Hi! I am a little late seeing this but Welcome! I am also a low carber (well, I need to be but can only muster some times of the year! I am blessed with too many farms near by and farm markets!) I think the info on Mark's Daily Apple is sound as far as carbs go, and that he is a littl more lenient as far as just doing our best and making this a lifestyle. I have been at this about 5 years, and yes I do fall off the wagon, but I soon realize the error and get back on! It's easier each time. I see more positives than negatives each time, and more motivation to continue. I hope you will too!

vhuber wrote: »

Today was a good day but maybe a little low on cals! Had bacon, eggs & vegetables for late breakfast (was waiting for the headache to go away with pain med) then ate an early dinner out with others which was prime rib & a tossed salad. I'm just not hungry so I'm done for the day!

Without seeing you diary, but with your descriptions here, it might also be that you're not eating enough, or often enough. You seem to be frequently skipping a meal, which some people don't respond well to (yeah, I know, we're supposed to be able to, but that "supposed to" assumes we haven't spent a few decades screwing things up, and such things can't be fixed overnight). Try to make sure you're getting three meals in for a while and be sure to hit you calorie goals.

Also, you mentioned previously that your day ended with "774 grams" of sodium, which I assume is actually 774 milligrams. That's actually very low, and if you've been consistently getting that, you may be depleting your sodium levels, especially paired with a low carb/high fat way of eating (which is naturetic). I highly recommend making sure you're getting enough food, sodium, and water. One of the nice things about Paleo is that you can kick pretty much all conventional wisdom to the curb, including the "avoid sodium!!!" thing (in fact, if you avoid sodium on this way of eating, you're very likely to crash and burn, because whole foods are naturally lower in sodium and you risk deficiency; contrary to the impression conventional wisdom gives, we need sodium).

As for the homemade mayo, what didn't you like about it? And what oil did you use? If you used olive oil, what kind did you use? The type of oil makes a large difference, even if you use a light-flavored one (I can tell a noticeable difference between my pure olive oil batch and my olive-avocado oil blend batch even when nothing else is different). Also, dijon mustard and salt make a pretty huge difference in the flavoring, as well. You may just need to experiment a little to get the flavor right. My favorite recipe is this one, and the jars my nut butters come in are perfect size for it. This makes it far easier to experiment, as it's not nearly as time-consuming or failure-prone as the blender methods are.

I'm never really hungry either but I'm not sick when I eat. It is very easy for me to forget to eat. At work I'll glance at the clock and realize I forgot to have lunch. Sometimes I'll get a slight headache and realize I forgot to eat. But I have no problem eating. I'm very new at this so I don't have much in the way of advice but what you are describing doesn't sound normal or pleasant. I hope you find the right balance for you soon and start to feel better.

Eggs sometimes give me food aversion. At the very least they often make me not be hungry until I eat something else. Which for me is a benefit, but since you're wanting to eat more and interested in tweaking, try laying off the eggs for a few days and see if your appetite perks back up.

I would say based on my own experience that the weirdness and headaches are wheat and carb related. If you do right and eat well throughout the day, with protein, fat, and low carbs at each time you eat, you will do better. You also may be low on electrolytes, make sure you are getting ample sodium because on low carb you NEED it. It gets flushed out easily. Magnesium, potassium...add those to your tracker and see how you fare. Any imbalance can cause you to feel like *kitten*. So can going up and down with carb intake. A binge will make you crash for a bit. Not to beat yourself up, but just be aware of the consequences. I have been at this over 5 years and still struggle sometimes! Its what we do MOST of the time that makes the impact.