Unexpected benefits of low carbing...

[ImSoOverIt]

A few of us are going through the dreaded carb flu as we speak, so I thought those who have done this before might like to post about how lc-ing has benefitted them, expected or otherwise! May also be useful to post weight loss success stories? Then in the darkest hours of nausea and brain fog we can see what we are doing this for!

So - I'll start. Having always been a very "windy" vegetarian, I have found that when I low carb I don't fart. Ever. Or get bloated. At all. My tummy is as flat in the evening as when I get up in the morning.

Good idea.

I don't fart either and I'm terribly farty

For me, it's all about the fact that the acne that I've had for 20 years has gone. Stuff the 1st weight loss, it's nothing compared to the joy of having no spots!

Carb flu? What's that? Nooooo I got really busy time at work.

Oh what fuckery - on what day are you? Basically when all your carbs and glycogen stores are depleted, there can sometimes be a lag where your body hasn't quite switched to burning fat for energy. Essentially you can feel really low in energy, achy, sometimes nauseous and generally crap. Have you ever gone for ages without eating? It is a bit like that feeling. It hits different people at different times, for me it reaches it's peak around day 5. The good news is is that once you are over this hump, you feel great! Instead of the peaks and troughs you get with meals when you are eating carbs, you just feel great all the time.

The key is to have faith and keep going!

Oh what fuckery - on what day are you? Basically when all your carbs and glycogen stores are depleted, there can sometimes be a lag where your body hasn't quite switched to burning fat for energy. Essentially you can feel really low in energy, achy, sometimes nauseous and generally crap. Have you ever gone for ages without eating? It is a bit like that feeling. It hits different people at different times, for me it reaches it's peak around day 5. The good news is is that once you are over this hump, you feel great! Instead of the peaks and troughs you get with meals when you are eating carbs, you just feel great all the time.

The key is to have faith and keep going!

Beeny - me too! I have found that fat and oil are your best friend in fighting spots. I used the oil cleansing method on my skin for a while and it sorted it out completely! Now I can't be arsed with the faff, but I now use the richest, most moisturising products I can, and now my skin is plump and clear, it is no longer desperately pumping out oil in response to me using harsh products. I think acne is closely linked to problems like pcos and insulin resistance which are all linked to poor glycemic control.

Not feeling knackered after every meal and not constantly craving sweet stuff (once over the carb flu) have been a revelation for me.

My cellulite has disappeared!

For those of us who are cutting out booze for now, this article (hope link works as you may need to log in) basically says that no amount of alcohol is a safe amount when it comes to cancer risk, and alcohol is officially now regarded as a carcinogen. That may help you stay inspired to stay off the sauce!

For those of us who are cutting out booze for now, this article (hope link works as you may need to log in) basically says that no amount of alcohol is a safe amount when it comes to cancer risk, and alcohol is officially now regarded as a carcinogen. That may help you stay inspired to stay off the sauce!

For those of us who are cutting out booze for now, this article (hope link works as you may need to log in) basically says that no amount of alcohol is a safe amount when it comes to cancer risk, and alcohol is officially now regarded as a carcinogen. That may help you stay inspired to stay off the sauce!

For those of us who are cutting out booze for now, this article (hope link works as you may need to log in) basically says that no amount of alcohol is a safe amount when it comes to cancer risk, and alcohol is officially now regarded as a carcinogen. That may help you stay inspired to stay off the sauce!

I have been doing a online course for about a year. It's very dry and I have not done much. But it the 10 weeks I have been low carbing, I have lots of energy, and I don't get afternoon hunger/ tired and have found the energy to get on with my coursework - I got 94% in my neuroscience essay! It never seemed possible before!

I've been using far, far less toilet paper....sorry if to much information lol x

My IBS symptoms disappeared when I started low carbing. Also never have thrush any more - used to be a monthly occurrence.

I used to run to the loo after almost every meal and I'd be crippled with wind always. My tummy has been much better since I cut the carbs x

The total complete end to my terrible IBS which is very much of the 'd' variety. A complete revelation and although I'm not doing boot camp this time I still don't eat bread and I was a bread monster.

It also completely broke my addiction to diet coke - I can't drink it anymore.

On day three-hooray! I do feel lethargic today and muscles ache.
I've noticed everything tastes sweet-my scrambled eggs, my mid morning cheese stick snack, water. Weird.
I'm not as trumpy or pooey as I was either. But my stomach is gurgling.

Another thing I remember is that I didn't get a single migraine last bc. Just recently I was getting almost daily migraines or at least some aura symptoms every day.

Lo and behold this bc (I started on Saturday) I have not had a single migraine. Certainly when I was a carby twat, missing a meal, or having a lie in at the weekend so having a later breakfast would often trigger a migraine.

I have since done my own research into this, and there is some speculation that a ketogenic diet may be beneficial for migraine sufferers. A ketogenic diet is certainly a known treatment for epilepsy in children (there is some evidence that epilepsy and migraine may have similar mechanisms) and in fact before there were such effective antiepileptic drugs, ketogenic diets were used to reduce seizure frequency dating back to the 19th century.

It seems that ketones can be neuro protective, a high fat low carb diet may reduce the risk of dementia.

This is all from fairly reliable sources iirc (I am a medical student). I will see if I can dig out links.

It is interesting that I remember when I was younger, and one of my friends at school was diabetic, she was not "allowed" to eat sugar at all (remember "diabetic" chocolate anyone?). Now that drug therapy and treatment for diabetes has advanced, it seems to be the fashion that diabetics can eat pretty much what they want, and their insulin therapy is adapted to their diet, rather than the other way round, I.e. adapting their diet. It just seems so odd, eat lots of carbs/sugar, therefore increase insulin, which will keep blood sugars at a safe level, but will of course probably cause weight gain. This is effectively what happens naturally in the body of any non-diabetic person who eats lots of carbs.

Anyway, rambling now, I am no expert and hope I have not offended any diabetics with my simplistic take on things - from what I have seen on placement it is a horrible disease to live with and advances in treatments certainly help people to lead more normal lives - I couldn't begin to imagine what it is like to live with it.

Sorry about all the multiple posts! Mn was being very weird for me yesterday, anyone else?

I used to have terrible energy drops before meals when my blood sugar dropped. If I was half an hour late for a meal I'd feel dreadful and shaky and ill. I don't get that any more, my energy is much more even. I went out for supper recently and we didn't get served until 10.30. Everyone else was dropping going 'I'm STARVING, I'm going to pass out.' I just sat there feeling fine .

My skin is so much softer. No more dry elbows. And so many people have commented on how much more well I look. Apparently I looked either very flushed or very very pale before and pretty bloated and puffy (I had no idea). Now my skin is glowing.

I had terrible pain from Interstitial Cystitis. It's gone, none remaining. A few times I've gone to a party and eaten quite a lot of cake or alcohol and it gets sore again the next day, but it's pretty miraculous otherwise.

I get to indulge my greed. Roast pork belly, roast duck, roast lamb... I am so greedy and every day I get to feast. That makes me happy. Everything tastes so good.

Definitely a bit less IBS, which wasn't ever horrendous but still nice to have gotten rid of it.

I'm just walking around feeling so smug and superior. That's a nice feeling too.

That's interesting low carb - I get intermittent pelvic pain from endometriosis. It is on/off and hard to identify what triggers it (have a Mirena so not related to periods anymore as I don't get them) but I haven't had any pain since I started lc on Saturday...

Fingers crossed it stays that way I'mSoOverIt. I have heard of other people clearing up ain from endometriosis this way, and also conceiving when they've been told it's impossible.

Another ibs no more story here. I have been on three a day colofac because of my ibs- just to keep it in control. Bootcamp stops it. In a day. So much so that the carb flu doesn't 'get' me as badly- I'm so relieved not to be pooing (tmi ) or windy or in pain etc

In fact, I'm quite angry that my gp has left me on long term meds when I obviously should have been looking more closely at my diet

And yy to greed. This really does allow for greed, not least because most of what you eat has always been 'naughty' in conventional eating. There's no way I would have eaten confit duck, cheese stuffed chicken, pork terrine, roast pork belly and crackling ,before bootcamp, without feeling guilt - and putting on weight- because of the carbs I was eating alongside, while blaming the delicious fat

Another no more IBS here too. As well as a wheat intolerance I would find that eating any kind of processed sugar (sweets, chocolate etc) would have a fairly swift laxative effect.

lo carb for me = no more bloating/farting/agonising cramps/violent diarrhoea at the most inappropriate times...

basically a huge quality of life increase

Less farting

Used to have wee bumps on my arms near the top, I've had them as long as I can remember they are much reduced on LC

Less hungry

Fewer headaches (except today) last BC I don't think I had any headaches for the whole 10 weeks which is amazing