Thirsty?
 

I'm 2 weeks paleo/primal and lately I'm very thirsty all the time. I wake up with dry cotton mouth and my throat feels like it's stuck to itself. I'm constantly drinking. Every few days I have a cup of coffee or green tea, otherwise it's just water. At least 5or more half liter bottles. Is this something with low carb or something else I should be concerned about?

That's just it. I'm drinking at least 5 x 16.9oz of water a day. More than the recommended amount. I drink all day and have a bottle of water sitting close by to sip while I'm exercising. I used to only drink sweet tea, coffee, and soda everyday. I rarely drank water. That's why I'm baffled.

Just thought I'd add, this whole feeling thirsty just came on in the last week. I gave up soda, sweet tea, and added sugar over a month ago.

Low carb and ketogenic diets definitely can make you more thirsty... but basically the gist of it is that your body is producing waste products that need to be flushed from your system... so dehydration can be a side effect of carbohydrate restriction... and for me personally even when I'm not dehydrated I get more thirsty than usual when I'm in ketosis... which is perfectly natural since my body need to excrete those ketones...

Ah! Ok, that makes sense to me. I don't check to see if I'm in ketosis, but it's very possible (or likely?) that I am. I have been getting less than 50 carbs a day. Usually 20-30. With all that "flushing" will that deplete salt or anything else? Thank you!

If you're been getting 50g of carbs or less than you are most likely in ketosis... and yes you definitely can deplete salt and other electrolytes... fatigue, muscle cramps, malaise etc. are some of the signs...

Are you following any specific plan? I would check to see if you possibly need to supplement based on what you're doing... just to be safe...

I definitely lose salt and electrolytes when I'm in ketosis. I used to wake up crying because of the leg cramps in the night. Now I am MUCH more diligent about drinking water (not just my normal coffee in the morning and maybe a diet soda with dinner), and I take a multivitamin every day and a magnesium/calcium supplement every other day or so.

If you are thirsty, drink.

I'm doing paleo/primal. I'm not really trying to make my carbs really low, that's just the way they're turning out. I do have women's multi vitamins but I don't take them very regularly. Maybe I should. I asked about salt because I've cut back on that and using more herbs and spices. I was eating a little cheese daily, occasional sour cream, but I'm cutting dairy now too to see if that helps my sinuses or has any effect. No grains at all since starting 2 weeks ago. Just meat, veggies, eggs, occasionally fruit if I do get a sweet tooth (I think dairy is making me want sweets too), avacado every few days, almonds a couple times, olive oil, and just started using coconut oil. No potatoes at all yet.

Eta: no muscle cramps, I do get tired muscles. I've been doing bodyweight routine M,W,F and I did notice my muscles were tired quickly but less sore after I got done than the last time I did it. That may be normal though, no clue. And I'm tired a lot, but I think it's because I have a 2 year old who thinks she's a newborn keeping me up through the night so I don't get much sleep.

My understanding is that when you're doing low carb it increases the body's need for sodium... I know some plans recommend including broth to help with any issues...

Thank you so much for your time! I'm still learning. It's a lot to take in and unfortunately I'm not good at remembering as much as I'd like to when learning.

If you get the chance one book that I like that has some good info in it is "The Art and Science of Low Carb Living"... it might be worth taking a look at since it has a lot of the science behind low carb diets and I think offers some pretty good info on how to do them effectively regardless of what plan you may be following...

I'm a big water drinker too. Over three litres a day minimum. It was such a concern that I did a bit of research about it and I found two interesting points;

1. Unexplained thirst is a symptom of diabetes. The kidney's require more water to dilute the sugar in the blood. It was on Dr Oz yesterday too actually, although I think he's usually full of s$#t!

2. Something to do with ketosis :p can't remember what though haha.

I'm thirstier as well, but I have a hard time sticking with water. I'm drinking those "Flavored Sparkling Water" and they don't seem to affect my state of ketosis (I check almost daily). I'm sure drinking regular water would be better in some ways, but I just find it hard to stick with.