brain fog & dieting

nardo1kr
nardo1kr Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For the past three weeks, I’ve been on a health kick, tracking calories and doing cardio & strength training 4x a week. I eat a pretty balanced diet, lots of vegetables, some eggs & fish & tofu, some dairy & whole grains. But the past two weeks I have had severe brain fog. I am always zoned out, I sleep 8 hours and still feel tired. I eat 200-500 calories under maintenance, however I haven’t been losing much weight. I would understand brain fog from cutting too much, but I’m barely cutting, just eating a lot healthier. I was wondering if anybody has experienced this and ways to make it better? I do find eating helps somewhat but I haven’t been fully myself in a couple weeks.

Replies

  • nardo1kr
    nardo1kr Posts: 3 Member
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Low carbers get that when carbs are cut, insulin drops and they lost electrolytes and then didn't replace them. Is it possible that in cutting calories and eating healthier, that you dropped a few hundred carb calories? If so, supplementing sodium/salt could help.

    The easiest way to check if it is low sodium is to have a couple of cups of salty broth or boullion. Eating more carb calories will do it too, but if you don't want to do that, salt would be an option.

    Symptoms of low electrolytes are headaches, fatigue, moodiness/brain fog, BM and stomach issues, muscle weakness, aches or spasms.

    I definitely don’t eat low carb, but I would imagine that my diet now is significantly lower in carbs than its ever been before. However, the symptoms you are describing of low electrolytes sounds a lot like what I’ve been I’ve been experiencing. I also have headaches and stomach cramping - I thought about food sensitivities, but I couldn’t pinpoint it to any specific food groups. I will try getting more electrolytes into my diet, thank you.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I feel like that on days when my protein intake is low. I feel best when my protein and carb intake are both around 150 grams per day. Mostly, I think this is a case where you need to experiment a bit to see if you feel better with a certain macronutrient line up as it can certainly vary for each person.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
    edited June 2018
    I agree with others that it sounds like not enough sodium and electrolytes. If you're working up a good sweat with your workouts, you should be replacing that with some sodium, magnesium and potassium. Upper daily limit for sodium is around 2300mg, how much are you getting?
  • nardo1kr
    nardo1kr Posts: 3 Member
    toxikon wrote: »
    I agree with others that it sounds like not enough sodium and electrolytes. If you're working up a good sweat with your workouts, you should be replacing that with some sodium, magnesium and potassium. Upper daily limit for sodium is around 2300mg, how much are you getting?

    Looking at the last week, I’m usually not too far off from 2300 mg. But lately, I’ve been drinking far more water than normal because of my workouts, somewhere between 11-15 cups a day. I wonder if this is depleting my electrolytes as another user pointed out, or maybe just from the regular exercise I was lacking before.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,895 Member
    While the other points may indeed be the cause, whenever I think of brain fog I think of the time I worked in a building that turned out to have toxic mold from a flooded basement that was not remediated properly. So if water intrusion, or new carpet, or new construction is an issue in your environment, do look at that as a cause.
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
    edited June 2018
    Hope that some of the ideas here have the answer, especially easier ones to cope with, like electrolytes!

    Another couple of possibilities, if those don't pan out.
    1. You might be sick with something that is draining but low key, and the diet adds an extra stressor that is hard to handle. A low level virus or infection (like a low level UTI), say.

    2. You mentioned food sensitivity, but that you couldn't pin point any particular group of foods. An unfortunate reality of our food supply is that it's very, very difficult to track down many food and chemical sensitivities, because our foods are so frequently contaminated with OTHER foods. Also, some sensitivities involve components that are in multiple foods that you wouldn't even think about. So keeping a food journal, and then checking out if you react after certain foods consistently, and THEN seeing if you can find any connected between them, can be necessary.

    Just an example of what I mean.
    A person with a sulfite sensitivity might react to dried fruits, wine, lemon juice concentrate (including those that an ingredient in OTHER foods), powdered sugar, and if it was bad enough, Dasani water.

    These all have sulfites added, or sulfites used to process an ingredient that is added to the food (in Dasani's case, they claim not anymore, but the majority of sulfite sensitive folks I know get bad headaches from them). But who would think these are related, right?

    Sensitivity to any grain can make all other grains a problem, as they are typically processed on the same equipment lines and get cross-contaminated. I even reacted to an entire company's stock of oils, once, because they had cold pressed wheat germ oil on the same line, and it contaminated the other oils enough that I got sick off of them.

    As for components, some people become sensitive to salicylates, which are in numerous foods of many different types.

    Some folks start reacting to FODMAPs, which are a few different molecules that are in foods from certain fruit to certain grains, to legumes, and require a low FODMAP diet to avoid.

    Basically...it's tricky.

    Hopefully it's just electrolytes and an easy fix!!
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    The glory of fat is that it is a concentrated food source that takes a complicated round of metabolic processes to convert it to glucose. It takes hours.

    This is what makes fat consumption good for the brain. It’s a steady source of calories even hours after eating.

    Undiagnosed diabetes can also result in brain fog.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    Posters:

    If you wish to further debate which fuel the body prefers please see this thread in the debate section:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10673842/how-does-the-body-fuel-itself/p1?new=1

    Please return the focus of this thread to helping the op with their questions.

    In the future, if a debate arises in a help thread please start a new thread in the debate section (I'm looking at you @psulemon, with a stink eye)

    Thanks,
    4legs
    MFPmod

  • Leslierussell4134
    Leslierussell4134 Posts: 376 Member
    Hi there, just wondering if you take a multi vitamin? Also, while electrolytes could be the issue, maybe you could get a comprehensive metabolic panel (blood draw) done and ask your doctor to check vitamin levels.
    I've noticed when I eat in a deficit I can't ALWAYS get all my nutrition each day, so vitamins can really fill on the gaps. DHA and vitamin D are two Americans are typically low in. DHA can alter mood, attention and both can play a role in energy levels. Just a thought, if you haven't in a while, but up the 'ol Doc.
  • melissalatzel25
    melissalatzel25 Posts: 148 Member
    I just watched a youtube video cuz i wanna try keto diet just 1 week and this girl explained her symptoms after 1 week or 2- same as yours! that many get on this diet...brain fog etc etc..... i think you def need to add salt!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg4jnRYAaAA&t=834s

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