Dark Urine, Sense of Smell, Sleep

This topic contains 11 replies, has 11 voices, and was last updated by samuraidoctor 8 years ago.

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Penmeister

2:23 am
4 Sep 13
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I am hoping to hear from someone about the urine, the sleep problem happened with my partner who has completed 7 fasts, I have only done one so far. I drank lots yesterday while fasting, found the fast to be quite easy – but my urine was much darker than normal, and I had plenty to drink – water, green tea, coffee, more water (about 6 large glasses or 12 cups) so it should have been very dilute. I assume it was the ketones? Can someone tell me?

I also got a nice surprise, my sense of smell is not good – that works out fine when someone stinks up the bathroom or I get sprayed by a skunk(what skunk?) but the good smells (although I can smell those) just aren’t what they should be…until I fasted for a day! My partner made his dinner, I wanted to wait until later – and I could smell it from the office down the hall…lovely (but didn’t make me hungry like I feared before starting). Then he made some decaf, I went out to get a cup…the smell wafted up to me – it was glorious!! I normally can’t really smell it unless I am grinding the beans or put my nose to the coffee itself (before it is made). It shocked me. It was a great thing – I have the sneaking suspicion that it won’t last but wonder if anyone else has had this side effect?

I am hoping the sleep thing subsides as i get further into the fast. If anyone can answer my urine or sense of smell question, I would very much appreciate it!

Thank you!

Tobias Karlsson

2:30 pm
5 Sep 13
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Hello,

I saw a documentary on BBC claiming that we should normally be able to get all water we need from the food we eat. It claims that it is a myth that we need to drink two liters of water a day and that we should not drink “just because” but drink if we are thirsty. Now, I do not share that 🙂 and I really need to drink alongside the food I eat. However, I think it proves the point that we get an awful lot of water from food and obviously, when you do not eat you significantly decrease the amount of fluid to your body. How much did you drink in total in liters? I would guess you need to come in at around 2 liters. I have experienced the same thing but just learnt to drink more water. I clearly am more thirsty on a fast day and my urine does get browner if I do not drink enough.

As for the sleep – this is my only problem with this diet. I still have some problems with it after a year. I am not a good “sleeper” anyway, which probably just adds to it. For me adding a little bit of protein to my supper helps, as it suppresses the hunger a bit but it is far away from perfect in my case. I guess that it is a little bit easier once you have fallen asleep so perhaps distracting yourself with a good book can help?

Penmeister

10:02 pm
5 Sep 13
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Thanks Tobias,

I have to say…I am really starting to wonder about the dark urine because it has been happening since Monday, my first fast day and even on the days when I am not fasting. I started drinking more water when I wanted to lose weight (changed my diet, started exercise etc.) exercise back in January, diet and water starting in April) so… very odd, but nothing else wrong, feel fine etc. Will keep an eye on it, my feeling it has something to do with Ketones?

The sleep, will see tonight as its my second fast day but I went to sleep okay, just woke more often and my mind was racing, not awake enough to get up, didn’t feel bad or anything, and I work from home so I just slept in the next morning but… odd.

Thanks again for the response – still wondering about the sense of smell too. Funny, but I am definitely paying attention to my body, guess we should always do that!

Kiwiana

12:03 am
6 Sep 13
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Hello there,

I had trouble sleeping for about six weeks after then things have been fine.

My sense of smell has also heightened on fast days. Im not even hungry when this happens I just think of it as a positive side effect hehe

Sorry, cant really help on the dark urine side of things but I have heard and read that urinating breaks down fat while fasting. All the water you are drinking should be dilluting the colour too. Keep an eye on it and maybe seek some professional advice if there is no change

ljc1011

5:36 am
6 Sep 13
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Why don’t you pop to chemist and get some urine testing strips.
if specific gravity reading high you may be dehydrated.
if ketone reading high then you can see it
it would show up blood, glucose etc. Then you would have more idea.
or measure your urine. What goes in should balance with what comes out. So if you vomit measure that too. I don’t believe anyone can get 3 litres worth of fluid intake from food and it certainly doesn’t seem that way when i have monitored fluid balance in patients.

coffeegal

12:52 pm
9 Sep 13
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Ketone bodies are colourless (think of acetone) so you need to look at other causes for darker urine on fasting days.

It may be that the different foods you are eating on a non-fast day will have an effect on urine colour.

For some ideas have a look here;

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003139.htm

Sarah

emmbee

1:56 pm
15 Sep 13
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I have only been doing 5:2 for a few weeks. I have found that eating no carbs but only protein and salads or veggies on fast days suits me a gives a good weekly loss (so far). I usually stave off hunger by drinking herb teas, ordinary tea and fizzy water. Like yourself my urine was darker than usual. this also surprised and concerned me. However, for the last week I stuck to fizzy and still water only and drank a lot of it, thus increasing total fluid intake for a fast day. I did not need to visit the loo more often than usual but the urine was its normal colour.
I think that I will still take ljc’s advice and get some testing strips just to be on the safe side as I am 71 yr old.
I keep back enough calories to have a have a milky drink before sleep just because of habit I suppose,but I have no sleep problems Regards, emmbee

DWapp

7:36 pm
24 Sep 13
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I haven’t tried the fast diet yet but thinking to. One thing that jumped to mind is have you been eating beetroot? I had some yesterday and all day had dark urine even though I drank loads. Just a thought..

Humphrey

2:57 am
25 Sep 13
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Whether you’re dieting or not, beetroot will always colour your urine. Absolutely nothing to worry about.

jacknewton

5:34 pm
7 Sep 15
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Hi, I wanted to add to the discussion. Our heightened sense of smell is a natural physiological activity that is programmed into us, I have discovered.

When we are hungry, our bodies make a hormone, ghrelin. This hormone excites and exposes more of our olfactory nerves (smell receptors) Unfortunately this goes away when we start to eat again. It is thought it helps a hungry animal find food more quickly.

We have funny stories in my family about fasting and smells. My son, who had a debilitating egg allergy, and only eggs…did a fast with me, his first. His wife, who had varicose veins from pregnancy was taking garlic pills. Ty was so destroyed by the enveloping cloud of her garlic breath, he could not sleep in the same room. BTW my son can now eat birthday cake with his kids, and even an actual egg without going to bed with cramps and diarrhea. YEA FASTING!! this was a 25 day grape fast. And if your are worried, they got back together, veins and eggs cured, and now have 6 kids.
I can smell a meal and many other less appealing things on people when I am fasting. I think I can smell my neighbors cat thru the condo walls.

We also have noticed some increased visual acuity. I guess we can hunt for good foods better when we are hungry too. I will look up that hormone if there is one.

Keep on fasting!! Jack

Tardisina

3:54 am
17 Jan 16
Permalink

Hi guys,

I experienced all these symptoms. The heightened smell was amazing (and irritating when trying to avoid eating). I could smell spoiled food inside the closed refrigerator from across the room. And after I threw it away, I had to move it again, from the garage to outside, because I could still smell it!

Dehydration science:
When your body goes without carbohydrates, one of the first things it does is deplete its stores of glycogen, which are present in the liver and the muscles. As that happens, you also lose water (1 gram of carbs pulls 2.5 grams of water into the muscles). So, on fasting days you are losing water to start.

However, just drinking water won’t always fix the problem because it will take sodium and other electrolytes with it as it passes through your body, and with lowered electrolytes your body will not hold onto enough water.

So, a bit of sea salt, Celtic salt, Himalayan salt, or Real Salt brand in your water (just a pinch) is often all that is needed. Or you can try regular salt plus some magnesium and potassium supplements. Magnesium citrate has the added benefit of helping constipation and insomnia.

I have been fasting for a while and I no longer need to do this. But if I have a headache, brain fog, muscle weakness or tremor, or dark urine I will have a bit more salt for a while.

Hormone science:
Leptin is a master hormone that works with insulin, grehlin, cortisol, and growth hormone to regulate eating and sleep cycles. If you do not eat after dinner and if you work on getting to sleep before 10 and waking at the same time every morning, Leptin will drop after dinner and signal your body to become sleepy. It also triggers growth hormone to rise while you are sleeping, which encourages fat burning and muscle and bone production. If you eqt after dinner, especially withim 3 hours of sleep, growth hormone is not released. Sleep is vital for weight loss!

Food cravings after dinner signal that your Leptin is not working correctly. 3-5 days of willpower after dinner should be enough to begin an increase in Leptin sensitivity (and decrease in nighttime cravings). Also, fasting considerably raises levels of adrenaline, and there is already a spike of cortisol in the morning, which releases sugar into your blood to wake you up. If you exercise in the morning, it will help to burn off this extra blood sugar and lower adrenaline levels. I have had insomnia my entire life and making these changes has cured it. I’ve never been tired at night or awake in the morning, until now.

Hope that helps!

samuraidoctor

1:32 am
18 Nov 16
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excellent thread! I am fasting also, 2 days of the week, running a 24 hour fast. I find on those days, I often don’t have to urinate for the whole day and then at night urine is a dark color, a bit more orange or brown in tinge than usual. I will check my urine to see if anything shows up on the dipstick at my next fast. I also find that the next day, I am usually up a pound or so, and then it goes over the 2-3 days that I am eating more normally.

As I write this, I am sitting and munching on a few lightly salted almonds to see if that helps. Took me forever to find anything salted at all in my house. It seems counter-intuitive to me, since I usually retain water after having salt, but it is worth a try. will post results of this self-experiment.

Here in the USA we are about to enter our major eating season with the onset of Thanksgiving next week. I am going to see if altering my fasting to 16 hour fast/8 hours feed will allow me to get through the company and the meals without too much damage.