Hi. I've been doing the Insulin Resistance Diet (the book by Hart and Grossman) for almost a week now. I've "practiced" up until now by trying to put certain meals together the right way and paying more attention to the foods I eat but this is the first week that I've done it completely by the book. I have cut way down on sugary foods obviously, but as I'm still eating dairy and certain fruits (apples, grapefruits) and obviously carbs linked with protein, it's not as if I'm getting no sugar, like on diets that put you into ketosis. I allow myself a dark chocolate "square" a day and sometimes a small peppermint at night. I am surprised however that I think I'm still experiencing some sugar withdrawal symptoms. A few headaches, but mostly fatigue at night and a LOT of brain fogginess. Just not able to concentrate. Like I can't tell you how many times in the past few days that I've set out to do something and two seconds later can't remember what it was I was going to do. I remember when I tried the first week of the Ideal Protein diet (way too extreme for me) I felt a lot of these symptoms, but I expected it considering I was consuming pretty much zero of any type of sugar. So I'm a little concerned. Has anyone else who has done this experienced these same symptoms? I'm feeling pretty good and already losing some weight (although I'm sure at this point it's all water), it's just the nighttime drowsiness and all day brain fogginess. Thoughts? Thanks!!

I'm not sure what to tell you....? My only advice is to start eating more "healthy" carbohydrates like fruits and vegetables and see if that helps. If it doesn't try lower it and see if that helps. Give it a little bit of time and keep track of what you're feeling, how much you slept, how much water you're drinking, etc., and see if there is a pattern...

I don't remember if that happens to me when I lower my carb intake and I'll have to test it again because my sugar intake has risen and I know I need to lower it again.

Are you sure there's nothing else that could be causing it? When I started IRD I had to cut out cola and that gave me terrible lethargy and fatigue, but that passed pretty quickly and might have had more to do with the caffeine than sugar. Outside of that I had no real issue. Is your new calorie intake vastly lower than what you would eat before?

Knoxie is right!

If you did take out sodas, for example, and they gave you lots of caffeine, for example, you may be feeling the caffeine withdrawls, rather than have it be carb/protein related.

I love this diet. This is what has been the mainstay of successful maintenance for me. I did have to make some adjustments to keep my appetite under control. I have to eat a bit more protein with my linking & link all fruits with protein. My body goes crazy if I eat any fruit alone. We are all different, but don't be shy about tweaking this diet a bit to suit your needs. Good Luck.

Hi Book girl,

I have had simillar experiences with low carbing. I have type 2 diabetes and thought I should cut out carbs, but I simply cannot tolerate less than 60 grams of carbs a day. I don't get head aches, but I get nauseous, and dizzy to the point where I feel like fainting, and it makes it impossible to function. However, at 60 carbs a day I can still control my blood sugar and keep it at normal levels.

So I don't know why you are doing low carb, if it is for weightloss then I am not sure what to advise you. If it is for blood sugar control, I suggest you find your floor, the minimum number of carbs you can function on. start at around 100 carbs a day and go down about 10 carbs a day each week. Once you find your floor, you can try staying there for a month and then try lowering the number of carbohydrates again.

Random question. Do you take metformin for your IR? I notice I tend to get some of these symptoms periodically when I am on it. Just a thought.

Do you include wheat?

I'm def wheat sensitive and I get the headache/brain fog thing from that.

Could checking your food log for that help?

A.