sugar withdrawal

[Reastie]

I'm on day 8 today of no sugar. I feel a cheat in a way posting on here as I'm not low carbing, I'm just cutting out anything with any sort of sugar or sweetener added, white grains, and I'm gluten free.

Anyway, past 3-4 days I've been very tired and weak, unusually so. Past 2 days I've had aching legs which reached a whole new height last night where my body was actually in pain in a flu like way. Mainly my legs but all over to a lesser extent. I took pain killers which took the edge off but still painful and couldn't sleep.

I've had cravings for sugar all week but this pain is something else.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything I can do to help it (bar eating sugar!)? Will it last a long time?

I keep trying to tell myself it will be worth it in the long run...

Salt really helps, some salty soup or food, as when you change your diet this way, your kidneys process the salt through quicker. It does pass :)

Useful tip. I had some marmite this morning and will try having some at various points today in the hope it works. Urgh, it really aches and hurts. It had better pass soon :(

Marmite isn't gluten free. Depends how strict you need to be but not ok for coeliacs.

NOOOOOO really misssmiley. I've been having it for years and have been strict gluten free for years. Never noticed a reaction yet and usually I know if I've eaten a trace of the stuff

Regarding Marmite and gluten. I don't know how true this is but I read a letter on a coeliac forum which was supposed to have come from the manufacturers. Seems its down to the 20pp million thing. In the UK they can label anything with less than 20 parts per million of gluten as G/Free. This isn't true of stuff sold in Europe. The manufacturers sell abroad and don't want to have to use different labelling so they don't put anything on about allergens hence the confusion.

They also said that they 'wash' the yeast to remove as much barley as possible but its not a total guarantee. Some lucky people can eat it but even the tiniest scrap makes me ill now. Marmite and Vegemite are things I really miss. I did get some gluten free extract from Holland and Barrett but it was horrid and bitter.

You need to make sure you're getting plenty of sodium, magnesium and potassium - salt in cooking and on your food, salmon, spinach, avocado and natural full fat yoghurt will all help. Eat plenty of fat. You will be through it soon!

ow ow ow, it still hurts :(

I did some leg stretches earlier in the hope it helped, and have eaten a fair bit of marmite (very interesting miffy ). I've been eating lots of almonds today so will have had lots of fat and magnesium and have also had yoghurt for the potassium. It still really hurts though, how long will this last?

If it lasts for more than 2-3 days, I'd say something else is wrong - and I'd be tempted to go and see the GP.

One way to test out if it's just the withdrawal from sugar/carbs is to eat something carby - try some wholemeal toast with butter and Marmite, and have some carbier veg with your meal. If you feel better after that, then it's a sign that it's carb flu. If it makes no difference, then it's something else.