Measuring ketone levels are very important to establish whether you’re in nutritional ketosis or not. Some people may think they are doing everything correctly but when ketones are measured they are subtherapeutic. There are different ways to measure.
Urine Ketone Strips
Measures Acetoacetate, typically this is the most common and inexpensive way, unfortunately it is only effective to measure ketones initially until the body starts using the ketones more efficiently for energy and then this level in the urine will drop. Typically this can be used for about a month.
Breath Testing
Measures Acetone levels in the breath, this is cheaper than blood testing and fairly accurate with measurements. The initial cost for these units can be a little expensive, but in the long run it is more cost effective in that you don’t need to continually make more purchases towards strips etc.
Two types of breath meters are: Keto HC or Ketonix
Blood Ketone Meter
Measures Beta hydroxybutyrate (BHB) in the blood, this is the most accurate but is also the most expensive way to measure (approx $2-$4/strip).
Unsure where your numbers should be or worried about ketoacidosis??
Typical BHB numbers are as follows:
Fed State- 0.1mmol/L
Overnight Fast- 0.3 mmol/L
Nutritional Ketosis- 0.5-3.0 mmol/L
Over 20 days fasting- 10 mmol/L
Diabetic Ketoacidosis- 25 mmol/L
Also serum pH did not decrease below 7.37 in a study performing ABG analysis
Hopefully this clears things up and eases you worries about Diabetic Ketoacidosis which is entirely different then Nutritional Ketosis.