I started the diet last Monday and I found the low calorie element quite easy, I am prediabetic so feel suitable motivated. However, I had the abandon the diet yesterday as I have started to suffer from severe anxiety and lack of sleep. Googling, it seems that insulin plays a part in producing serotonin and I think I have had a serotonin crash…. I am flabbergasted how major a response I have had. I have had some minor issues with anxiety in the past but this was quite a severe reaction. So I guess low carbs is not for me. Its so frustrating, I will still loose weight but it looks like a slow and steady approach for me. Googling on the internet I have found a couple of examples where people have had a reaction like this but it doesnt seem common place. Has this triggered anxiety or depression for anyone else on here? Cant believe I am unique

I’ve not heard of any similar reactions at all. I’m sorry to hear of your problems but the diet itself needn’t be out of reach. If you have plenty of fruit veg and complex carbs on maybe one of the slower versions like the 5:2 or 4:3 or way of life, so just avoiding the damaging white stuff then you can still get the health benefits, just a bit slower. It may be worth a try.

Hi Sprite

Might be worth a quick look at a book I recently added to my Kindle. Dr Tim Cantopher has written a couple of really excellent books which are easy reads and might provide other suggestions for how to resolve/identify possible other causes for these symptoms, rather than assuming that it is the food in the diet itself which is causing them. I’m not doubting what you say is happening, but it may be that other factors are also at play in stopping you sleep. ‘How to cure insomnia without really trying’ is available on Kindles/tablets as well as print version, and ‘Depressive Illness – the curse of the strong is also really helpful’. The latter not so relevant here but I mention it as I found it some of the content a revelation and hugely beneficial in identifying and then making necessary changes to my lifestyle which have had a direct impact on my weight loss.

Speaking as someone who has suffered stress/anxiety myself, I feel your pain.

Julia

hi sprite, it is possible that what you are suffering is carb flu and loss. When you completely changed something in your life, especially if you give something up, there is a period which is similar to mourning a loss. This can cause both the anxiety and sleeplessness. Carb flu is withdrawal from carbs which makes you feel like poo and you just want to wrap up warm and snuggle down somewhere quiet. These thing pass so, unless you have a history of depression and anxiety, dont give up the diet just yet. Or keep on but with a less rigid regime like the 5:2 or the Med diet. I guess I am lucky because I have not suffered from any effects from the diet except elation at the weight loss and better BG results. I did go through a period when I panicked that this diet affects the BG so quickly that I thought it might be dangerous but I got over that and have been following this way of eating for nearly 20 months, sometime on the 800 and sometime of the Med style when I want to have more calories – like holiday.

Dont fret, it will be okay. (Except for the bit about suffering from depression).

Hi Sprite,
I can’t really speak to your situation as I’m not an expert in anxiety by any means, but I can share my own story. I never experienced severe anxiety until 6 years ago when I was unlucky enough to be caught in a ‘reign of terror’ in my work unit. I managed to get out of that work unit within about 6 months but I was left with residual anxiety that manifested itself when waiting for elevators, waiting in line at the supermarket checkout, and when encountering running, screaming kids at the supermarket, all of which were completely unrelated to the initial situation in which I developed the anxiety, so it has left me a little baffled as to why. However, it seemed to lessen and then disappear over time, but my weight was creeping up over time as well. Now that I’ve lost 10kg, I have noticed some anxiety reappearing when I have to stand in line or wait for an elevator. I didn’t really think that I was using food to cope with anxiety, but it seems to have provided a numbing effect. I really hope that it goes away as I continue and get healthier overall.
Hope you can find a way of keeping on that works for you. I do find that in general having less sugar and other carbs in my diet seems to keep my mood more even.