When I first went primal (5 months ago) I didn't have any problem dropping down to about 70g of carbs per day. I felt great, and didn't experience any drop in energy. Within the first couple months I ate below 50g per day for two days in a row and just felt terrible (shakey, emotional, on the verge of tears) so I went back up. In the past 2 weeks I've started going down to about 30-40g of carbs per day and I don't have a problem with it. So my two levels of carb intake have been about 70g and 40g, and I feel like I had to stay at that higher level for a while before breaking down to a lower level. It may be that some people need to ramp down their carbs slowly, or ratchet down bit by bit, giving their body time to adjust at each level.

Your terms are a bit confusing. The Atkins 'induction' phase is very low carb from the start. THere is no 'induction' that is not very low carb as far as I know. I did that some years ago, coming directly from SAD eating to induction. I had a few days of massively intense carb cravings and was a bit out of sorts otherwise. But at the 6th day, I suddenly felt great. After a long time, I did slowly fall off the wagon and ended up repeating an induction like eating pattern again years later. The second time, it was much much easier, perhaps because in the time between, I had never gone totally back to the same level of massive carb consumption, so my metabolism was probably much less sugar dependent the second time around.

It took several weeks, maybe even a couple of months before I had my first withdrawal symptoms after dropping grains and legumes. I think I am having a second "induction" now after about 4 weeks of giving up dairy. The first time I had the lethargy and actually had some dizzy spells. This time it is more like a bad cold...then again, maybe I just have a bad cold. :-)

Actually, I recently dropped fruit, nuts, chocolate, and pork rinds...

Now the sweetest food I consume regularly is half-and-half.

I feel a little more clear-headed, and my cravings for sugar have subsided, perhaps even disappeared.

I tried eating fewer than 10 grams of CHO per day and always felt off and a bit "puny". It was though my body was working very hard to do something inside. I increased to 12 or 14, and felt much better. Some days I feel quite well at 12 or 14g of CHO. Other days I need 16 or 18.

Dr. Richard Bernstein, who wrote The Diabetes Solution, recommends that if you need to raise your blood sugar, to do it in 2gm increments. I find that brilliant.

I follow Dr. Kurt Harris' dietary guidelines.

http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/

Here is a link to read parts of Dr. Bernstein's book online. He explains a great deal about how to eat to have stable blood sugar. He recommends 30g CHO per day. Breakfast: 6, Lunch and dinner each 6, as well as keeping the protein amounts constant from breakfast to breakfast each day, lunch to lunch, etc.

http://www.diabetes-book.com/readit.shtml

I think Dr. Bernstein is amazing. His book made a strong impression on me. It gave me the courage to go from low carb to very low carb. I feel very much better for having done so.

I think it is different for each person, but after having quite a remarkable 3-week response to involuntarily reducing my need for carbs, I then read about it and determined that it was probably induction that I had experienced. I thought that was that, and only recently realized that after a few months of low carb, I was actually still burning sugar, either from the slightly increased amount of carbs or the extra protein. I had noticed this many times before (usually when trying something a bit more strict, like Rosedale) and had attributed it to "too little protein". No wonder there was a plateau. I only discovered it was re-induction when I started to do the leptin reset and ate lots of protein but was very strict about the snacks. Now I know the induction pattern, and I do find myself repeating the process again and again if I am off low carb for several days. Now, it only takes a day for me to get back, but it makes for a tough evening. Jittery, anxious, wanting to eat something, not knowing what it is. Going to the fridge and looking at stuff, "maybe if I eat this", "maybe that". Thinking like this is going to kill me. I can't sleep, that is, I am sure I won't be able to sleep. Everything is negative. Of course, if I did either eat something or not eat something, I wake up feeling fine and wondering what all the fuss is about. If I didn't eat anything, I am fine all day as long as I stay on plan. If I ate the wrong things the night before, then I have to roll the rock all the way up the hill the next day.