Hangry - Low Carb Flu

GoPerfectHealth

Hi,

Just posted about this in the diabetes group, but thought I would ask here for tips on cutting carbs to feel GREAT.

I've been reducing my carbs in an effort to curb insulin resistance. I've gone as low as fifty carbs per day. One day I had three eggs for breakfast, and nuts for lunch.

I seem to become easily dehydrated and have electrolyte imbalances when I go low carb. Do you have any suggestions for me to feel better?

wabmester

A lot of people supplement, especially magnesium. I just drink water and eat avocados (a ton of potassium). So far, so good.

tmdalton849

i drink water. lots and lots.

supplement salt (high quality salt - redmond's or himalayan) - first thing in the morning i either have lemon water or bone broth and add 1/2 tsp salt to either. salt food liberally.

natural calm at night (and sometimes in my lemon water in the a.m.)

for potassium - lots of spinach, sardines, avocado, red meat and sea vegetables (often add wakame or dulse to my broth).

avoid caffeine (it's a diuretic).

good luck! i felt a ton better once i started foing this stuff.

KnitOrMiss

GoPerfectHealth wrote: »

Hi,

Just posted about this in the diabetes group, but thought I would ask here for tips on cutting carbs to feel GREAT.

I've been reducing my carbs in an effort to curb insulin resistance. I've gone as low as fifty carbs per day. One day I had three eggs for breakfast, and nuts for lunch.

I seem to become easily dehydrated and have electrolyte imbalances when I go low carb. Do you have any suggestions for me to feel better?

The first thing is to set your sodium goal as 4500 mg MINIMUM... Previous wisdom on the SAD diet was at 2500 mg MAXIMUM. This is a major shift in thinking to go along with everything else.

Another is to view 100 oz. of water as a minimum. If you weigh over 200 pounds, take your weight in pounds and divide it in half. (for me, that is about 240/2=120). Drink that many ounces as a minimum in your day. So for me, that is 120 ounces a day, or 15 cups (8 oz cups) a day, or using the US standard of 16.9 oz in a standard water bottle a little over 7 water bottles a day.... I use an app to remind me to drink on the regular. I get most of my water before noon, and definitely before 5 pm. I still don't know why exactly...

After that, make sure you are having a decent amount of water, sodium, potassium, and magnesium, and FAT any time you start to feel less than stellar. As everyone mentioned above, this way of eating reduces your standard amounts of these items, so make sure you get what you need!

KnitOrMiss

Also, I just went back over your diary for the last week. Not one single day did you get anywhere close to your fat goals. You were consistently 25%-65% under your goal EVERY SINGLE DAY. And your fat grams are set conservatively at best if you are wanting to lower your carbs.

I also notice that you're sort of "binge" cycling eating all your carbs later in the day, mostly likely because you've restricted both carbs and fat during the day. If you get more fat throughout your day or even at the beginning of/with your dinner, I can personally promise you that the carb cravings will fade, and quickly (expecting the psychological response aspect).

The HANGRY part is because your body is not getting the fuel it needs, and you're confusing it between really low carb days and really high carb days. Pick a level you could stick to before and slowly up your fats and lower your carbs. Example below.

Say you wanted to start at 100 grams of carbs because that is manageable. Just for ease of example and calculation here , we'll say 150 grams of fat. This is day 1, week one.

Ond day 1 of week 2, drop your carbs to 90 and up your fat to 160. (your protein really doesn't need to change as that's based on your lean body %, so after every decent chunk of weight you'll want to recalculate.)

Day 1, week 3 - 80 carbs, 170 fat.

Now this is just a random example. However, if you're anything like me, this stepping down nonsense doesn't work (I totally envy those it does work for, but I'm not in that category.). So me, I jumped down to 50 grams, then 35 grams when the cravings hadn't stopped at 50. Then 25 grams to gain the benefits of ketosis. My protein range was 80-130 during this time.

Anything left went to fats. So I ate fats like my life depended on it. And while you're transitioning, do NOT make the mistake of worrying about calories. Just the process of converting your body's internal fuel engine to burning fat instead of carbs will make your hunger all wonky.

Some days I eat 1500 calories, other days I eat well over 2500 calories. And I'm still losing weight/fat. I have noticed that this lower (for me) count and the higher counts tend to balance themselves out in any week period so that I still have a weekly deficit. But learning to listen to true hunger signals again is key to your success.

HUGS!

GoPerfectHealth

Thanks so much for the replies everyone! Much appreciated!

Keto_T

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

Also, I just went back over your diary for the last week. Not one single day did you get anywhere close to your fat goals. You were consistently 25%-65% under your goal EVERY SINGLE DAY. And your fat grams are set conservatively at best if you are wanting to lower your carbs.

I also notice that you're sort of "binge" cycling eating all your carbs later in the day, mostly likely because you've restricted both carbs and fat during the day. If you get more fat throughout your day or even at the beginning of/with your dinner, I can personally promise you that the carb cravings will fade, and quickly (expecting the psychological response aspect).

The HANGRY part is because your body is not getting the fuel it needs, and you're confusing it between really low carb days and really high carb days. Pick a level you could stick to before and slowly up your fats and lower your carbs. Example below.

Say you wanted to start at 100 grams of carbs because that is manageable. Just for ease of example and calculation here , we'll say 150 grams of fat. This is day 1, week one.

Ond day 1 of week 2, drop your carbs to 90 and up your fat to 160. (your protein really doesn't need to change as that's based on your lean body %, so after every decent chunk of weight you'll want to recalculate.)

Day 1, week 3 - 80 carbs, 170 fat.

Now this is just a random example. However, if you're anything like me, this stepping down nonsense doesn't work (I totally envy those it does work for, but I'm not in that category.). So me, I jumped down to 50 grams, then 35 grams when the cravings hadn't stopped at 50. Then 25 grams to gain the benefits of ketosis. My protein range was 80-130 during this time.

Anything left went to fats. So I ate fats like my life depended on it. And while you're transitioning, do NOT make the mistake of worrying about calories. Just the process of converting your body's internal fuel engine to burning fat instead of carbs will make your hunger all wonky.

Some days I eat 1500 calories, other days I eat well over 2500 calories. And I'm still losing weight/fat. I have noticed that this lower (for me) count and the higher counts tend to balance themselves out in any week period so that I still have a weekly deficit. But learning to listen to true hunger signals again is key to your success.

HUGS!

What she said. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^