carbs and my moods

[Mandy LaGreca]

I have a question:

Why is it that when I switch from a higher carb diet (50% carbs or more) to a lower carb diet (35% or less) do I feel sluggish, tired and cranky? I notice my blood sugar drops more frequently, I am thirsty and want something sweet like fruit badly. Is this withdrawal? Should I abstain a few days, bite the bullet and hope the symptoms go away?

Are there other ways to deal with this, b/c I know it will work for fat loss if I can just suck it up

[Kevin Perry]

What foods are your 35% ratio consisting of? And when did you start the diet? Also what foods are making up the other ratio's and what percentage are those? Are you getting enough calories?

If your eating very clean and just started yesterday for example then there will be some withdrawl and cravings for a few days. Have you checked out some stuff on MOD's site?

[joe waguespack]

When I recently tried the Anabolic Diet there was a two week period of <30 g of carbs as an induction period. The sluggish feeling will subside after a few days for some and it may take a little longer for others. There was a day where I felt a definite "crash" and then was fine the next day. If you are going the low carb route make sure you are keeping your fat intake at 60% of your calories, especially when you first start and keep your calories at around 18x bodyweight for a week or two. It will make the transition easier. After that then start dropping your cals by about 500 and stick with that until fat loss stalls. it may work great for you, I know it does for many. The low carb thing did not work for me at all as far as fat loss goes. At first I think due to the bump in calories jacking up the metabolism a bit and the loss of water and glycogen it seems like leaning out and weight loss is fast, but after that it didn't do much for me , even with dropping my cals pretty low. Good luck though.

[Gittit Shwartz]

Mandy,

The hunger and lethargy will subside. It can take up to 2 weeks for your body to adapt to using fat as fuel rather than carbs, so hang in there!

35% carbs is not that low though. Personally I find I only feel good when I keep them really low - around 30-40g a day (not counting fiber) or about 10%, and get 55-60% of calories from fat. Different people will have different results, but if you were ever overweight or have poor insulin management, you'll likely do better with lower carbs. At 35% you'll be stuck in the middle ground, neither here nor there, like a never-ending induction phase - tired, cranky, brain fog and cravings. That's my experience, anyhow.

MOD's blog is the place to look for the 101.

G

[Gittit Shwartz]

MORE FAT will help you get through this phase.

Also, I find caffeine gives me weird blood sugar swings and I adapt faster if I cut it out. YMMV though.

[Craig Brown]

I just want to back up Gittit's post. Go way lower, and no slack for a couple of weeks. You will level off.

Craig

[Steven Low]

If you're on a lower carb diet for a month or two and you're still feeling sluggish you MIGHT be ones of the people who can tolerate higher carbs better. BUT this is generally an exception.

It takes anywhere from about 2-4 weeks to adapt to a diet with fairly different macronutrient ratios.