Low carb diet = MASSIVE HEADACHE?!?! Need advice please!
Replies
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OK, I know this is an old post but maybe this will help a current reader. I have a master's in biology with a specialty in biochemistry so if I may...
To clear up the "calorie concept" of dieting, a person on a low carb diet doesn't have to worry about calories. A person ONLY need worry about calories when on a low fat, moderate protein, high carb diet which is most diets like weight watchers, nutrisystem etc.
Here's the reason: Your body has two basic metabolic pathways that it uses depending on what you feed it:
1. If you eat predominantly carbs, your glycolytic (aka glycolysis) pathway (the carbohydrate burning pathway) is the default and beta oxydation (the fat burning pathway) is the reserve.
2. If you cut out carbs to 50 or less, beta oxydation becomes the default pathway and glycolysis becomes pretty much shut down.
When you cut out carbs you force your body to use beta oxydation (the pathway that burns fat) predominantly, and fat loss is the ONLY macromolecule lost. You do NOT lose muscle on a low carb diet because it is metabolically impossible to lose muscle on a low carb diet. The pathway that burns protein for energy is the DING DING DING...glycolytic pathway. Sooooo if the glycolytic pathway is shut down it CANNOT breakdown muscle to burn for energy. This is absolutely a solid truth. Current studies show that low carb diets preserve muscle while low fat, high carb diets lose on the average about 25% muscle and 75% fat across the board no matter which low fat diet is chosen.
Bottom line is this: the reason people's metabolisms slow down when on a low fat diet is because they lose muscle on these diets, (roughly 25% EACH time they go on one of these diets) and the amount of muscle you have determines your metabolism. The more muscle you have the higher your metabolism. The only diet that will preserve 100% muscle is the low carb diet.
Regarding headaches:
Two reasons actually:
1. fluid loss, and electrolyte loss. Get at least 3000 - 4000 mg of potassium and sodium per day. Make sure you eat potassium foods like avocados and sunflower seeds. I eat sun seeds like they're going out of style and it took care of my headaches which were a sodium potassium problem. The diet is very diuretic so if you don't eat high potassium foods and high sodium foods AND take a calcium supplement you will get headaches. TAKE A CALCIUM SUPPLEMENT when on a low carb diet.
2. Your 900 calories per day is causing you to burn a TON of fat and that produces ketones. What could also be happening, and this also happened to me, is that the ketones are building up in your head faster than your brain is adapting to them, and it's kinda like sniffing fingernail polish remover. LOL! One of the ketones IS acetone which is harmless if diluted. You WILL pee and breathe out excess ketones, but make sure if you're only eating 900 calories that you DRINK A LOT OF FLUIDS to get those "nail polish fumes" out of your head. You may not be drinking enough to flush out the incredible amount of ketones you are producing. Harmless...but most likely an additional source of your headaches.
Sooooooo....1. your increased ketone production combined with 2. not enough fluids combined with 3. the dehydrating component of the diet flushing out electrolytes, you need to either 1. up your calories so you stop producing so many ketones at one time which will make your head think it's sniffing paint thinner, or 2. drink a LOT more fluids that contain electrolytes.
I DO NOT recommend straight water as this only flushes out more electrolytes. I recommend BOTH water and either low cal gatorade or Vitamin Water Zero Fruit punch which has 800 mg of potassium in it in one large bottle and does not use aspartame as the sweetener...OR I make a protein drink and add 1/6 tsp of NuSalt to it which is 550 mg of potassium. NOTE: the vitamin water states it has carbs in it. Ignore this number...they are not metabolizable carbs, and produce no energy. Notice the calories on the bottle say "zero." The carbs listed should really not be listed and I am trying to get this corrected with the company.
Hope I've helped.0 -
Oops I just realized I replied to an old post. Ugh sorryhave you though about getting rid of the crystal light and Atkins bars? The chemicals in both of these items could be giving you headaches.
This. It's the aspartame . Is there aspartame in the crystal light flavor you use? I used to drink it allll the time and got tons of headaches. Stopped drinking it, the headaches went away. Headaches are a side effect of a lot of those artificial sweeteners. What about spiking a water bottle with lemon instead?
Lose the Atkins bar, it has artificial sweeteners and tons of chemicals - I found a link with the Ingriedients of the chocolate coconut bar. http://www.atkins.com/Products/Endulge/Chocolate-Coconut-Bar.aspx
Same with the shake (even worse than the bar I think) http://www.atkins.com/Products/Advantage/Milk-Chocolate-Delight-Shake.aspx
Do you have time to make your own shakes with yogurt and fruit? or different kinds of snacks? Check out the recipes section of the boards, lots of folks with great recipes to help you eliminate ingredients that have side effects like headaches.
To be blunt: eat whole foods and more of it. At least that's what worked for me, in more ways than one. I got rid of my "dieting headaches" and lost weight in the process0 -
Grab a cup of grapes or a few clementines with a handful of almonds. Real food is MUCH better for you than a processed bar or shake and it's just as convenient!
yes! too much processed stuff.
also, i'm 5' and if I ate 900 calories a day I would have an endless migraine and I'd probably go on a homicidal rampage.
i myself love smoothies, and you can fit a bunch of calories in a not too big smoothie. my favorite is soy milk, frozen bananas (they make things creamy!), some protein powder, and some other kind of fruit.0 -
I developed migraines last year and saw a neurologist. We determined there wasn't anything more serious going on (I was freaking out because I didn't know about "migraine aura"), and he sent me home with the Migraine Triggers pdf from Berkeley's site. It's been very helpful in narrowing down my triggers. I know aspartame, sleep habits, and not eating enough are big triggers for me. http://uhs.berkeley.edu/home/healthtopics/pdf/triggers.pdf0
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I started doing a low-carb (not Atkins, just trying to reduce my carb intake) about 4 days ago, and today I have a headache, however I'm also prone to them. Although I haven't done any super research, low carb diets are ok, and it seems that from all the research I've done at my University's library, that Western diets are high carb and filled with foods that are terrible for us. I've also read and been warned to expect headaches for about two weeks while my body adjusts to the new diet, which is reasonable to assume.
That being said, let yourself have a cheat day, maybe a bit of extra carbs per day? I've managed to cut out a lot of processed foods, but I still have a bit of rice or a banana here and there, and I've still managed to lose 1kg in the 4 days.
Also, thank you to all the other posters that are keeping it positive
I have a few nay-sayers in my social circle ("Oh you're just losing water weight" or "Low carb is so terrible for you, you should stop"), and it's nice to see support from members towards other members 0 -
900 calories isn't even enough for your body to function on
What about her fat reserves, that's how diets work !
You don't have to eat what your body uses, if you did we could never lose weight.
Caffeine is fine, promotes fat burning in some studies. It's the sodium balance, it really is that simple.
Listen to Yarwell, your body knows how to survive.
Salt and sleep. You will come out on the other side and be so glad0 -
Good thought. Which chemicals should I avoid? I was kind of thinking the same thing. Any suggestions for an alternative bar or shake? Specifically, brand names?
My advice is to avoid all chemicals. Just thew word should give you the willies when it comes to ingesting them.
Also, I recently had similar symptoms, although I'm eating waaaaaaaaay more than that and still in Keto. I just had to start adding Himalayan pink salt to my food, and my legs cramps went away and I feel much better, and I'm losing weight (my ticker doesn't say so but my scale does)0 -
bump to read msitarilde's reply over and over again.
because it is absolutely smarty pants logic biological brilliant.0 -
OK, I know this is an old post but maybe this will help a current reader. I have a master's in biology with a specialty in biochemistry so if I may...
To clear up the "calorie concept" of dieting, a person on a low carb diet doesn't have to worry about calories. A person ONLY need worry about calories when on a low fat, moderate protein, high carb diet which is most diets like weight watchers, nutrisystem etc.
Here's the reason: Your body has two basic metabolic pathways that it uses depending on what you feed it:
1. If you eat predominantly carbs, your glycolytic (aka glycolysis) pathway (the carbohydrate burning pathway) is the default and beta oxydation (the fat burning pathway) is the reserve.
2. If you cut out carbs to 50 or less, beta oxydation becomes the default pathway and glycolysis becomes pretty much shut down.
When you cut out carbs you force your body to use beta oxydation (the pathway that burns fat) predominantly, and fat loss is the ONLY macromolecule lost. You do NOT lose muscle on a low carb diet because it is metabolically impossible to lose muscle on a low carb diet. The pathway that burns protein for energy is the DING DING DING...glycolytic pathway. Sooooo if the glycolytic pathway is shut down it CANNOT breakdown muscle to burn for energy. This is absolutely a solid truth. Current studies show that low carb diets preserve muscle while low fat, high carb diets lose on the average about 25% muscle and 75% fat across the board no matter which low fat diet is chosen.
Bottom line is this: the reason people's metabolisms slow down when on a low fat diet is because they lose muscle on these diets, (roughly 25% EACH time they go on one of these diets) and the amount of muscle you have determines your metabolism. The more muscle you have the higher your metabolism. The only diet that will preserve 100% muscle is the low carb diet.
Regarding headaches:
Two reasons actually:
1. fluid loss, and electrolyte loss. Get at least 3000 - 4000 mg of potassium and sodium per day. Make sure you eat potassium foods like avocados and sunflower seeds. I eat sun seeds like they're going out of style and it took care of my headaches which were a sodium potassium problem. The diet is very diuretic so if you don't eat high potassium foods and high sodium foods AND take a calcium supplement you will get headaches. TAKE A CALCIUM SUPPLEMENT when on a low carb diet.
2. Your 900 calories per day is causing you to burn a TON of fat and that produces ketones. What could also be happening, and this also happened to me, is that the ketones are building up in your head faster than your brain is adapting to them, and it's kinda like sniffing fingernail polish remover. LOL! One of the ketones IS acetone which is harmless if diluted. You WILL pee and breathe out excess ketones, but make sure if you're only eating 900 calories that you DRINK A LOT OF FLUIDS to get those "nail polish fumes" out of your head. You may not be drinking enough to flush out the incredible amount of ketones you are producing. Harmless...but most likely an additional source of your headaches.
Sooooooo....1. your increased ketone production combined with 2. not enough fluids combined with 3. the dehydrating component of the diet flushing out electrolytes, you need to either 1. up your calories so you stop producing so many ketones at one time which will make your head think it's sniffing paint thinner, or 2. drink a LOT more fluids that contain electrolytes.
I DO NOT recommend straight water as this only flushes out more electrolytes. I recommend BOTH water and either low cal gatorade or Vitamin Water Zero Fruit punch which has 800 mg of potassium in it in one large bottle and does not use aspartame as the sweetener...OR I make a protein drink and add 1/6 tsp of NuSalt to it which is 550 mg of potassium. NOTE: the vitamin water states it has carbs in it. Ignore this number...they are not metabolizable carbs, and produce no energy. Notice the calories on the bottle say "zero." The carbs listed should really not be listed and I am trying to get this corrected with the company.
Hope I've helped.
You helped me out, thanks!! I'm going to start a calcium supplement as well, even though I eat a lot of cheese and have full fat dairy.0 -
There is an Atkins board on here that can probably give you advice geared specifically to the diet. Atkins is not a calorie counting diet. You should probably be eating more food and fat.0
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Salt. Add at least 2g per day.
Low carbing is diuretic - makes you lose water by peeing, which loses sodium. Light headedness etc can also result.
Obviously if you have a high blood pressure or similar medical disorder this may not be appropriate, but the "Atkins Flu" is easily avoided by salt intake.
Atkins is spelled with a t not a d by the way ;-)
^^This...It really helped me to have a glass or two of water with a little salt mixed in to get over the "Atkins Flu."0 -
At the time of the change in your diet, did you also give up caffine? I know if I go without it, after a few days I develop a massive headache.
^^Also, a good point to consider!0 -
I felt great during induction...add some red meat0
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This is a 1.5 year old post. So probably most people have moved on. But, it did get my attention and for those who land here...
Recently i was asked to go on low-carb diet by my doc and this MFP site.
He asked me to count net carbs and wanted it to be between 100 and 150. He said dont worry about net calories. He also added not to have net carbs less than 100 (as mentioned by this original poster last year).
HTH.0 -
By the way, the Atkins shakes, protein bars, etc. really aren't good for you; they are for-profit marketing items. When Atkins was living, that wasn't something he would have condoned, from what I've heard. Additionally, eat REAL, whole eggs, not egg beaters. You NEED protein AND fat on Atkins. Fat is where your energy is being derived from, since you're dumping the carbs. That may have a lot to do with the equation there...Fat is essential to Atkins. It's a High Fat/Low Carb diet--eat steak, dark meat, pate', that sort of thing, in addition to chicken and fish. Your body (and brain!) needs that fuel.0
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This is a 1.5 year old post. So probably most people have moved on. But, it did get my attention and for those who land here...
^^Ugh! I need to learn to check the time/date stamp on the OP. haha!0 -
EAT YOUR CARBS!0
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This is a 1.5 year old post. So probably most people have moved on. But, it did get my attention and for those who land here...
^^Ugh! I need to learn to check the time/date stamp on the OP. haha!
Same here. OOps LOL0 -
Salt. Add at least 2g per day.
Low carbing is diuretic - makes you lose water by peeing, which loses sodium. Light headedness etc can also result.
Obviously if you have a high blood pressure or similar medical disorder this may not be appropriate, but the "Atkins Flu" is easily avoided by salt intake.
Atkins is spelled with a t not a d by the way ;-)
This. www.eatingacademy.com explains why sodium is needed.0 -
OK, I know this is an old post but maybe this will help a current reader. I have a master's in biology with a specialty in biochemistry so if I may...
To clear up the "calorie concept" of dieting, a person on a low carb diet doesn't have to worry about calories. A person ONLY need worry about calories when on a low fat, moderate protein, high carb diet which is most diets like weight watchers, nutrisystem etc.
Here's the reason: Your body has two basic metabolic pathways that it uses depending on what you feed it:
1. If you eat predominantly carbs, your glycolytic (aka glycolysis) pathway (the carbohydrate burning pathway) is the default and beta oxydation (the fat burning pathway) is the reserve.
2. If you cut out carbs to 50 or less, beta oxydation becomes the default pathway and glycolysis becomes pretty much shut down.
When you cut out carbs you force your body to use beta oxydation (the pathway that burns fat) predominantly, and fat loss is the ONLY macromolecule lost. You do NOT lose muscle on a low carb diet because it is metabolically impossible to lose muscle on a low carb diet. The pathway that burns protein for energy is the DING DING DING...glycolytic pathway. Sooooo if the glycolytic pathway is shut down it CANNOT breakdown muscle to burn for energy. This is absolutely a solid truth. Current studies show that low carb diets preserve muscle while low fat, high carb diets lose on the average about 25% muscle and 75% fat across the board no matter which low fat diet is chosen.
Bottom line is this: the reason people's metabolisms slow down when on a low fat diet is because they lose muscle on these diets, (roughly 25% EACH time they go on one of these diets) and the amount of muscle you have determines your metabolism. The more muscle you have the higher your metabolism. The only diet that will preserve 100% muscle is the low carb diet.
Regarding headaches:
Two reasons actually:
1. fluid loss, and electrolyte loss. Get at least 3000 - 4000 mg of potassium and sodium per day. Make sure you eat potassium foods like avocados and sunflower seeds. I eat sun seeds like they're going out of style and it took care of my headaches which were a sodium potassium problem. The diet is very diuretic so if you don't eat high potassium foods and high sodium foods AND take a calcium supplement you will get headaches. TAKE A CALCIUM SUPPLEMENT when on a low carb diet.
2. Your 900 calories per day is causing you to burn a TON of fat and that produces ketones. What could also be happening, and this also happened to me, is that the ketones are building up in your head faster than your brain is adapting to them, and it's kinda like sniffing fingernail polish remover. LOL! One of the ketones IS acetone which is harmless if diluted. You WILL pee and breathe out excess ketones, but make sure if you're only eating 900 calories that you DRINK A LOT OF FLUIDS to get those "nail polish fumes" out of your head. You may not be drinking enough to flush out the incredible amount of ketones you are producing. Harmless...but most likely an additional source of your headaches.
Sooooooo....1. your increased ketone production combined with 2. not enough fluids combined with 3. the dehydrating component of the diet flushing out electrolytes, you need to either 1. up your calories so you stop producing so many ketones at one time which will make your head think it's sniffing paint thinner, or 2. drink a LOT more fluids that contain electrolytes.
I DO NOT recommend straight water as this only flushes out more electrolytes. I recommend BOTH water and either low cal gatorade or Vitamin Water Zero Fruit punch which has 800 mg of potassium in it in one large bottle and does not use aspartame as the sweetener...OR I make a protein drink and add 1/6 tsp of NuSalt to it which is 550 mg of potassium. NOTE: the vitamin water states it has carbs in it. Ignore this number...they are not metabolizable carbs, and produce no energy. Notice the calories on the bottle say "zero." The carbs listed should really not be listed and I am trying to get this corrected with the company.
Hope I've helped.
Fantastic advice. I'm 3 days in to a low carb diet and everything hurts. I will try your suggestions. 0 -
I'm now 7 days in and feel fantastic! I've also lost 9 pounds which is also nice.0
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Bumping this up; this explains it all for me:)OK, I know this is an old post but maybe this will help a current reader. I have a master's in biology with a specialty in biochemistry so if I may...
To clear up the "calorie concept" of dieting, a person on a low carb diet doesn't have to worry about calories. A person ONLY need worry about calories when on a low fat, moderate protein, high carb diet which is most diets like weight watchers, nutrisystem etc.
Here's the reason: Your body has two basic metabolic pathways that it uses depending on what you feed it:
1. If you eat predominantly carbs, your glycolytic (aka glycolysis) pathway (the carbohydrate burning pathway) is the default and beta oxydation (the fat burning pathway) is the reserve.
2. If you cut out carbs to 50 or less, beta oxydation becomes the default pathway and glycolysis becomes pretty much shut down.
When you cut out carbs you force your body to use beta oxydation (the pathway that burns fat) predominantly, and fat loss is the ONLY macromolecule lost. You do NOT lose muscle on a low carb diet because it is metabolically impossible to lose muscle on a low carb diet. The pathway that burns protein for energy is the DING DING DING...glycolytic pathway. Sooooo if the glycolytic pathway is shut down it CANNOT breakdown muscle to burn for energy. This is absolutely a solid truth. Current studies show that low carb diets preserve muscle while low fat, high carb diets lose on the average about 25% muscle and 75% fat across the board no matter which low fat diet is chosen.
Bottom line is this: the reason people's metabolisms slow down when on a low fat diet is because they lose muscle on these diets, (roughly 25% EACH time they go on one of these diets) and the amount of muscle you have determines your metabolism. The more muscle you have the higher your metabolism. The only diet that will preserve 100% muscle is the low carb diet.
Regarding headaches:
Two reasons actually:
1. fluid loss, and electrolyte loss. Get at least 3000 - 4000 mg of potassium and sodium per day. Make sure you eat potassium foods like avocados and sunflower seeds. I eat sun seeds like they're going out of style and it took care of my headaches which were a sodium potassium problem. The diet is very diuretic so if you don't eat high potassium foods and high sodium foods AND take a calcium supplement you will get headaches. TAKE A CALCIUM SUPPLEMENT when on a low carb diet.
2. Your 900 calories per day is causing you to burn a TON of fat and that produces ketones. What could also be happening, and this also happened to me, is that the ketones are building up in your head faster than your brain is adapting to them, and it's kinda like sniffing fingernail polish remover. LOL! One of the ketones IS acetone which is harmless if diluted. You WILL pee and breathe out excess ketones, but make sure if you're only eating 900 calories that you DRINK A LOT OF FLUIDS to get those "nail polish fumes" out of your head. You may not be drinking enough to flush out the incredible amount of ketones you are producing. Harmless...but most likely an additional source of your headaches.
Sooooooo....1. your increased ketone production combined with 2. not enough fluids combined with 3. the dehydrating component of the diet flushing out electrolytes, you need to either 1. up your calories so you stop producing so many ketones at one time which will make your head think it's sniffing paint thinner, or 2. drink a LOT more fluids that contain electrolytes.
I DO NOT recommend straight water as this only flushes out more electrolytes. I recommend BOTH water and either low cal gatorade or Vitamin Water Zero Fruit punch which has 800 mg of potassium in it in one large bottle and does not use aspartame as the sweetener...OR I make a protein drink and add 1/6 tsp of NuSalt to it which is 550 mg of potassium. NOTE: the vitamin water states it has carbs in it. Ignore this number...they are not metabolizable carbs, and produce no energy. Notice the calories on the bottle say "zero." The carbs listed should really not be listed and I am trying to get this corrected with the company.
Hope I've helped.0 -
I'd like to add that if all these helpful posts do not address your headache, it could be another reason: detox. If you go completely clean suddenly, you may get some kind of withdrawal symptoms as sugar acts similar to a drug to the brain. I had skin issues, for example, when I mixed in intermittent fasting. If you're eating daily, the symptoms may be limited to only headaches which should subside in a week or more of clean eating.
The biologist's post was excellent.
As the other's said, when you eat less or fast, you may have to drink a bit more. Up to 3 liters for a female. (4 for males)
Also the adding salt is a good idea, make sure it's natural sea salt though (AND ONLY WITH YOUR MEALS). Don't take sea salt in water though, that would make a strong natural laxative. Only with full meals with protein and veggies.0 -
Massive headache?? really? that sounds dangerous. are you sure it's because of your diet? If so, you might wanna consult with a physician or diet practitioner. Or probably try other dieting techniques? How about Paleo Diet. It works for me. Not only losing weight, but feeling great!
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