Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I have heard of and experienced carb flu when making the switch to a fat-burning engine, but what is confusing me is this: I stay in keto pretty much all the time, but when I slip out of it, I seem to get a low mood and enervation lasting a few days. Once I drop carbs back down I seem to be ok. What is going on and has anybody else experienced this?

flag	asked Jul 19 at 15:40 humanhands 21●2

	No I have not experienced this but I really like your "gravatar" name. – foreveryoung Jul 19 at 15:46
	Possibly carb sensitivity due to muscle insulin resistance from long term very low carb? Do you get sleepy (high blood sugar), or shakey, low energy and irritable (low blood sugar)? If so, and you want to eat carbs, youll have to give your body time to readjust and be gentle on it at first. – Jamie Aug 3 at 1:27
	I need to stay essentially zero carb to keep my mood good. – Ambimorph Aug 4 at 8:59

Chinaeskimo · Answer 1 · 2012-07-19 16:04:20Z UTC

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Your body likes being in ketosis. Listen to your body.

answered Jul 19 at 16:04

Chinaeskimo
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August · Answer 2 · 2012-08-16 19:46:36Z UTC

You may want to invest in a glucometer to see what's going on with your blood sugar.
I have tried to reintroduce carbs in various ways over the past two years- the starch (tuber) approach led to depression. The fruit (sugar) approach seemed more doable, but at the end of the day carb 'refeeds' really turned out to be carb binges. My doctor found I had high fasting blood sugar during a routine test and then had me back for a glucose tolerance test. I can't figure out whether or not I was low carb enough at the time to just fail the OGTT because of the diet, but I am concerned about seeing 90s and 100s in the morning while fasting. I went back to ketosis and things seem to be calming down, though it is funny to me that now I need to count calories in order to get enough food- this is where these so-called thyroid problems really come from (I had some test done on my thyroid because I actually thought that my former dieting may have harmed it- it is fine).

Rob · Answer 3 · 2012-08-02 18:44:25Z UTC

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What carbs are you consuming?

Its a complex problem, depending on your circumstances and body. But to take a general approach eating super low carb will cause your body to raise its cortisol (stress) levels, this a crucial hormonal signal for your body to break down proteins into glucose. So a person in ketosis will have a higher than otherwise expected cortisol level.

Now, when you eat carbs, all of a sudden no protein breakdown is necessary as you have all the glucose you need so your cortisol levels will dive. This in itself is enough to make you feel low, moody and tired.

Taking it to a more complex level, your source of carbs could be something your allergic too, or you could have some kind of infection in you bowel, parasitic or otherwise that is feeding off the carbohydrates.

answered Aug 2 at 18:44

Rob
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	That's not true about cortisol. See ketotic.org/2012/07/… – Ambimorph Aug 4 at 8:58
	Yes it is, see sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/… Inverse relationship between carbohydrates and cortisol levels found empirically. The human body is very complex, hence why these theories have to be tested empirically. – Rob Aug 5 at 22:11
	First of all, your claim was that cortisol is necessary to "break down proteins into glucose". This is absolutely factually untrue. See link above. Second, that paper you cite is irrelevant, because of the larger picture. Exercise increases cortisol in the short term, too, but is shown to improve mood. – Ambimorph Aug 6 at 8:36
	Why is it irrelevant and what larger picture? It has found, a very strong inverse relationship between carbohydrate intake and cortisol levels. It is absolute proof that your claim that a low carb diet does not raise cortisol is ENTIRELY incorrect. Given that this is not a purely academic discussion and that peoples health might depend on it please stop spreading this pseudoscience. – Rob Aug 6 at 8:45
	Where did I claim that low carb diets do not increase cortisol? I said they don't raise cortisol by way of the need for gluconeogenesis. I'll address the larger picture about the fact that in some cases cortisol levels are higher on keto diets in a subsequent post. To write well supported scientific analysis takes time and effort. Meanwhile, you are just making a distraction to the fact that what you have said about gluconeogenesis is factually incorrect, which is the only pseudoscience here. – Ambimorph Aug 10 at 9:18

Keto flu - what’s going on?

3 Answers