So, I’m 60, gained a lot of weight in past few years, stress and carbs. Now have impaired fasting blood sugar and feel terrible scared into trying this. I know the theory, and lost around 12 kg a few years ago heavily cutting carbs. However, almost immediately I started sleeping really badly and becoming more and more anxious, and eventually became close to suicidal and almost lost my job.
I’ve been very wary since then, but I think that was the start of worse carb cravings and comfort eating. Now I really have to tackle this, but 3 days in I am waking at 3 am panicking and sweating and then can’t get back to sleep, so exhausted all day and fighting negative thoughts and cravings.
Any advice? I so want this to succeed, but my job is very stressful and if my anxiety is sky high and I’m not sleeping it will be almost impossible…

Hi jmh1,
welcome to the forum and to your new future with the BSD! I know how serious it is when you are not sleeping well and how quickly it can derail your best efforts to eat well.
The research out there has recognized that your problem is not unusual — carbohydrates and sugar in particular are very calming and go directly to our brain where they elicit a hormonal response.
This is magnified if you are also giving up or limiting any alcohol intake.
As you begin, your body is not only dealing with all that but also with the demands of high insulin levels driving you to WANT to eat (insulin is your “fat storage hormone and it rises in response to eating simple carbohydrates).
There is good news in this scenario though — as you continue to follow the diet, even imperfectly (so if you get derailed, just start again as soon as the very next meal), you will quickly lower your insulin in your body and the “drive” to eat carbohydrates will ease.
Please try out the “mindfulness” suggestions from the book to help calm the anxiety and fear you are dealing with and some one else from the forum will come along and suggest good ways to help your sleep.
Almost everyone experiences HUGE improvement in their sleep after a few weeks — so try to just not panic that this is making it worse forever.
There are many here who struggled with these same problems, including stressful jobs, who have found success. It will work for you too — don’t give up — you are going to amaze yourself.

Hi jmh1 – sorry you are struggling right now, but well done on persisting with the BSD so far. The information Californiagirl has given is solid and you should find once your body has fully adjusted to the low carb regime, your general well being will markedly improve. The ‘mindfulness’ suggestion is a good one and if you are able to do this, it should help you to manage your stress and anxiety – even simple meditation methods like focusing on your breathing can be effective.

There are sleep aiding pillow mists on the market, but putting a few drops of lavender oil on your pillow should aid restful sleep and sandalwood is balancing, so try a little of that too – it’s a combination I have found useful in the past.

If you can manage to stick with the BSD for the first couple of weeks, your body will adjust and your sleep should settle into a normal pattern and your energy levels and sense of wellbeing should improve. However, if you really find it impossible and you again find yourself suffering suicidal thoughts, I suggest backing off and consulting your doctor.

Hi jmh1, I thought it would reassure you to have another voice saying that they also struggled with sleep patterns at the start, to pass on what the cause is thought to be, and tell you how I worked through it.
I cut out carbs in stages, I started by cutting out the “big white”, bread, rice, pasta, sugar, potatoes. I struggled to sleep for a few weeks after making this change. – When weight loss slowed I started to monitor the level of carbs I was eating and work to reduce that towards 20g, and went through a period of sleeplessness again.

“Shifting to a low-carb diet may have you tossing and turning due to the subtle chemical changes that result. It’s mostly a lack of serotonin in the brain that’s the culprit.
While lots of foods eaten as part of a low-carb diet (such as nuts and certain meats) are high in sleep-inducing tryptophan, your body requires insulin to convert this chemical into serotonin — the “good stuff.” A low-carb diet tends to reduce the body’s production of insulin, possibly wreaking havoc on your sleep patterns.”
———————————
I didn’t buy any serotonin suppliments, but it is something to consider, and maybe discuss with your doctor rather than dropping low carb.

I used to feel stressed out by not being able to get to sleep, but realised that by worrying about not being able to get to sleep I was just making it worse. I learned to roll with it, spending time in an evening relaxing with a book or soaking in the bath, going to bed when I felt sleepy. When I started to look at it as giving my body time to rest even if my brain was not asleep it took away the stress. It took me a few weeks to each time to get beyond the period were I struggled to get to sleep. Also there have been times that my sleep has been broken because I have to get up during the night to go to the toilet, which wasn’t a pattern prior to the weight loss. – But my sleep is also deeper and I do feel refreshed and ready for the day. Its well worth staying with this way of eating if you can, and thinking of it as being a process for dealing with an addiction.

Thanks, all – I get to sleep fine, but wake around 3 am having nightmares, then struggle to get back to sleep. I already practise mindfulness, and do this when I am wakeful. My real fear is that last time I went low carb this situation just steadily got worse as time went on. Would it help to take some slow release carb at bedtime, or would this mess the plan up?

Hello, jmh1. Have you ever considered a melatonin supplement? I’ve had a sleep disorder for almost 20
years, and sometimes this can help. I routinely wake up at 3:00am as though an alarm has gone off in my head!
Getting to sleep isn’t the problem, but staying asleep is. I’ve just learned to go with it, for stressing about
it only seems to make it worse. Taking a vitamin D supplement can be helpful too, particularly from Oct.
thru April. Fortunately I don’t have a work schedule to adhere to, so I simply grab sleep whenever it presents
itself. Excercize, melatonin (5mg) and Vit. D do seem to help, and becoming fixated upon loss of sleep
doesn’t. I hope that this settles down to a pattern that can work for you! I don’t think that eating extra
carbs is the answer, though. All the best,

Allie

When you cut out a lot of carbs, the body has to switch from burning glucose to burning fat. The brain burns glucose. It can’t burn fat. However, burning fat in the body produces ketones which the brain actually then can use. For the brain to switch from burning glucose to burning ketones is not a painless process and there is a period of adjustment.

I am no expert but when I started this diet I found that I went through a depressive period around a week or two in. I think that was the period when the brain is switching from glucose to ketones for energy.

For the first week of the diet you use up your glucose and glycogen in your body and you will drop a lot of water weight. You probably will get up multiple times in the night getting rid of that water. On days four and five of the diet I was up 5 times a night! After 4 more days I was back to normal, not needing to get up, and I had lost 6 pounds. I was very strict about carbs and only ate lean protein and green veggies. At about this time I noticed my mood changing, and I would get inexplicably sad for no reason at all. I then made sure that I had some carbs every day, usually from root veggies like carrots, beets or parsnip, plus I ate lots of lentils and other beans. i don’t know whether that made the difference but I know I never went into major ketosis (I used the strips) and I found my mood steadied down and improved.

As I said, I’m no expert. Don’t hesitate to talk to your Doctor if you need to.

Jande, your personal account has been very interesting to read, so thank you for sharing it! My experience
was quite different, and probably unique to me, but when I cut the evil carbs down to 20g or less, I had such
a blast of energy and an elevation of mood that I hardly knew what to do with myself! No need for keto sticks,
I knew for certain that I had entered the world of ketosis 🙂 For many years I had suffered from chronic fatigue
syndrome, and suddenly it was gone! I’ve stayed in “the zone” ever since, and you couldn’t pay me enough
to ever go back. Who needs anti depressants when dietary changes can make such a difference?

Allie

Well, yes, more clarity and energy during the day, but the hee ie jeebies in the small hours, and thatw as how i felt before -for months, and despite my satisfaction with the weight loss.

Hi jmh1,
Well done for trying. Sometimes it can seem so hard. I have just started myself about a week and a half ago. I noticed a lot of headaches in the beginning and I don’t sleep well either (although that isn’t to do with the diet for me, I am just a serial worrier. I wake up about two or three times a night). I noticed someone mentioned meditation which I think would be useful. Have you heard of the app ‘headspace’. It has different mindfulness sessions that you can follow, some only as short as 5mins and it can really help to reduce anxiety. Also it has loads of sleep meditations and sound scapes. It sounds like you are having a hard time but it’s great that you are doing this. One day at a time. Good luck man!! 🙂

Thanks all, been doing Headspace for years, starting to sleep a bit better now , tried eating earlier in the evening!