinated products, therefore, are quite harmful on a keto diet when it comes to hot flashes. In addition to this, spicy foods are another category of foods that do not only harm your keto diet but also give birth to heatwaves in the body. Moreover, alcohol is also the reason behind hot flashes on a keto diet.

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Women on menopause experience hot flashes along with being on a keto diet:

It is a layman knowledge that hot flashes are usually related to menopause [3] for several reasons. However, when the women, who have reached their menopause, opt for a keto diet, hot flashes become severe because in such cases two major factors are responsible for hot waves and collectively their impact is doubled.

There are certain triggers:

Besides many reasons, there are cases where hot flashes arise due to certain trigger points on a keto diet. Let us see what could trigger hot flashes so that you could avoid and treat those things.
1. Obesity
2. Diabetes
3. Tight clothing
4. Stress and anxiety
5. Smoking

What are the impacts of hot flashes on a keto diet?

You might feel that hot flashes impact you in the following ways.
1. You might feel fatigued throughout the day
2. You might not be able to have a sound sleep at night. Hot flashes may wake you up again and again
3. Becoming lethargic is another impact. You will become less active and your professional and personal life might get affected.
4. One feels a need to change clothes again and again as frequent perspiration makes cloth wet leaving sweat spots and sweat smell.

How to fix hot flashes on a keto diet?

If you too feel hot while on a keto diet or after eating a keto diet then there is no need to worry or panic because there are some tips and tricks that could help you every time you feel hot and sweaty on ketosis. Here is what you need to do.

Consume a diet that is low in carbs but rich in all other nutrients:

A Keto diet is all about cutting carb. You do not have to cut on all other nutrients and let your energy level stoop to zero giving rise to hot flashes and many other things. Stay hydrated all the time and take a meal that contains all essential nutrients other than carbs.

Increase your daily exercise:

You need to up your exercise game. Doing exercise for around 30 minutes is desirable. You do not have to do some high level of exercise. Light and common exercises also suffice. This will not only keep you active to perform routine tasks with efficiency but will also act as a mood booster.

Restrict the intake of caffeine, spicy foods, and alcohol:

Caffeine, alcohol, and spicy foods are associated with inducing and boosting up hot flashes. Therefore you need to avoid these things while being on a keto diet.

Take supplements to balance your electrolytes:

Along with drinking plenty of water, you can also use supplements for balancing your electrolytes on a keto diet. Because besides hot flashes, electrolyte imbalance also gives birth to many other problems. It is therefore important to play safe and make sure that your body has just the right amount of essential electrolytes.

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