Protein Power LifePlan is a 40g net carb diet. Trust me, it's easy to eat that 40g without cravings and without adding high carb trigger foods. Green beans, squash, half a small yam, half a peach, cantaloupe, honeydew, Brussels Sprouts, sugar snap peas, edamame, 1/4c cooked dried beans, 1/2c green peas, 1/2c carrots, 1/2c beets -- think about the whole color spectrum of veggies and small quantities of non-tropical fruits. Think about something besides just broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, etc. I eat a lot of the Atkins induction veggies, but I eat the whole color spectrum, too.

Or think about South Beach. More veggies, fruit added in after phase one -- if you follow the advice on the forum here about grains you'll probably find no cravings. Lots of successful people there.

You can check out Barry Groves plan -- I think that's around 60 or 70g of carbs (I'm not sure, but send Wifezilla a PM and she'll tell you.)

Low Carb is more than just Atkins. If Atkins isn't working for you try another plan!

There's got to be some difference. Do you have a detailed menu of what you ate on vs. off? What if you're intolerant to some food you only eat (or eat a lot more of) when you're on LC, for example?

I used to have problems with heart palpitations, racing (then it vanishes and you're like, oh my god I'M DEAD and I just don't know it yet, LOL), and things that sound like what you said. It turned out I was really low on oxygen, which has very similar symptoms to low potassium (which also has similar symptoms to thyroid problems).

Obviously you can't do anything that gives you those symptoms. But I think it's important to really look at a detailed review of what you're eating so instead of just "it happens when I go lowcarb" you've got something a lot more specific about your intake (or lack of intake).

ETA: Jael...How long did it take for the problem to resolve once you started taking the vitamins? And how much do you take? Tx.

It works quickly...if I take it in the morning, the palpitations are gone by night-time. If I take it at bedtime, I am fine in the morning.

Here is what's in it:

Vitamin C: 300 mg, 500%
Thiamin (B-1): 15 mg, 1,000%
Riboflavin (B-2): 10.2 mg, 600%
Niacin (B-3): 50 mg, 250%
Vitamin B-6: 5 mg, 250%
Pantothenic acid: 10 mg, 100%
Vitamin B-12: 500.0 mcg 8333.0%

Without it, my heart races and pounds with the slightest exercise or even when I am just resting.

Without it, my heart races and pounds with the slightest exercise or even when I am just resting.

Edit to add: this only happens when I am eating low carb. I don't know why...I guess I have always assumed it was because I had eliminated flour (which is usually fortified) and maybe I am not getting enough of something.

In Phase 1 of South Beach, low carb veggies aren't limited and you can have dairy and legumes. When you move to phase 2, you add in higher carb veggies and on South Beach you can eventually eat 'everything' but I think you will find most people on the board who are at or near goal on South Beach never go back to the old way of eating and are still carefully with grains if they trigger hunger. Sorry, can't find the book to be more specific and thought there used to be SB food lists on the forum but can't find them. Someone who as been around more and is still on South Beach - help!

My typical lowcarb menu is eggs (sometimes with bacon) for breakfast. Lunch is usually tuna salad or a green salad with chicken, and dinner is steak/chicken/lamb chops with green vegetable and salad. If I get hungry in between I snack on a piece of cheese or a couple of olives.

These are the exact same foods I eat normally. For example, when I'm not lowcarbing, I would have toast and oj with those eggs. The tuna salad would be a tuna salad sandwich. And there would probably be a potato with the steak, or stuffing with the chicken. Or I might have pasta some nights.

On the second or third day of that typical lowcarb menu I will start to feel a slight feeling of discomfort in my chest. Then the palpitations and racing heart start. I will wake up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding and racing. It comes and goes at any time of the day or night. I also feel quite agitated and slightly anxious during the day, and have trouble sleeping at night.

I add back the missing starchy carbs and voila, it stops. Of course, then all my other problems start up again, hence my dilemma.

Thanks, Jael. I will definitely go to the vitamin store today and look for your supplement.



Me too. The weird thing is, it starts the second or third day, which you wouldn't think would be long enough to feel the effects of some kind of deficiency.

Thank you! Atkins has always been easy for me (in practice, I mean) because I'm not much of a fruit/veggie eater normally. It's easy to eat a green salad and some brocolli in place of the bread and pasta I would normally eat. I'll check out those other plans.

Thanks, revcharlie. Lessliz made a similar suggestion. I think I'll be making a trip to the library today, for South Beach and Protein Power Lifeplan.

I agree with the others that adding a bit of carbs might be the answer.

I eat a bread made by Natures Own that is Light, and only 7 gm carb per slice. If you gotta have bread this is the one to get.

I was reading this thread and as a sufferer of Grave's Disease Hyperthyroidism I can relate to all of those symptoms. I realize there can be other reasons for those things such as the vitamin deficiencies and such but I was thinking that you should still have your thyroid lvls checked. I used to think that a person with hyperthyroidism was skinny as a rail with bulging eyes and so I denied my diagnosis for years until it became apparent that is what it had to be. I am not the typical skinny, big eyed Grave's Disease picture! LOL, in fact I am about 30 lbs overweight, but I eat like a horse and am addicted to carbs. So yes, I too fall into a viscious cycle of steely resolve for about 6 weeks at a time. I know in my head that this "has to be a way of life" but it can be hard.

If you think about it, hyperthyroidism essentially is a your body's metabolism in over drive. So it will compensate by making you more hungry and thus you eat more (or in this case, eat carbs) which probably helps with those symptoms especially if the hyperthyroid is very mild. When low carbing, we force are bodies into a state of higher metabolism which might be just the nudge that sends you into noticeable symptoms.

I would suggest that you get a TSH, along with the T3 and T4 lvls done because a TSH alone is not always indicative of abnormal thryroid hormone lvls. It has been my experience that my TSH lags behind whatever my symptoms are or my actual thyroid lvls by about 3 to 6 weeks. So, I might have a normal TSH reading but still be having symptoms.

Well, I wish you luck and hope you start feeling better soon.

Actually, it doesn't. Blood tests are a very poor way to determine potassium status, although as far as I know its the only one they use. Potassium's most important job is *intracellular*, meaning inside cells, not running around in your blood stream. But, your body will go to great lengths to keep your blood chemistry balanced if at all possible, so if you're low in potassium it will pull it from the cells into the blood, giving a skewed picture of your body's true status.

I've had this problem myself, which is why I have so much to say about it. I have several issues that go away when I take a lot of potassium, even though my blood work never actually showed low values.

If your kidneys function properly and you aren't on a potassium sparing diuretic, then the excess potassium from trying a few supplement capsules is highly unlikely to cause any physical issues. And if it *isn't* excess, then it could very well solve your problem.

Or, you can start eating a ton of avocado, which contains a lot of potassium along with other goodness. Way, way more than bananas, but bananas have a better press agent.

Thanks, f8aw8su2, for your concern. I'm pretty sure my thyroid is not the problem, for two reasons. First, My TSH was within range in the blood work I had done recently, while on lowcarb. And second, I had all kinds of thyroid testing done a couple of years ago when I discovered a cyst in my neck. I had two thyroid cysts and a slightly enlarged thyroid. Despite all that, nothing else was amiss. All tests proved normal. And I had been having the lowcarb problems even before that, since my first try at Atkins in 2004.

Damn...I thought I'd ruled out potassium! LOL. I tried avocado, but discovered I hate it. I was really afraid of using supplements, so instead I dissolved a quarter teaspoon of "NoSalt" in a glass of V-8 juice, twice a day. It didn't make any difference.

I hate the feeling that I'm playing chemist instead of just eating. It's also a little scary, considering it's my heart I'm playing with. And nobody seems to know how much is too much.

And why would I develop a potassium deficiency after only two or three days?

(I hope I don't sound combative at all. It's more like pleading. This has been a VERY big problem for me, for several years now.)

ETA: Oh, and I almost forgot! For the last month (after going off lowcarb) I've been taking Benicar, a blood pressure medication that can cause potassium levels to get extremely high. That makes me even more nervous about any supplementation.

I hope you really do pick up and TAKE potassium, calcium magnesium, and B complex (heavy on B12). All the way back to 1972 book Atkins insisted on having these.

You lose water fast, your potassium depletes, you need these vitamins.
Trust me. I couldn't work for weeks until I got on a regimen. I'd always been afraid of supplements too, until not having them almost destroyed my health.