When first embarking on a paleo, primal or high fat/low carb eating approach, you can expect to feel awful!  This phenomenon is called, “the low carb flu”.

Symptoms include:

• headaches
• nausea
• upset stomach
• brain fog
• sleepiness
• fatigue
• irritability
• chills

It is often the reason why people give up. They feel so terrible that they think that it just doesn’t work for them.  The “flu” can last anywhere between 2  days and a few weeks.  Each person is different, although most feel better within a week. Others make the transition without any discomfort at all.

What causes the low carb flu?

Your body has been used to burning glucose for energy from all the carbs you have been eating in your “previous life”. Now your body has to learn to burn fat for fuel instead. This transition phase, as your body tries to adapt itself,  is what causes the carb flu symptoms. It is more technical than that but I try to keep things simple for my readers.

Is there a way to ease the pain?

Yes, there is.

• Drink lots of water
• Consume chicken/beef broth and take a multi-vitamin to replace the electrolytes lost in those first few days as your body expels the water you have been retaining.
• Eat more fat like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, etc. to speed up the transition process.
• Don’t eat too much protein as the body can transform protein into glucose so if you eat too much of it in the first few days it will slow down the transition.
• Pamper yourself – it always makes you feel better

I would hate to see you giving up before reaping all the wonderful rewards of eliminating grains from your diet. If you are prepared to stick it out and get over the “flu”, then you can expect the most amazing health benefits, such as:

• Stable blood sugar
• Loss of  unwanted fat (especially unhealthy belly fat)
• Reduction or elimination of allergies
• Balanced energy throughout the day
• Clear skin and better teeth
• Reduction or elimination of systemic inflammation
• Improved sleep
• Decreased appetite and cravings for sweets
• Stable moods

My personal goals are weight loss, keeping my hay fever allergies under control and ensuring my blood sugar levels remain normal, and for me a low carb option that excludes grains and includes lots of healthy fat is the most effective way to achieve those objectives.

If you are a top performance athlete doing frequent and intense workouts, then  it’s probably a good idea to up the carbs. But remember, you’d have to eat a lot of starchy sweet potatoes and bananas to get anywhere near the same amount of carbohydrate you used to get from bread, pasta, cereal, and fizzy drinks.

So in summary – you will feel worse before you feel better. You are not dying.  It doesn’t last long, and hopefully all will be forgotten when you improve your health and your body becomes a lean, mean fat-burning machine!

Google “low carb flu” or ” induction flu” for more information on this topic.