Hi, when I start low carving can I expect any side effects?
Hello! First of all, welcome to the low-carb world. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. As for your question, I think a lot may depend on:
- Your sensitivity to carbs: the more sensitive you are to them, the more your body will notice them missing.
- How low you go, and how gradually you do it: very low and cold turkey will elicit a different response from medium-low and tapered.
It's a personal choice, and knowing yourself you will also know what works best for you. In my case, I went for the brutal approach, straight down to 20g~30g/day cold turkey. I knew that I would have much rather been uncomfortable for a few days than dragging it on and give carbs the opportunity to sway me with their mermaid song. I'm not saying it's the best approach, in fact I'm sure it isn't, what I'm saying is that it was the right approach
for me.
My side effects were quite typical, i.e.: hunger, dizziness, weakness, fatigue, moodiness, a general sense of malaise. It wasn't much fun, but it wasn't even the end of the world. Later on I found out that increasing your salt intake significantly for a few days helps a lot (I won't bore you with the story, but it has to do with how the kidneys go into a diuretic type mode). This came too late for me, but I would now recommend it to all new low carbers.
Please let us know how you get on
