Hey there,

I've decided to do a low-carb diet for one month because of a slight addiction to sugar and tiredness throughout the day and specifically after meals.

I'm not overweight although I wouldn't mind shedding 3-5 kilos and get rid of my small belly.

I've taken some dietary ideas from bullet proof diet.

thing is,
I'm having headaches, cravings, more tired than usual and after an initial enjoyment of eating meat after years of vegeterianism, i now feel more and more disgusted by it.
i also find it disgusting to consume so much fat.

I'm craving chocolate and even rice cakes and potato chips.
Stevia is the devil.

I'm not enjoying this at all and thinking about stopping.

Please advise.

e.

Welcome,
It is difficult for us to advise if we have no details of what low carb plan you are using, what you are eating, and you haven't read any low carb books. A Paleo version of low carb includes many vegetables, and there are even completely vegetarian options (see Vegetarian sub-forum below). Dr Mark Hyman has a blood sugar control plan he calls "Pegan", for Paleo-vegan. If you just want to give up sugar, try the SArah Wilson or Dianne SanFillipo versions of Sugar Detox plans to slowly wean off it over three weeks. The headaches and lack of energy often result from not enough salt...part of the Atkins plan is two cups of salted broth every day. You may have nutritional deficiencies from years of vegetarian eating, or are not eating enough healthy fats to provide energy now (the BPC guidelines start the day with fats) Look around the Newbie Advice to find a plan that meets your goals. All the best,

It takes time to adapt to the diet--and coming from a vegetarian diet, you might have a bit farther to adapt than usual.

One thing you might take into mind. Part of the satiating effect of fat is in the tendency to become queasy if you take in more than you need. There's how you feel when you eat something--and then there's how you interpret it. That's not necessarily conscious, you might be reacting with disgust to what another person might just experience as satiety. (Nutrient-specific satiety, since it doesn't keep you from having cravings for sweet). There's also an adaptation, with time, I found I could eat greater amounts of fat without getting queasy. Before that point, sour and heavy cream became my best friends--I could always eat way more fat as heavy cream than as butter or lard. It's an emulsified fat, that makes a difference in the digestive process.

Given your starting weight, bmi of 132, you might do okay on a more flexible version of the diet. Sometimes a little bit of chocolate (as long as it's very low sugar) isn't the worst thing in the world. Or cheese, or nuts, or peanuts.

Use coconut oil?? Years of nonsense about fat being bad hasnt helped anyone and seems to have produced a couple of generations of people who are unable to allow themselves to eat it.

Unlike any other diet though, low carb takes a while to get used to. Its not about reducing quantities and eating just lettuce leaves. Its about eating proper food that nature intended us to eat. So really you need to persevere, clear your mind of the "low fat" dogma and understand how it works

Jo xxx

Make sure you're getting loads of salt, especially at first. Please read the "Salt Thread" in my signature.

Over-eating on protein can make you kind of anorexic. Get some veggies if you aren't eating them.

I agree that you may want to consider other forms of low-carb--the bullet proof diet may not be a great starting point. I started with just dropping sugar, and that alone was hard to do (massive cravings). But you might see results from just that. I also had the tiredness after meals and low-carb has definitely improved that tremendously, so I encourage you to keep on with some form of low-carb diet that works well for you.

That's interesting teaser, does that mean if you can tolerate larger amounts of fat that you need it? I feel like I can eat a lot of it, and feel best after I've eaten it.

1DogDay--now you're going to make me do my homework. I might be stretching the envelope calling the queasiness a satiety response. It's certainly a sign that somebody's surpassed their current tolerance though. It's a signal to stop doing what you're doing to cause the discomfort, so it's certainly a drive to stop eating a particular type of food, I guess that's my grounds for calling it a food-specific satiety response. In my own case, over time I did work to where it takes very large amounts of fat to make me uncomfortable, actual queasiness is very rare.

There are other possible explanations for my improved fat tolerance. Maybe I had some subclinical gall bladder issue that resolved over time.

On the other hand--a lot of the satiety from eating fat depends on your ability to digest it. There are studies showing, at least over the course of a day, that feeding people medium chain triglycerides, that are easier to digest, is more satiating. As are monoglycerides. So maybe a high tolerance of fat makes it possible to eat more fat, but also facilitates this other sort of fat-induced satiety.

As far as your actual question--if you tolerate it, and it makes you feel good, and it gets you where you want to go, I'd say just go with it. We're all black boxes, find a reasonable eating strategy and see how you respond.

Many people here are intent upon becoming more healthy and getting rid of aches and pains, but, like you, wouldn't mind losing some weight. The thing about nutritional course correction is that it takes TIME. Unlike pharmaceuticals which might give instant gratification, using diet for good health requires commitment and trial-and-error experimentation. Why? Because every BODY is different. There is no one-size-fits-all answer because everyone's nutritional path has been different, not to mention genetics. The books we've read and WaysOfEating we've tried have led us to discover the best path for us to follow.

If you decide to stay on course, read and study. You will find your path.

Cold fat makes me less queasy than if its been heated. Now 'the holidays' are upon us the local markets have pork fat trimmings -- fat with some meat present. I expect people need it to render lard for tamales? Anyway I bake it in oven at 200*F, turning occasionally till browned (about 2 hours) The low temperature doesn't really render much lard but the result is delicious. I had two servings today -- both cold. It used to be really cheap (98 cents/lb), but now they have raised the price. Likely because I buy it out for my chest freezer every time I see any