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Feeling cold since starting low-carb

TheSecretCarbAddict

Well-Known Member
Messages
298
Location
United Kingdom
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I've been on a low-carb diet for just over three weeks now. Nothing too formal, just cutting out as many obvious carbs as possible. I've noticed that I'm feeling cold most of the time since my blood glucose levels have returned to some sort of normal. Is this just me? Or have others experienced the same? My hands and feet seem to always be ice cold!
 
Another change I've noticed since starting my low-carb journey is that I now have a mild and dull headache when my bloid glucose levels go up or down. I mean, it could be that I'm just noticing these things more than before as I am paying more attention to what my body is telling me.
 
Welcome @TheSecretCarbAddict. Do be careful you'll have the pearl clutchers after you with pitchforks and flaming torches for voicing any downsides of LC But, yes it is a common side effect. It may also be worth having your thyroid level tested - not linked but can also cause the same symptoms.
 
Yes to the feeling cold, and its impact is further increased by me not having so much natural insulation to keep me warm. Hard to say just how much as I've got one of the recorded AstraZeneca side effects which makes me intensely cold every so often.

Can't say I've ever experienced headaches or similar at all.
 
Isn't managing diabetes all about tradeoffs? Near normal blood glucose levels vs feeling a bit chilly? I'm maxed out on all oral meds and LC is the only thing that is making a real difference to my blood glucose levels. So, I'm not knocking LC or even if I were, I would only talk about it in the context of my own experience and what works for me.
 
Thanks @KennyA, I think the amount of natural insulation can also be a factor as I'm at my lowest weight in the last few years.
 
I'm pleased it works for you as it has for many others, myself included. I think my point is that there are indeed trade offs and not to admit that is, shall we say, disingenuous. Those starting their journey would feel less stress if a more complete picture of pros and cons was given at the outset. Peace be with you.
 
TheSecretCarbAddict said:
Thanks @KennyA, I think the amount of natural insulation can also be a factor as I'm at my lowest weight in the last few years.
Click to expand...
Are you actively losing weight, CarbAddict? (Great name ). If so, your body is likely “saving you” from starvation. A little bit tongue in cheek there, but our bodies can trim back on non-vital services when losing weight.

If your weight loss is very fast, you may need to eat a little more.
 
I'm taking one step at a time and my focus has been on stabilising my blood glucose levels. I've gone for low-carb approach but haven't really been watching my calorie intake or anything like that. I've lost a little bit of weight over the last three weeks but nothing too extreme. 95.6kg beginning of March vs 93.9kg a few days back. As I was looking this up in my Fitbit app, I also noticed that my body temperature in the night has been under my baseline by up to a 1C over last week or so. Maybe just need to turn up the thermostat when the new energy price cap kicks in.
 
I get bouts of feeling very cold, especially when I first get up, but it adjusts itself through the day. I had supposed it was due to losing "insulation", though I have always felt the cold even when fat. For me it's easy to manage and I'd rather keep the good aspects of lowering BG and weight. No contest between keeping the spare tyre or putting on an extra layer!
 
I am/was a TOFI T2D, so no real subcutaneous fat loss - viscera only. I found that on Low Carb I was eating much more fat, more than making up for the drop in calories from carbs. Prior to diagnosis I had been low fat high whole grains for over 10 yrs I found I was warmer on Low Fat, especially my coldest spots (hands and feet).
 
Another thing to consider.... Your blood pressure might be dropping a little, which might make you feel cold. Usually when one does keto, their salt-intake drops. (No bread and spuds etc... So also not the salt that goes with those). And since you're having headaches, you might be a bit low of electrolytes. A supplement might help tide you over until your body finds its new equilibrium?
 
From a personal perspective the keto/very low carb strategy is the way to go for the majority of people looking to lower their blood sugars along with significant weight reduction. If anyone asked me the best way to reduce blood sugar I would definitely recommend a keto diet or something similar. I lost weight. I went from weighing in around the upper range for my weight and height to bumping along the line between the lower limit to under weight. I can lose weight very quickly and for most of my life I was under weight. It was not the first time I had been on a very low carb diet. I did the Atkins diet for a while in 2010. The whole office went on it. So peer pressure and being part of a group thing made it fun. I was on it for around 3 months and came off it when I started to feel lousy, no energy, just feeling blah all the time. As soon as I upped my carbs I felt a 100 x better. So when I made the decision to give it another go last year I was unsure how my body would react. I was also being plagued with night time BS lows, so that was a consideration too. Would my blood sugars maintain a descent level, were questions I would ask myself. I decided to give it a shot. I had read so many good reports on here about weight loss and diabetes remissions. I stuck with it for 9 months. I didn't have the blah feeling anytime during those nine months. I kept myself well hydrated but I struggled with my food choices. I did not look forward to my meals. I was already on a restricted diet due to gluten intolerance so this added to it. I am a foody and I am creative in the kitchen, but this didn't save me. Fatty meals made me feel sick and urrgh. I know people who love fat, they chomp on the pork chop fatty bits, eat the popes nose on chickens, buy streaky bacon and love it all. Fatty bits on meat make me feel green just thinking about it. There are only so many avocados you can eat, most of the time they are bullet hard at the grocery store and very expensive.

At the end of it all I lost weight. My Ac1 results , however, were not the results I was expecting, they were very disappointing. I was expecting the mid 5's % or in that ball park, that didn't happen. There was a small drop in my Ac1 blood sugar results for sure, but they still remained at an unhealthy level. My lipid test results told another story too. The positives surrounding keto diets point to drops in overall cholesterol results, particularly LDLs and Triglycerides. Great news another benefit. My cholesterol results have historically been in range. This time, however, my results told a different story, my LDLs shot up out of range, my Trigs were/are still a satisfyling 0.61 mmol/ls. They did not change. My Trigs have always been low, but the rise in my LDLs took me a back. I know LDLs have had a bad wrap for sure, unfairly demonised but it was still a shock. It's hard to stop thinking of LDLs as 'bad' cholesterol even if they are not the bad guys. I guess my point is I did not have a typical response to doing the low carb thing.

All those words to say, while keto/lvery low carb diets work for a lot of people, they may not work for some, depending on what type of metabolism you have, how well you metabolise fats, and of course your mind set. It's a big ask for some people. The reprocussions for high blood sugar affect people long term so the imputus for change can seem less worth it if you are not enjoying those low carb options meals. Diabetes doe not have immediate the big impact like say gluten or lactose intolerances or indeed food allergies. My advise is if the keto works for you stick with it.

Sorry lots of words and if you have got this far, thanks for reading.
 
I didn't consider BP changes. Will need to dust off my BP monitor and collect some data.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience. I have seen a pretty much immediate impact on my blood glucose levels by switching how I eat, and as you say, that's probably one of the key metrics for diabetics to avoid long term helth issues. I totally agree that everyone needs to assess the suitability of different interventions based on their individual context and needs. Also, while diet is a critical factor, there are other areas that might be as important to optimise - exercise, sleep, stress levels, etc.

I love what LC offers in terms of food choices, but as I just posted in another thread, I'm a carb junkie and sometimes am a hostage to my carb addiction.
 
Thanks, as a dissenter I have hidden in my bunker to write that long wordy piece. Really, I just wanted to give my own personal reasons why low carb may not always be the golden egg, however, and importantly, I will be the first to say it does work for most people so stick with it. As for your headaches, keep hydrated especially as you have changed your diet and you have given your metabolism something different to deal with. Our bodies will always drift towards homeostasis so a change can throw it off course. As someone who in the past was a competitive runner hydration was a big deal. Headaches are usually the first manifestation of a drop in hydration. Keep an eye on it just in case it's something else.

I'm certainly not a carb junkie. I am unable to eat those carby culprits: breads, pastas, beers, blardy blah the bite back from my gluten intolerance is swift and dramatic, unlike high blood sugar and of course high blood pressure - both long termers as far as damaging your body goes. My big question I ask myself is, how the hell can I be diabetic with a healthy metabolism, no insulin resistance, normal insulin sensitivity and low normal weight. To those diabetic nurses who say you are 63 (my birthday was yesterday) you have T2, I say don't pee all over my boots and tell me it's raining. My Dr is questioning the D2 diagnosis, small mercies.

I am sure you are going to do great low carbing it and bringing down your blood sugars and weight.
 
Hi @Melgar, your experience of raised LDL with low carb is fairly typical of those of us who were around normal weight to start with.
Your Trigs probably couldn't go much lower, but for me and most ex-TOFI I know of, Low carb raises HDL and LDL and lowers trigs.
In the USA this is known as the Lean Mass Hyper-responder phenotype (LMHR). Dave Feldman is one and has been investigating it for some years.
He has recently got enough funds to do some proper medical studies on it and has already published some preliminary results.
 
Hi ianf0ster, you are the second person to tell me about Lean Mass Hyper-resonder phenotypes, Hsss told me about that phenotype too. Totally a possibility. I had not heard of them and I was quite taken with the concept. I do fit the criteria. My LDLs were probably a lot higher a month earlier as I started to introduce carbs a bit before I had the lipid panel done. Obviously, you are very familiar with LMHR's and how carbs will lower your LDLs if you are a LMHR, quite the reverse for everyone else.

I'm also reading Malcolm Kendrick's 'The Clot Thickens', a racey read. I love his delivery. He manages to bridge the divide between a subject that uses highly specialized language and an imaginative pictorial analogy as an aid to our understanding of what is most certainly a complex field - almost impenetrable to the lay person I would say. I have a tendency to make good use of analogies, metaphors and similes myself. When I first got lipid results back I was quite upset about my rise; LDL is bad cholesterol which in turn leads to CVD. After working my way through Kendrick's book I have calmed right down about it. I will look at Dave Feldman's work LMHRs. Thanks for that.
I edited as I wrote the reverse about LDLs ! I corrected it.
 
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