In addition, results from urine can be skewed due to other circumstances such as dehydration. If you take an SGLT-2 inhibitor and are ill, it is advised to test for ketones, despite normal blood sugar levels. If ketones are present, you’ll need to call your medical team, as they may advise you to stop your medication.

You can see in this chart of my GKI over time how much simply knowing my numbers helped me to recalibrate and improve them when I first started tracking. Anaerobic glycolysis takes place outside of the cell’s powerhouses known as the mitochondria. Glucose-Ketone Index levels can be broken down into several ranges and your health and lifestyle goals typically determine in what GKI range you should be. Knowing your Glucose-Ketone Index (GKI) and how to properly calculate it is an important step to being successful with the Ketogenic Diet. Our Glucose-Ketone Index Guide explains the basics of measuring your GKI and understanding the results as well as how to make the needed dietary changes to improve your Glucose-Ketone Index numbers.

KetoSens Bluetooth Blood Ketone Monitoring Starter Kit

Trace or small amounts of ketones are typically treated with a correction dose of insulin every two to three hours and drinking lots of sugar-free fluids until your blood sugar returns to normal. Blood sugar and GKI are almost always higher immediately before and during your period, depending on the person, according to multiple diabetes research nonprofits. I happen to be expecting my period in the next day or two and am 36 hours fasted. As the benefits of therapeutic ketosis are being scientifically demonstrated for more and more types of cancer, I don’t think it will be many more years before this is a standard part of cancer treatment testing. Even my mega chillax morning yoga practice usually lowers my blood ketones by .2-.5 mmol/L and increases my blood glucose by 5-10 ml/dL despite my not consuming any food.

• When fasting, your body may allow the total energy in your bloodstream to go to drift up quite a lot.
• The GKI was not designed as a measure for weight loss on a ketogenic diet, but it has been adopted as such.
• People with diabetes who take oral medications of the class of sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors can develop DKA even with normal glucose levels.
• This insulin-centric view of diabetes management and obesity falls over because it doesn’t translate to someone who is not injecting insulin.
• However, if you give a correction dose of insulin and your blood sugars are still not improving, you should contact your physician.

This range is good if your primary (or only goal) is to lose weight. Today, we’re going to tell you about the most effective (and scientifically backed) way of keeping track of your ketosis. If you’ve had a history of diabetes, obesity, or other metabolic problems, you should definitely be tracking this index and try to get it as low as possible.

CareSens N Feliz Blood Glucose Monitor Starter Kit

Find out what the GKI is and how you can use it to achieve better results on the keto diet. I used to eat on the heavier side of protein, but now https://cryptolisting.org/blog/heres-why-bitcoin-price-will-smash-100k-before-2022-fund-manager no more than 3oz per meal, maybe twice daily. I do my best to only consume grass-fed/grass-finished, free ranch, ethically raised (you get it).

GKI between 6 and 9 – Mild ketosis

A good GKI result is between 1 and 2 for humans, which is hypothesised as when the zone of metabolic management is likely entered. GKI values that approach 1.0 are potentially the most therapeutic in the metabolic management of certain cancers according to the original GKI research paper authors. The Glucose-Ketone Index was originally conceived by Dr. Thomas Seyfried and his team at Boston College to track overall metabolic health in cancer patients.

GKI Range for Disease Therapy

Their original research used the GKI to track how brain cancer patients responded to a ketogenic diet and gave the researchers a way to track both blood glucose and ketone levels and their relationship to each other. Individually, blood glucose and blood ketone levels can give you a fair picture of your metabolic health. Still, there are some disadvantages to relying on just one of these. They can both be affected by several factors, like stress, sleep, or how recently you’ve eaten. Once you know your GKI, you can use it as a tool to help track your ketosis and general metabolic status. The Virta study two-year results show that blood ketone levels remained at 0.27 mmol/L after two years of a ketogenic diet.

Daily Habits That Give Your Body No Choice But to Lose Weight

The optimal time to test your glucose and blood ketone levels needed for your GKI calculation is 2 to 3 hours after eating (postprandial). Although a lower GKI indicates higher ketone levels and lower blood glucose levels, the optimal GKI for weight loss is between 6 and 9. However, improved blood glucose control and improved insulin sensitivity occur at lower levels, which can also aid in weight loss. It can only be attained under medical supervision with strict control of blood glucose and ketone levels. Such metabolic therapy is used for the treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders.

Enter your your blood ketones *

That’s a great question and, if your ketones are in the 4-6 range, you almost certainly have a GKI around 1. A good reason to focus on the ratio rather than your glucose number is that you have less control over glucose – even if you ingested zero glucose, your liver will continue to create it using gluconeogenesis. Whatever your glucose, the ratio will provide insight into your metabolic health. For reference, my blood glucose most days is 84mg/dL – as high as 90s or low 100s after conflict or when sick, as low as 50s after days of fasting (but it can also be 80s during fasting). So really, I stay focused on the ratio as the true indicator of metabolic health and use the glucose numbers to help me troubleshoot any changes there.