There’s no such thing as being too careful when it comes to your wellness. That’s what makes tracking your ketone levels important. So let’s jump into learning how to test your ketone levels and everything you need to know about ketone strips and the ketone strips color chart.
First, what are ketones?
Ketones are water-soluble molecules produced by the liver when glucose isn’t available in your body. One of the incredible things that your body does is produce ketones as an alternative energy source that fuels the body when there is no glucose. If you follow a standard diet, your body can run smoothly on glucose. But if you start following a special diet for losing weight or a ketogenic diet, your body starts creating ketones.
There are a few simple tests that you can take to determine whether your ketone levels are rising by testing your blood, urine, or breath. One of the cheapest and most popular ways to determine ketone levels in the body is by testing your urine using ketone strips. Read on to find out more.
An intro to ketone strips
Ketone strips are a way to measure the amount of ketones in your urine. Ketone strips were initially developed for people with type 1 diabetes because their bodies are more prone to experiencing health risks associated with having too many ketones.
Although ketones are not normally found in urine, it’s normal for your urine to have trace amounts of it. But if you follow a ketogenic diet, you will inevitably have more ketones in your urine, which means that your test results need to be analyzed on a different scale compared to other people.
You can use Vivoo to measure the amount of ketones in your urine and determine whether you have too many ketones in your urine, whether or not you’re on a ketogenic diet. Vivoo uses the following scale of measurement for assessing the ketone levels of people who are not on a ketogenic diet:
- Great Value: 0 mg/dL
- Moderate Value: 5-15 mg/dL
- Weak Value: 15-150 mg/dL
As for people who are on a ketogenic diet, Vivoo uses the following scale to assess their ketone levels:
- Negative Value: 0 mg/dL
- Optimal Value: 5-50 mg/dL
- High Value: 50-150 mg/dL
How to test ketones
Before buying the ketone strips at your local pharmacy, check if you need to test your body’s ketone levels. You might consider taking a test if you’ve lost weight, experienced a loss of appetite, have decreased levels of energy and focus, or have fruity breath. But it’s also worth buying ketone strips to determine whether you’re in ketosis or not from home if you’re on a ketogenic diet. They’re easy to use, give you results in no time, and are cost-effective.
There are a couple of pointers to keep in mind if you do decide to take an at-home urine test. For example, make sure to take it either early in the morning or before exercising. Another thing to keep in mind is that the levels of hydration in your body need to be optimal. So if you are regularly not drinking enough water, you might get inaccurate results from the ketone strips.
How to read a ketone strips color chart?
Lastly, let’s learn how to use and read ketone strips! Once you’ve purchased ketone strips with their accompanying urine color chart, it’s time to put them to use! Collect a sample of your urine by peeing it in a plastic cup, insert the strip into the sample for about 40 seconds, and then take it out.
The strips have a reagent containing substances that react once they come into contact with urine on one side of the strip. It takes about a minute for the reagent to react after it comes into contact with the urine sample. This means that once you’ve taken the strip out of the plastic cup, you should let it sit for about a minute before you check its color.
There are usually about 5 colors that are on a ketone strips color chart, varying from light yellow to dark maroon or purple. Each color on the color chart is typically designated a numerical range in mmol/L. The moment you get the results from your strip, you can match it to one of the colors provided in the chart. The color of the strip doesn’t need to match perfectly with the color on the color chart, but it needs to be close enough.
Typically, a lighter color strip means that there are very small traces of ketones in the body, while darker colors suggest that the ketone levels in the body are higher.
Ketone strips are an incredible invention and an excellent way to get accessible results on your ketone levels. But despite this, it can sometimes be tricky to determine your results using ketone strips by yourself because the resulting color of the strip doesn’t always match perfectly with the color on the color chart.
Having said this, what if there is an at-home urine test that uses an App to assess your ketone levels in real-time? And what if we told you that in addition to your ketone levels, you could also assess your body’s wellness based on 8 other wellness parameters like your magnesium, calcium, sodium, and vitamin C levels using the same test? Well, you can do all of this with Vivoo! With Vivoo, you can quickly and easily get insight into your ketone levels. And because the App analyzes your results for you, there is little room for error. But that’s not even the best part. You can also get personalized nutritional and lifestyle advice from the App that has been prepared by dietitians, doctors, and nutritionists that help you keep your wellness on track. Order Vivoo now!
