Dear Mark: The Low Carb Flu
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Conquering carbs offers a whole constellation of rewards, not the least of which is a steady, brisk energy unlike most people have known before (well, maybe since the whirling age of 10 or so…). People tell me constantly that they can finally make it through the day without being down for the count every midafternoon. They enjoy enough vigor and vitality to weather a whole day’s worth of activity. The busyness of life becomes easier to handle: the energy demands of daily work or business travel, the mayhem and constant commotion of kids, a weekend’s worth of chores and errands, etc. A skipped meal doesn’t suddenly change the agenda to including procuring a bagel or other false pick-me-up. Nonetheless, for some folks, there’s a common, temporary but still bothersome bump in the road on the way to that Primal prize. Though it varies, it often means a couple weeks of mental fuzziness, fog and fatigue. Although your body might be off to the races, your brain can lag behind like a little brother in a stuffed snowsuit. It’s a game of “hey, wait up!” while the body’s mechanisms and metabolism align themselves. They call it “low carb flu,” and rest assured it’s just as temporary.
Dear Mark,
I just want to know if anyone who has been Primal for some time had any trouble with cognition in the first few weeks. I can hardly think straight, especially after eating, and I am also low on energy. Will this pass??? Besides that, my body feels great!”
Thanks to Jessica for her question in response to Matt Garland’s excellent guest post last week. It’s a common subject of emails I receive.
First off, I should mention that some folks experience the low carb flu, and others don’t. Overall, those who have been lower carb for some time seem to have fewer problems with the transition taking their carb intake down a notch. As rational as it sounds, this trend still isn’t a hard and fast rule. I know a number of Primal adherents who fit this profile and then went on to experience the symptoms Jessica describes. Others I know went from sky high sugars to low carb cold turkey and felt great from day one. Go figure. It might be due to the “sliding range of genetic variations” I’ll be discussing in an upcoming post.
Although the low carb flu isn’t universal, that doesn’t mean it’s abnormal. For many people, it takes about two to three weeks to move beyond the temporary fog and fatigue. Studies following the physical performance of low carbers showed that initial disadvantages were erased after this window of time. If your body is used to employing easy glucose carbs and now must create glucose from fats and protein (a slightly more complex but entirely natural mode of operation), it can take some time to get up to speed. Rest assured that our bodies can and are doing the job. It simply takes time to work efficiently. The transition actually shifts metabolic related gene expression, increasing fat oxidation pathways and decreasing fat storage pathways. (That’s nothing to shake a stick at!) Within a few weeks, the body should be fairly efficient at converting protein and fat for the liver’s glycogen stores, which provide all the glucose we need for the brain, red blood cells, muscles, etc. under regular circumstances.
The small amount of specifically targeted research on low carb diets and cognition are small and shoddy at best. A recent study, for example, showed minor memory delay during the first week of strict carbohydrate elimination (as opposed to reduction), but further measures were not taken until carbs were reintroduced. By the same token, those on a traditional American Dietetic Association diet exhibited more confusion during the study tests. I don’t think this study offers any legitimate, useful assessment on either diet.
Nonetheless, there’s the sense that we’re stressing the brain and causing damage by not bathing it in a steady supply of glucose. In fact, we may be doing our brains the ultimate favor. Recent research has pegged Alzheimer’s as a kind of “type 3” diabetes, a disease related to insulin resistance. Truth be told, our brains can function on ketones, fat-metabolism byproducts and key energy sources in low to very low carb diets, which some say may be even healthier yet for our noggins. Check out Jimmy Moore’s interview with Dr. Larry McCleary, a respected neurosurgeon and author of The Brain Trust Program: A Scientifically Based Three-Part Plan to Improve Memory, Elevate Mood, Enhance Attention, Alleviate Migraine and Menopausal Symptoms, and Boost Mental Energy.
Keep in mind also that people in low carb transition can genuinely shortchange their physical needs when they aren’t eating enough fat or when they’re pursuing high intensity exercise routines lasting over an hour, which send the body’s glycogen stores into a nosedive to the ground. I hear this from CrossFitters and P90Xers who insist on maintaining their daily high intensity while transitioning to Primal eating. This isn’t to say that you can’t exercise more intensely for longer on a Primal diet (although there’s no real need to for perfectly solid fitness), but more than an hour’s time for most folks requires some extra carbs when glycogen is depleted. If you’re bothered by the mental fog even without intensive exercise, ease up on your carb restriction by adding 25 grams or so to see if it makes a difference. Listen to your body and gauge your sensitivity. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you’re not going to compromise your overall benefit by taking it slowly.
As any Primal buff would attest, this temporary setback pales in comparison to the benefits once the transition has passed. Without the persistent carb-induced peaks and crashes, you should enjoy a measurable boost in energy – steady and stable – in no time. Hang tight, and know you’ll be on the other side of the hill soon! In the meantime, take good care of yourself with a little extra shuteye and maybe some well-timed green tea for a modest boost when you really need it.
Avid Grokkers: what words of experience do you have for Jessica and other new folks at the Primal table? Be sure to share your thoughts, stories and words of wisdom. Thanks for reading and keep your questions coming!
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
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You have to believe. It’s as simple as that.
Write down EVERYTHING you eat and go by the numbers. The Daily Plate on Livestrong.com is an EXCELLENT resource to track your eating habits. Pick a healthy protein/fat/carb ratio (1/3’s is not a bad place to start) and stick to it. It WILL get better. And once you’re better, there’s no way you’ll ever want to go back to the “old way.” You’re going through “carb-junkie detox,” and you just need to grind your way through it.
If you’re an athlete, you’ll obviously need some extra carbs either during or post workout.
After 90 minutes, your muscles will be out of glycogen, so if you’re going over 90, you’ll need to start taking in some sugar prior to that. Everyone’s different, so let your body be your guide and don’t go crazy. You don’t need to pound down a half-dozen cliff shots prior to a ride like I see people doing all the time. There’s a lot of healthy and creative solutions. I stick a honey bear in the bento bag on my bike for longer rides. Just based on experience, I know what timing of sugar intake is enough that I recover easily and don’t feel like dookey post-workout. Cheap, simple, natural, and best of all – it works great.
If you were eating hard-core paleo and did a long, hard workout with no carb intake, that could be the reason for your suffering. It took me a solid week to recover from one of those mistakes. But you will recover if you let yourself and life will get better.
“Pick a healthy protein/fat/carb ratio (1/3’s is not a bad place to start) and stick to it.”
Umm…what? I think you want the Atkins forum over there—->
Hey, I’m not shilling for anyone. I went to nurse/dietitian that specialized in setting up nutrition plans for triathletes. I didn’t list *my* ratio because my ratio was custom tailored for me based on actual metabolic measurements. I wouldn’t know an Atkins plan from a hole in the ground.
My only point is that if people ate in 1/3’s, that would be at least *half* the normal number of carbs and double the protein the typical person is eating in a day. I know Mark advocates less carbs than that, but for many people, looking at a pie chart on Daily Plate and just making it into three equal “slices” if you will, would be a dramatic step in the right direction.
Start there, then let body awareness guide you the rest of the way.
I didn’t think you were shilling, I was just surprised that you were posting on a site about primal nutrition, among other things, two things that go so entirely against the essential nature of primal eating: weighing measuring and recording and eating such a huge percentage of carbs.
I think if you are trying to lose weight you may have to count calories (I know I need to because even eating primally I can accidentally eat too much because I’m eating calorie dense foods). But 1/3 carbs is definitely too high for me (I eat an almost ketogenic diet).
Thirds isn’t primal – my breakdown is 20% protein, 15% carb, at least 60% fat (by calories) balance is a glass of wine – that gives me just under 100 g carb tops per day and I’m an athlete.
I had massive detox for 36 hours – shakes, mental confusion, night sweats, the lot – real cold turkey stuff – that was cutting all grains and added sugar from my diet – I was high carb low fat CW athlete nutrition. After that I felt like a new person.
Believing and having faith is the key and as my brother said tonight when he phoned (75 lbs lighter this year)Primal Law 0 have a Grok buddy to support you, failing that keep reading MDA!
K
Did you have to mention pie? I just started the switch to Primal eating two days ago. I don’t feel like I have carb flu, but I wasn’t a huge grain eater really. My weakness is desserts and treats. Luckily for me though my cravings are most intense just before menstruation begins and I chose to begin eating primal just after my cycle ended (over share?). Hopefully by the time the intense cravings come around, I won’t have them this time. Only time will tell but so far it’s been easy, I’m sure I’ll get hit in the face by those cravings in the future, but I’m trying to think positive and hope I can breeze through those hurdles and continue on down the path. I’m quite pleased I’ve made it the past two days, particularly with the chocolate chipp cookies sitting in my cupboard as we speak. Wish me luck and LOTS of will power!
I guess I was lucky then. I didn’t experience the low carb flu.
“but more than an hour’s time for most folks requires some extra carbs when glycogen is depleted”. Of course everyone is different but my experience over the last 6 months of gradually building my capacity is that I can routinely do a 2500-3000 yard masters swim set on a saturday morning and then go ride 30-50 miles with time trial effort, hill sprints or hill repeats depending on the workout, all on water and salt tabs – and Trust me – I am no genetic marvel – very much a 47 year old middle of the pack age grouper. It just take a little time.
I just did a 34 mile bike ride without carbs. eggs for breakfast, then just coconut water with coconut oil added for some fat.
Then there were the others. Some younger riders were participating, I guess for the first time, and the parents were encouraging bananas and cookies “because you need lots of carbs for energy when riding”.
I wonder if that’s why some many riders I see have pot bellies?
Check the carbs on coconut water. You took in at least as many as those eating bananas.
How can some people here be so blind to the nutritional makeup of their food in order to maintain claims of “being low carb”?
And you seem a little confused about being low carb vs primal vs a lower carb athlete
You’re an RN, Dave? And you seriously believe people get potbellies from eating too many bananas?
Produce even one such person and you’ll likely make medical history.
Get real.
I didn’t say coconut water had no carbs. My point was that loading up on excessive carbs over a period of time can result in mesentery fat accumulation. I know this from experience. I had a 30 lb gut on me from my high carb diet. I was real good at hiding it too. I had backaches from sucking my gut in all the time.
As for the coconut water, I used that instead of the typical “sports drinks” because It contains similar levels of electrolytes as those found in human blood, and in fact was used in place of plasma in the Pacific theater in WWll when supplies of plasma were low. That and it’s not an artificial. Yes it has carbs, 14 in the container I drank. One banana has 23 grams, and I’d eat 2-3 on a 30 mile ride in the past, along with cookies and oranges. I also didn’t say how much I had. So let me be more specific; 11.2 oz (14 grams), with 5oz of oil, (0 grams). The rest was water.
So, 14G carbs vs. a typical ride for me with 75-100. That was my point.
And then I went and did two hours of martial arts. Then I came home and had dinner. My point there being it wasn’t necessary for me to go home and load up on carbs and “recover”.
Interesting debate!
I just rode a Sportive – 81 miles, and I rode hard, 6,000 ft climbing and clocked 4:24 (average heart rate 80-85% of max) – around 10 g of carb from raw fruit/nut bars an hour with water and electrolyte salts … the longer you train low carb the more efficient your body becomes. And breakfast was eggs and bacon with some full fat Greek yog and berries with a teaspoon of clear honey
… carb loading – who needs it!
Watch this space for Primal endurance activity in action, I start on 12 June … http://www.cavegirl-end-to-end.blogspot.com.
May be I am a genetic marvel – but I doubt it – I’m certainly super efficient at fat burning for fuel though.
Interesting. If I recall, I went primal on a Monday or a Tuesday and I began having flu-like symptoms before that first weekend.
After 4-5 months of success, my wife tried to go primal and she too had flu-like symptoms her first weekend. Glad that it passes relatively quickly.
Agreed with Eric. I experience the same thing. I was wondering why I was still hungry and tired all the time when everyone spoke of energy spikes and feeling more fulfilled after meals.
I gave it 2 weeks pretty strict, and soon, I was off to the races! The main thing I have noticed is my recovery time after a touch workout (I’m an avid CrossFitter) has decreased dramatically, and I’m not NEARLY as sore the next day.
Another thing I’ve noticed is a different kind of body awareness. I’m now so much more aware of when I’ve had too much sugar, even in the form of fruit, or too much meat. Now, when I eat even a little bit of bread I feel hung over the next day.
It’s incredible the changes you’ll feel, and most certainly see. I, personally, did not have any weight to lose when I started eating more Paleo, but I have gotten smaller (I lost a pant size) and gotten much leaner in only 2-2.5 mo’s. I do “cheat” sometimes, but those moments only serve as a reminder of why I eat this way. The next day or even within a few hours I can feel the grossness coming on.
My main point? Keep with it! Write down EVERYTHING you ingest (including drinks, gum, snacks, even if it’s just one peanut…they add up). After a week, take a look back and see how you did and how the balance is. Remember that a balanced Paleo diet is key, not just eating foods that are Paleo. Too much fruit can give you a sugar high, and too much meat can make you feel sluggish (it does for me, anyway). Learn to listen to your body, and your brain will catch up.
Best of luck!
To me one of the big benefits of eating Paleo aside from health is *not* writing stuff down, *not* weighing and measuring.
If I wanted all that stress and hassle in my life I’d go on a diet or something.
I agree, but when I feel myself falling off the bandwagon, I start writing everything down to help myself get back on track. That’s also how I started and it helped me stay away from all the nasty stuff out there. Writing things down helps me check the balance in my diet, too.
Great post! I too experienced some issues when I went Paleo. I was mostly just sluggish, more tired than normal during the day. Felt like taking a nap, which I never used to feel. It got better though, mostly after about a week or two. As the post suggests, just stick with it and those ‘carb withdrawls’ will eventually pass.
I remember getting “carb flu” after doing GOMAD (gallon of whole milk a day) about a year ago for around a month (..it went w/ my strength training at the time) – After which I switched to only having starchy carbs post work out only. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, I was totally shattered for the first week. Over time my body adapted better & better as my diet became more primal over the next 6months or so.
Why would you want to breast-feed if you were doing strength training?
That, sir, is a stupid response and no better than troll-bait.
No carb flu experience here
I think newbies need to just take baby steps. There is no need to rush things. You have probably been eating the way you were eating for several years… so why try to all of a sudden cut your carb intake in half or more overnight? Ease into it… cut 50 carbs for the first week then 50 more… or even do it in 20s.
I just try to advice baby steps in everything in life… we are all so rushy rush! Life is NOT short. We shall all be grateful that we are all living!
Good luck all newbies – you will get to the magical feeling soon when you will NEVER look back to your ole ways! Living primal is like living in an entire new world
Some of us like to just rip the Band-Aid off and get going. It may be too much for some and cause them to give up but for others it’s best to get it out of the way while the motivation is still high.
I know when I first tried Atkins years ago I only made it 3 days the first time and gave up. The next try, I cut out sweet tea and fries for a month first then tried induction and I made it through. Too bad I didn’t find Paleo back then cause all the fake bars, shakes, maltitol/sorbitol chocolate bars, and absolute “low-carb” crap combined with too much protein and too little fat (and the wrong types) caused me fail. I started Atkins style 5 months ago and found Paleo 1 month in and have been going strong ever since.
I’m one of those that went from high carb (whole grain breads and soy spreads) to the PB cold turkey and felt great since day 1.
BUT, after 3 weeks exactly I had a HUGE sugar craving…what I didn’t know at the time was what Mark states in his article: Don’t go low carb + work out more than necessary, which I did every day for 3 weeks straight.
I gave into the sugar craving because I did not know how to fight it…i binged on mexican pastries for 2 days straight.
Not smart but it worked at the time. I have been 100% primal ever since for little over 2 months now without a single craving.
Those 2 binge days made me feel so crappy that it’s not worth repeating if it ever happens again.
Now I have pure grass-fed/finished kidney fat to fill that hole. Works like a charm:)
You’ve got to make sure you eat enough fat.
A lot of us have been brainwashed into being afraid of eating fat. I got over my low-carb flu after cooking up all the bacon in the house and eating as much of it as I could. Felt awesome immediately after that.
Now, whenever I feel run-down I have some pastured eggs or raw milk and it picks me right up.
I struggled with cravings but not with any mental stuff. My skin got oily and I broke out as my body transitioned to a high fat diet, but thankfully that only lasted about three weeks to a month as my body cleansed itself. I read a while back that some new comers were struggling with the same thing.
Thanks for this post Mark. I definitely got the “flu” after going Primal. I have had a few bouts of anxiety in the past and these symptoms seemed to exacerbate the problem. As a cyclist and runner, my body was used to a high-carb diet and rebelled when I cut them out. I actually felt so bad that I reintroduced some brown rice, some potatoes and sweet potatoes. Now I realize that I was doing too much too soon. For me anyway. I’m 6′3″ and 199 lbs. so I need to make sure I am getting enough calories and especially fat while reducing carbs. Time to begin again. This time a more gradual approach is in order I think.
I’ve been 90% primal for about 3 months. My 13 yr. old daughter just started last week. Neither one of us has had any negative withdrawl-type symtoms, though we both had different eating habits before going primal.
I can’t say for sure why this is, but we both eat a primal diet of about 60-65% fat, and shoot for .8 grams of protien per lb. of lean body mass, and a carb intake of 50-65 grams (per day). We don’t focus on calories, but they usually work out to be around 500 per day less than needed to maintain weight.
We use FitDay to keep track of everything we eat for the first couple of weeks. It helps in the transition phase to see how the actual numbers add up. I didn’t find it necessary to keep track after that.
My daughter wanted to go primal after seeing what I had accomplished in 3 short months. I was about 45-50lbs. overweight. I’m down 20lbs and feel terrific compared to before. We both are looking to be close to our fitness goal by the end of September. At that point we should both have reached “before & after” status!!
For those of you just starting, get excited. This works. This is right. This is the real deal. Just follow the Blueprint on this blog. All of it.
A word about exercise. Don’t worry about motivation at first. You will definitely want to exercise more and more after you begin eating right and the pounds start coming off and energy levels rise. You won’t need anyone to tell you to do it, or make you do it. You’ll want to do it.
Cheers!
I never got the “low carb flu”, but it sounds like what Masters Ultra Runner Rob Evans had happen to him. He is interviewed by Scott Dunlap over at his very popular “A Trail Runner’s Blog”
http://runtrails.blogspot.com/2010/06/faster-as-master-interview-with-rob.html
and talks about 3 tough weeks after going high fat,high protein,low carb, but how this diet has been a big part of his newfound success.
Lots of ultra runners and endurance athletes going primal these days, with great results.
I started exactly one week ago–the first few days were ROUGH. I had zero energy, making my CrossFit workouts nearly impossible. I read a bit about easing into it, and had a sandwich here, some pasta there…I was maxing out at 1,000 – 1,100 calories per day…not good. Now things are better, but I don’t feel any better than I did before I started Primal eating. If nothing else though, following this site has eliminated chips and beer (almost) from my diet. Keep up the excellent work Mark.
Mine lasted for 6 foggy weeks. Everytime I would get close to breaking through, I would give in to the sugar craving and was too scared to eat THAT MUCH FAT lol. Hindsight, as usual, is 20/20 and I should have just brought on the bacon/avacado/coconut oil/steak until I felt better.
In other news, if you fall off for a while then return to HF-LC, the “flu” lasts considerably less time… I’m guessing because you’ve already adapted once before, so it’s not a “new” thing to your body.
Sometimes the low-carb flu is a result of a lack of veggies. In my previous low carb experiments I ate only meat and cheese, very acidic of course. That is what got me sick until I brought up the veggies again.
Someone mentioned above that they experience hang-over symptoms from white bread and processed flour products. I get that too now!
I seem to think the low-carb flu is related to carb addiction. Wheat and other grains contain opiates and when people break this addiction, as with any junkie they go cold turkey for a while.
I totally agree with this. I think the severity of mine is because I was unaware of how much my mood was relegated by sugar before. It was sneaky because it was mostly fruit and chocolate and alcohol, not grains. But all the advice is extremely helpful. More fat is a hrad thing to wrap your head around if you previously listened to CW…but it definitely makes a difference for me. But it’s something I have to remember and then force myself to eat! Good luck everyone.
Never got the carb flu. I did get depressed once just thinking about no carbs….lol. I love the no or little carb lifestyle. To make it easier on your self, plan some cheat days here and there, this will give you something to look forward to on your journey. Remember to set your goals, long and short term and take it one day at a time. My mother gets brain fog just at the thought of no carbs….lol
I had about 3 days of low-carb flu, I haven’t measured *anything* (calories or ratios) and I’ve been losing weight really quickly.
I’ve been doing Paleo for athletes for about 1 week. I was really tired after about 5 days but today I’m feeling good. My problem is that I’m still getting cravings, but I just eat berries to try and subsided them.
Those cravings go completely away at 20 grams of carbs a day or less. You might try different levels of carbs and see what works for you.
into week 3 as of yesterday, and just now coming out of the fog and grog of carb flu. My diet was heavy grains and legumes just prior to Primal, so I imagine that I am in for a bit of a longer battle shaking it all. Feel good though, and some days are better than others. My workouts definitely suffered, but I am finding my new sweet spot in regards to my Kettlebells and lifting. I am having a tougher mental battle over the bacon thing right now…
all in time I suppose!
The closest I’ve come to the low-carb flu was a few splitting headaches when I tried reducing my carb intake to near zero. Eating ad libitum paleo was keeping me a bit paunchier than I’d like, and it took calorie counting on fitday.com for a couple months to lose the extra 13 pounds. During that time, my daily carb intake ranged from about 80-120 grams, which was enough to prevent ketosis and headaches, but not so much that it created that voracious gnawing hunger that larger amounts of carbs do. On days when I was less physically active I could eat as few as 1500 calories and feel only the gentlest of hunger impulses.
I’ve been “easing into” primal over a few weeks now and have not experienced anything flulike; However I had a carb overload this weekend and felt like utter crap. Go figure.
It hit me at the start of my second week and lingered for a week, but only two days were like being out sick with the flu. The rest was just a little weak and foggy.
What made this easy for me though was I started with high blood pressure and high blood sugar and both numbers were falling into nice normal ranges during that second week.
It also helped to have a wealth of information available describing what I was experiencing. So thanks for adding to that, Mark. If I ever win the converts I’m working, I’ll point to this post BEFORE they get hit.
i realize we are in a sense, detoxing from conventional wisdom but more literally, from carb overload.
is there a connection/similarity between going primal and detoxing?
while i haven’t gone through these flu like symptoms while going primal, i have experienced it going through fasts and cleanses.
I feel your pain girl!!!!! My goal was to do no carbs, no sugar, no fruit and no caffeine for a month. I lasted about 3 weeks until I had some birthday cake. Now I’m back to feeling that icky feeling, however, it’s not as bad as it was the first time. I binged for about a week on that dredded cake. However, I know now that your energy does pick up and what kept you going before (carbs, sugar, caffeine) is no longer needed. Water replaces the caffeine and I ALWAYS will have some protein and veggies with me at all times; because good decisions never happen if you’re not ready with your food. Unless you’re that diciplined.
I could feel my motabolism pick up when I’d get hot every so often. It definitely will be worth it once you get there. I’m on my way again. This time with more self control! 
I definitely felt the pangs of the Primal flu…my body was achy, my head hurt and I was exhausted but could never fall asleep.
It lasted about 1.5 weeks and then BAM I felt awesome! I now spring out of bed and feel full of energy all day.
I’m slowly converting my friends to Primal, but I always warn them of the flu they’ll feel at first. It’s worth it to stick it out though!
I have also been easing my way into Primal (just bought the book too!) and with the exception of Memorial day weekend and this weekend (big party wedding) I’ve done pretty good, and have notice very little side effects during my transition.
I do have one question though, since its my goal right now to be selected for my state police soon, how should I go about my workouts? Running is a big deal in the academy (normally 30-45 mins of running a day), and I probably shouldn’t be avoiding it as prescribed by the Primal diet. I did purchase (and began working out with) a kettlebell, and have been doing sprints, but can’t envision getting away with out running for extended periods of time. Can anyone help or provide some tips for me?
Here is an article Mark wrote awhile back. I think it’s what you’re looking for. Worst case it should answer some of your questions.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-endurance-training/
Funny, I had suffered from this type of foggy-thinking syndrome for a couple years. Once I dropped the gluten grains from my diet my head cleared up.
Hi, everyone. This is Jessica, who inquired about the cognitive issues when switching to Primal eating. Believe it or not, my Primal journey began over a year ago when I first began eating Paleo-but there was still a considerable amount of fruit in my diet and it kept my on the carb hunger roller coaster (I think). Then I found Mark’s site and things got better. I was 100% Primal for about 6-7 months. The thing is, I had some weird metabolic thing going on (doctors found nothing) and was hungry all the time. I don’t know if it was recovery from years of high carb (“good” whole grains!) eating, severe chronic cardio recovery, calorie restricted diets for many years, or just randomness…probably some combination, but the caloric restriction probably wrecked my metabolism. Fortunately, it’s now back to normal. Despite keeping the carbs low (only from veggies and some fruit) during my first Primal attempt, I couldn’t get things to click. I don’t know if I was super sensitive to carbs and high sugar veggies like carrots??… So, I remained in the brain fog. I completely abandoned the Primal lifestyle, despite loving it, for various reasons completely unrelated to Primal (that’s another story!), but kept feeling the pull to come back. I’m happy to say that after my hiatus I’ve been Primal again for 3 weeks, but this time, no sugar-not even fruit or high-sugar veggies. Eventually I may add some fruit in, but until I get over the hump, I’m keeping the insulin spikes as low as possible. I am having severe carb/sugar cravings, so I’ve been trying to eat more fat and/or protein. It seems to be helping, but I’m really hoping I come out of the fog soon! I know this lifestyle rocks and I just want it to work! Definitely had the low-carb flu this time, though…chills, got a bad cold that went away in a weekend…just felt feverish. Yuck! My energy level has been way more consistent the past few days, but like Mark said in the post, the brain is lagging behind! Hoping it will catch up soon!
P.S. I’m also wondering if maybe b/c I have an autoimmune disease if that could be a factor for the hard time I’m having switching over.
Jessica. You know that would be a great question to put in Robb Wolf’s podcast!!!!!
Cocaine helped me through my early low carb days.
That’s hilarious. You’re kidding, right?
It’s taken me about five months eating PB to finally figure out, at my activity level, about how many carbs I should eat. For a while I played around with less than 50 carbs a day, and I started to look really, well, frankly ripped for a 51 year old lady. But then at 108 lbs. I started to feel awful- weird dull headache feeling, NO energy, really tired- and I realized- Hey! You’re a horse trainer!@ You burn through a lot of energy every day!! Eat more carbs!! So now I do, and I don’t get all anorexic about an apple or a banana or a yam, and I feel MUCH better, and I am learning to listen to my body, and eat butter and bacon and grass-fed beef and tons of veggies and even new things, like chicken liver and beef heart. So I am a very happy 51 year old paleo-camper, and I feel like a kid again. Or even better, because now I have my own money.
You know, this sounds *exactly* like what happened to all the raw vegans. “After inital detox, your life will be amazing!” Except it wasn’t for most who tried the diet, and most quit. I wonder if the primal thing will suffer the same fate in 5-10 years.
Joe, who is skeptical of all trendy lifestyles
In a low carb diet, more fat gets burned, of course.
Fat is also used as storage to toxins. Maybe the fog and the low carb flu got to to with fat and toxins getting into the bloodstream and causing the fog.
Just a thought I use when I feel foggy.
Warm regards,
Petra
when I first started going Primal..I severely cut my carbs. this led to not feeling well at all. I introduced carbs back in at a level of 100-150 grams complex carbs. I slowly reduced it to about 50-80 grams complex carbs. I now function quite well on a 30-60 level. I am quite active and do exercise for over an hour 3 times a week, and keep active for the rest of the week. it works well for me.
For some people the symptoms could be a result of a candida (yeast) “die-off”. By cutting carbs and lowering blood glucose you’re restricting the candida of it’s food supply. On top of that, many of the PB foods are anti-fungal, killing more and intensifying symptoms.
I was browsing through all the comments to see if anyone would make the link. This explains most of the so-called ‘low carb flu’ that affects many people new to a primal regime. Yes, the enzymes responsible for liberating ATP from fat need a while to increase their function, and yes, the nervous system does take several days to begin using ketones effectively but these two issues do not explain the majority of symptoms that people notice when they cut out most of their carbs.
They are, however, starving yeast and IF they have a yeast issue (many do) they they are likely to suffer from a wave of fungal toxins such as acetaldehyde that come with such a die-off reaction. Doing it slower and adding insoluble fibre can help.
This makes sense to me. Yeast overgrowth can be very tenacious. Kombucha and lacto-fermented veggies can be very helpful, much more effective than probiotic capsules, in my experience.
I had a little trouble kicking the caffeine when I first started a little over a year ago. A couple of days with a mild headache, then I was good to go. However, I haven’t had the big changes that many others have had. I haven’t lost more than a couple of pounds, and just can’t get rid of the fat over my abs. I’m a bit frustrated and am not sure what I’m doing wrong. Could be that my carbs are still a bit too high. Can’t seem to kick the craving for dark chocolate that still hits every afternoon!
I had bad withdrawal symptoms when I started the Primal lifestyle, but I was a total sugar addict. I didn’t really have mental fog though, but I did have trouble in the gym for about a week, which has passed.
I was in a brain fog for years with high carb diet. Somewhere between week 5 and week 6 of eating paelo the fog lifted. I can think again!!
I’ve noticed several things in the few weeks I’ve been at this seriously. One is that I’m more sensitive to mineral intake. There’s way more salt in the animal stuff I’ve been eating and I have to be sure to get my potassium. Same with high calcium — have to make sure to get my magnesium. Another is that I can’t slack on protein without paying a price, either. All of those help brain fog and I can see that balancing will be a learning process.
Another aspect of this shift is that I won’t have the high carb diet cravings, highs and crashes, but if I’m unusually active, I’ll bonk! Happened the other day and the only reason I recognized it as such is that I used to (when much younger and fitter) do distance running and cycling. When you bonk, you don’t feel hungry. You just suddenly run out of gas, mentally and physically. As soon as I recognized it, I ate something and was fine.
All that said, and fear of fat and other newbie anxieties taken into account, I don’t think I’ll ever willingly go back to high carb eating just because it is so damn great not to feel so bloated and strung out all the time.
I want to go read up on high fat diets as epilepsy treatment. Want to see what they say about your brain on high fat/low carb in those studies.
The guest blog comments a week or so back talks about this. In some small studies in children over here (UK) there was a big decrease in seizures on a low carb high fat regime.
i made the switch very gradually, over YEARS, so no low carb flu. but i’ll tell ya, cutting out my BAD (5 cups a day) coffee habit last month was BRUTAL withdrawal. the headaches and brain fog!it’s nice to feel calmer now…though i also liked being sorta amped on caffeine and i don’t think it was such a bad habit. something about the pain of quitting makes me want to not start up again. our bodies get used to a certain chemical balance and adjustment certainly can be tricky.
I’ve been playing with low carb for several years. The first time, I went strict Atkins induction all the way with the hope it would allow me to lose weight without too much suffering. Before that, I was in the habit of drinking ‘healthy’ fruit juice all day so the second through fourth days of induction where accompanied by very mild fatigue but also a truly unholy intense constant craving for fruit juice. One day at work, I caught myself just before my hand actually reached out and stole a coworker’s cranberry juice and chugged it! At about day 5, the cravings started to subside and then at day 6, I felt suddenly wonderfully great and energetic with minimal cravings. I think for some, it may be easier on the body to go slowly, but for me, I think the best was that I got through those cravings as fast as possible as they were torture! From there, it was fairly easy sailing and I was strict and loyal for 8 months or so, and then after that, I only occasionally cheated. I found that small amounts of fruits did not trigger any cravings and that the most important was I ate low carb at dinner. Then later, I lost my job and was forced to eat many of my meals at my parents house (super carby). I was depressed and gained a lot of weight. Later, I got another job and then read the book called Good Calories Bad Calories, which scared me straight! Perhaps since I had even when cheating tried to stay more away from carbs, the transition this time was quick with barely any cravings and no fatigue. Although interestingly, this time, perhaps due to also doing weightlifting, I actually gained a few pounds right away on low carb, and then lost it again plus more. Measurement around the waist showed I was slowly losing fat there the whole time though. I am now mostly primal but am not yet convinced that salt is a big deal to worry about (delving into the research just has not given me reason to fear salt in any way)and I still consume some diary, especially cream and butter. I try to stay away from lowcarb ‘fake’ foods, but once in a while, I will enjoy some lowcarb icecream. I am very observant of any carb cravings and I now know if I experience any carb cravings, then I have eaten too many carbs. I also try to keep most if not all carbs eaten to be healthy carbs like fruit and veggies, not antinutrient grains or other potential poisons. This seems to work for me. I have heard from many other females who say at some point after a long time on lowcarb, they began to feel tired and rundown. I can only guess why, and it does seem there are more women than men on this boat, but I think for some people, carefykkt uping the intake of HEALTHY carbs may be needed at some point. For myself, I will cross that bridge if I get to it, but so far, I sleep much better and need less sleep, I am stronger and more energetic, and I really enjoy my meals. I have also converted 2 others who have their own very encouraging lowcarb stories.
Yep, read Taubes if you really want to understand why you are going Primal and why you should stay Primal, forever.
I won’t EVER forget reading that book.
Wow – what a great response.
As for the 2 week time frame, yeah – it pretty much was that for me. However, I did do the crash and burn method – no sugars for 2 weeks…. since we started off with south beach. Which phase one use to be pretty much primal / low carb. I’ve noticed that has changed, in his newer books.
Anyway – after that – we found MDA and we added some more variety in veggies which I think helped a lot. And, honestly cooking/eating primal is a LOT easier than SB/carb counting.
Mostly it takes time – and like everyone else has said – you need to listen to your body.
Also, I think it depends on how you approach things. I’m a all or nothing type of person. While it may not be the best approach – it works for me. I noticed some people like to count, others like to go slowly into primal. The thing is to figure out how you do things normally — and then make primal work for you with your normal style of doing things.
good luck… hopefully it will work out as well for you as it has for us.
Ame
Hi Mark,
In the German Ketokenic Diet booklet aimed at cancer patients on how to use diet as a treatment, it is mentioned that it may take some days for the brain to effectively swap from using glucose into using ketone bodies for energy.
In that sense it is not recommended to swap straight into a very low-carb regime, but to instead aim at daily 50g carb intake for a week or two before going lower.
The whole booklet can be found here in English: http://www.frauenklinik.uni-wuerzburg.de/forschung/ketogenic_english.htm
//sami
I have been primal for 4 months. 51 male went from 23 PBF to under 14. Lost 20 lbs, over 4 inches in waist. Awesome health improvements. When I began, I had a low grade headache for 2 weeks. If I excercised, it got worse. After two weeks, fog cleared and began working out. Now Im in the best shape in my life and I was a marathon guy and moderate athalete all my life. Hang in there… your body will learn how to use good food just as it was designed!!
Just finished my first week of Primal. My main “flu” symptom has been headaches, all day long for about three days, now off-and-on. They aren’t debilitating, just annoying.I haven’t noticed any big change to my energy level, but cravings and roller-coaster blood sugar subsided almost immediately. I’ve been pretty much at 50-80 carbs a day. Next goal is to try to stay under 50. In my first week I lost 5 lb., probably mostly water but encouraging nonetheless. I also feel less puffy, but it’s more of a subjective feeling, not a measurable thing.
I would like to add another possible cause of low carb flu. The new Atkins book says that there is evidence that switching to a lower carb lifestyle can have a diuretic effect. This is part of the reason people can lose so much weight the first week. They are now suggesting having a cup of bouillon to help with the symptoms.
Could these few people who suffer with the “low carb flu” just have a metabolic-type of a high carb eater?
I too wonder about this. I know Sisson doesn’t subscribe to the different metabolic type theories, but from my own personal experiences, I’m starting to. Some people handle carbs just fine, gives them energy, and doesn’t make them gain weight. For them, weight loss just comes from portion control. Me on the other hand, I get fat from carbs. Too many makes me feel like crap, etc.
it would be interesting to have all those who suffer badly from the switch to low carb on a test for their MT, maybe they would all (or mostly) show they were primarily carb eaters. That would be some decent proof.
I don’t know either way, but it is at least possible.
obviously there is genetic variance depending on the climate our genes evolved in. The obvious example of this is the Eskimo who eat almost exclusively fat and protein. Conversely, if you lived tropical, you’d probably be eating pineapple and bananas all day long. I would imagine that there is a wide variance among modern humans on carb amounts that our bodies can handle depending on what predominant genes got passed along.
Two interesting things that can influence the low-carb flu that have been mentioned at coolingInflamation and Hyperlipid both actually have to do with your gut flora.
1:FIAF (http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/search/label/Fiaf%20%281%29%20Who%27s%20fat%20is%20it%20anyway%3F)mentioned at Hyperlipid, which in a nutshell is your gut flora if carb adjusted will scream at your brain when you change your diet and can make you feel pretty bad while adjusting.
and
2: Gut biofilms (http://coolinginflammation.blogspot.com/2009/09/cure-for-inflammatory-diseases.html) covered at coolinginflamation. Where bad gut flora or carb adjusted flora can form films that hide themselves from your immune system and tie up metal cations (usually mg and calcium but in autism cases heavy/toxic metals too) and mess with nutrient absorption (because its literally a barrier between you intestine wall and nutrients and it tries to bind things like mg and calcium to itself instead of you getting to use it).
when switching to a diet like paleo/primal during the adjustment period it can suddenly start breaking down the biofilms and adjust the ratio of your gut flora, which can mean you get the shock of whatever is making up that biofilm, and the bad bacteria die off all at once, in addition to whatever signals the bacteria send to your brain (intresting discussions linked here at paleo hacks http://paleohacks.com/questions/5766/what-do-you-think-of-epimicrobiomics).
Funnily enough a bunch of old school cure alls and some of the new school medicines as well as a paleo diet are all things that attack biofilms and bad gut flora ratios/carb loving bacteriums. (AVC, Pre and Probiotics, Fermented foods, antibiotics(only attack the bacteria outside the biofilms so temporary relive of symptoms), pectin/fruit fibers, spices like tumeric, starving carb reliant bacteria with a high protein/fat diet)
After going primal (in February), I suffered low carb flu for about a week. But then for a couple months I’d wake up some days feeling great, some days feeling sluggish and achy. I finally connected the sluggish days with high dairy intake the day before.
I’ve never had an issues with dairy, so this has surprised me. My thought is that in the past, my body was so out-of-whack due to high carb intake that the affects of dairy was lost in the noise.
I am now experimenting with types/quantity of dairy to see if I can add back some cheese, which I miss. But thought I’d mention it as a possible affect people might want to be aware of.
Yerba Mate tea with mint seems to have helped me through this.
I havent really suffered from the ‘carb flu” mentally or physically. Apart from my first long bike ride shortly after starting, I seem to have plenty of energy. I’ve only changed to a primal lifestyle recently and think that rather than “carb flu” I suffer from “carb psychosis”. I can’t stop thinking about bread, sandwiches, pasta, rice etc. I think this will pass with time. In an effort to take the focus away from this psychosis, I started my own blog, http://www.primalocity.com, so that I could document my journey and particularly to refocus on creating healthy meals and alternatives in line with the primal blueprint while fooling my brain to think I am eating these things my subconscious can’t seem to let go of.
I can confirm that it goes away after 2-3 weeks. Now after a few months I don´t have it anymore even if I eat an almost zero carb meal with lots of protein and fat.
I had a relatively long “binge” where I eat a lot of sugar in 2-3 weeks after being primal for 3 months. After the binge the first few days were again harder but just a few days and not a few weeks. So 3 months primal, then 3 weeks high-carb didn´t reset my metabolism completely to high-carb but I felt a change when I started being primal again.
The post by Robert says alot about the causes of this carb flu. Another common issue along this line might be what is known as the “herxheimer reaction”. This happens anytime you have yeast overgrowth and you start starving the yeast by cutting out sugars/carbs. There are 79 known toxins released from yeast when it starts to die. This may make you feel very foggy,tired and achy. This could be some explanation for what people might think is some sort of carb w/d when it’s actually the release of toxins by the overgrowing candida in the gut and colon.
Grains and dairy are very mucus forming and when eating a lot of these foods one will store a lot of mucus in the body. When people stop eating dairy and grains and start eating paleo the body sarts to unload all that extra mucus. Hence, the cold or flu symptoms.
Get those vitamins into your diet…vitamins that are capsules, not “rocks”,(tablets), and quality Omega 3 oils…they do make a difference.
I’m sure feeling it. I quit cold turkey because I know myself and if I don’t do this quick, I’m just gonna suffer and stop trying. This is my second day of PB, and it’s only 6:30 in the evening and I’m falling asleep. I also just ate another small square of dark chocolate (had one at 3:30pm) to help kill a sugar craving. However, I’ve only had two meals today and I feel healthy and full. I’m very happy about that where as before I needed to eat every two hours! So, I’ll just keep slugging through this as best I can.