The keto diet has been all the rage lately for those looking to lose weight, get healthy, and keep heart disease at bay. The Keto Diet is just one of many ways people can take control of their health by monitoring the food they eat.

In short, the ketogenic (keto) diet is a low carb eating plan, like the Atkins Diet that was popular in the 1990s. The keto diet requires people to eat nearly no carbs, which puts the body into ketosis.  In ketosis, the body burns stored fat instead of glucose (sugar from carbs) for energy and produces a type of ketone, which is an acid that a person passes through urine.

Unfortunately, many people have experienced mild to severe (and possibly dangerous) side effects from being on the keto diet such as bad breath, bad vaginal odor, kidney complications, and heart palpitations.

For this article, we are focusing the side effect of heart palpitations. If you are on the Keto diet, it’s actually “normal” for you to experience a slightly higher heart rate during the first few weeks of the diet. Now, if you continue to experience high blood pressure and heart palpitations it can be due to dehydration and lack of salt content in the body from the diet. Since there is a decreased volume of fluids in your bloodstream, the heart must pump faster and harder to control blood pressure.

Here are some ways you can tell if you have heart palpitations/heartbeat is racing:

• You feel a pounding heart.
• You have shortness of breath.
• You feel confused, and in a fog, often.
• You experience feeling  light headed and dizzy
• You are fatigued and lethargic.
• You have chest pain.
• You have muscle cramps.
• You are dehydrated.

If you are experiencing heart palpitations, stay hydrated and add salt into your keto diet.  If your heart palpitations happen infrequently and go away fast, they likely are not serious. If they continue to reoccur, get worse, or do not go away, contact your doctor.

The keto diet can be a great tool to lose weight and improve one’s health but it’s not right for everyone. There are plenty of other great nutritional plans out there to follow that will lead you to a healthier lifestyle. Before you start Keto or any diet, you may want to consult with your doctor to make sure it’s safe for you.

If you have any pre-existing heart conditions, have a family history of heart disease or heart failure, please check in with your physician at Tampa Cardiovascular Associates and make sure this keto diet is OK for you to be on.

If you’re looking to lose weight or be healthier, the doctors can give you other recommendations that will be safer on your heart.

Our cardiovascular team at Tampa Cardiovascular Associates invites you to give us a call at 813-975-2800 to make your appointment today to talk about heart and nutrition health. To learn more about heart health , visit our Tampa cardiovascular health page or explore our site at www.tampacardio.com.