South Beach and anxiety

January 7, 2009 6:11 AM

Started a low-carb diet. Anxiety has hit the roof. Anyone have experience with this?

Started a low-carb diet couple of weeks back. A quasi South Beach type of meals--very little grains or starchy vegetables, but plenty of other veggies, legumes, meats, and dairy. I've noticed that I've been more anxious lately. Of course, it could just be coincidence, but am wondering if they are related. What's going on? Advice on lowering anxiety would help, as well as suggestions for adjusting what I'm eating. Also, any other surprises that I should know about related to eating low-carb?
Thanks.

posted by jujube to food & drink (14 comments total)

I've heard that when you lower the amount of carbs you eat, your brain stops regulating serotonin, which helps control one's mood.
posted by Lucinda at 6:27 AM on January 7

For me, eliminating something from my diet completely, especially something my body needs (in this instance, complex carbs) makes me go crazy. I mean, I literally get manic if I try to cut something out that I am used to having. First my body feels weirdly hungry and crave-y (not just hunger pangs, but craving in a whole body, I-can-feel-it-in-my-fingertips kind of way). I think it's equal parts psychological and physical. For me, cutting out things my body expects to have that it needs to function well are a sure way to make my body feel "off" and as a result make me feel pretty manic. YMMV but never underestimate the mind-body connection.
posted by Rudy Gerner at 6:29 AM on January 7

I can't address the Anxiety Part A of the question (are you drinking more coffee than usual?), but as to Part B, here's my experiences:

1. I went on a LC diet in my 20s and experienced no constipation. Now that I'm in my 30's, I expected the same, but found myself completely stopped up. Eat your fiber! Lots of it! If you don't, be sure to supplement with a (sugar-free) fiber drink daily.

2. Be careful of the legumes. I know you're on a quasi-SB diet, but some beans contain a surprising amount of carbs. Little powerhouses, those beans.

3. I found the going and the menu easier if I settled with 2-3 dishes and simply rotated. This doesn't work for a lot of people who love variety, but it really helped me.

Good luck!
posted by unixrat at 6:32 AM on January 7

Well, some people become euphoric on low-carb diets and it's believed to be caused by ketones, which are formed when you're not taking in carbs. Perhaps your brain reacts differently to ketones than other people. You can Google ketosis if you want to read more about it.

The other thing you might notice is nasty breath or a nasty taste in your mouth - affectionately called "keto breath" or "ketosis breath" - also due to the ketones. If you resort to using breath mints to cover it up, obviously make sure they are sugar-free.
posted by cabingirl at 6:36 AM on January 7

If you're doing the South Beach, you should be eating whole grains by the start of week 3... think 3/4 cup worth at every meal.
Can't explain the anxiety thing, unless it's simply the mental stress of going on a diet. For me, the 'Beach is a lifestyle not a diet, and that attitude adjustment made a big difference. I've done it 2 years and counting and have never looked better.
posted by chickaboo at 6:36 AM on January 7

Your brain is mad because it's not getting the glucose it craves.

I personally would not consume a fiber supplement per the advice of unixrat above me. It's my opinion that they inhibit your body's ability to absorb nutrients. I would include some healthy fats in your diet ie. almonds, cashews, peanuts - These include plenty of fiber and they help maintain a good balance in your diet. Don't overdo it, though, because they are very dense in calories.

There is always a big adjustment period when entering into a low carb diet because most of us are used to blood sugar swings and relatively consistent fuel supplies for our brain - The low carb diet changes all of that.

I've found in my experience with clients that the typical adjustment period is about a month. After that ingestion of large quantities of carbohydrates will make you feel like hell - the opposite of what you're experiencing right now.
posted by Macallister Vagabond at 6:52 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

I have definitely experienced this - The one thing that I never considered is how much I was using food to cope with the stressors of every day life. Carbs are like a drug to me. They make me calmer. Just being aware of that helped a great deal.

I also think the 2 week induction period is too low-carb for me. What I found is that I had to add a few more carbs back into my diet (just a few) and it completely took the edge off.

I have to scale WAY back on caffiene because my energy hits the roof. As far as anxiety goes, practicing yoga or stretching, drinking hot teas and hot baths help me. Good amounts (30 to 45 minutes, minimum) of cardio daily wear me out and help me to sleep better at night. Good sex helps, too. ;D

Also, if I get anxious, I try to learn a new skill to change my state and give me something to focus my energies into. For me, it's painting, writing, cooking new dishes or knitting - Any thing I can do with my hands that stimulates my brain. And when all else fails, I am not above cleaning the house from top to bottom to help relieve some stress.
posted by inquisitrix at 7:45 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]

I did some low carb dieting in college, and one thing you might want to take a look at is whether or not you are actually getting enough to eat....After I had done the diet for a while, I started not to have any appetite and would only realize that I needed to eat when I got irritable or got a bad headache. Is it possible that you are just hungry, but don't feel hungry the same way you used to?
posted by mjcon at 7:50 AM on January 7

When I did a strict atkins diet about ten years ago, after a few months I ended up with anxiety so severe that I couldn't sleep for 36-48 hours at a time. When I was talking to another doctor about a lower-carb diet, I mentioned my anxiety disorder experience and he indicated that it wasn't the first time he had heard a similar story. So, in my anecdotal experience, no, anxiety is not uncommon on a very carb-restricted diet and it can get much worse.
posted by sugarfish at 8:04 AM on January 7

I have definitely experienced this - The one thing that I never considered is how much I was using food to cope with the stressors of every day life. Carbs are like a drug to me. They make me calmer. Just being aware of that helped a great deal.

and

I did some low carb dieting in college, and one thing you might want to take a look at is whether or not you are actually getting enough to eat....After I had done the diet for a while, I started not to have any appetite and would only realize that I needed to eat when I got irritable or got a bad headache. Is it possible that you are just hungry, but don't feel hungry the same way you used to?

Absolutely true (in my experience). One of the things that makes low carb diets work is that carbohydrates are like a drug for some people. Myself included. When I go low carb, I start to feel "clear", to the point of almost anxiety. It's like I'm on amphetamines. It was distracting at first, but then it started to feel normal. When I'd cheat and eat some cake or chips or a pizza, I'd feel like I'd been drugged.

As to the getting enough calories, that's also an issue. The thing with carbs, especially the delicious starchy ones, is that they also come with a healthy dose of fats. The fat+carb combo is very calorie dense. When you cut those out, you are reducing your calorie intake greatly. Carbs also tend to move slowly through the ol' tract, delivering both a quick fix, and a slow burn of energy. Protein, for me, was narrower in its effect. When I'm on a "normal" high carb diet, I only need to eat once or twice a day. When I'm on low-carb, it's more like 4-5 times.

The carb+fat combo is also not as satiety-inducing. I can eat an entire bag of Doritos, feel like I'm going to puke, yet still be hungry. But if I eat a steak, I feel full before I'm even done. And the fattiest, most delicious steak you can find is going to have probably a third of the calories as that bag of Doritos. In the "how much you can eat before feeling full" metric, protein+fat hits "the spot" with much fewer calories. I mean, just look at the calorie counts of protein-only foods. Two eggs and some bacon is downright filling, and you might be talking 280 calories there. Adding a single biscuit or donut or bagel easily doubles that, if not more.

Drink plenty of water, too. A high protein diet needs a lot of water. And it helps with the constipation issues. I found that I had to eat some psillium with each meal to keep things moving right. But I had to vary the dose depending on the meal. Chicken and nuts would lock me up for days. Steak and spinach, quite the opposite. What I like about psillium is that it acts, for me, like a binder and a buffer. It tends to make what I eat trend toward the center, bowel movement quality speaking.

(Also, don't be fooled by some of the high protein foods out there. Even though the numbers were right, things like those snack bars and tofu just didn't have the same weight loss effect for me as a big slab of meat. I'm not sure why, but I suspect it has to do with how easily they are digested. Those things are in essence, just protein powder conglomerated together. Once it's in the tract, it breaks up and is more easily digested than meat.)

(And the glucose thing- yes, your body does get pissed when it loses its supply of easy energy. It makes you ravenous because it goes into a sort of starvation mode. It is more energy intensive to convert fat and protein to usable energy than it is for carbs. But after a few days of eating regularly, it realizes that you aren't starving and gets used to burning fat. But our bodies DO have a perfectly functional mechanism for converting fat to usable energy. Otherwise, we wouldn't get fat.

I believe it's just one of those instinct/biological imperative things. Your body goes crazy when food sources change. That's why a lot of other diets fail and low protein works for many people- a standard carb-based low calorie diet forces your body to go from the sugar burning mode to the fat burning mode many times a day. And that makes you crazy, multiple times a day. However, once you cut the carbs out and your body makes the switch, you are in that mode to stay and you calm down.

True starvation mode is when your body is converting it's own protein into energy. If you are eating enough protein, your body will burn its own fat and use the protein you eat for its protein needs. That's the difference.)

(And get plenty of exercise to build up your muscles at the same time. Nothing burns calories like hungry muscles. As long as you are eating enough protein, they will repair themselves properly. Both of these are another reason high-carb low calorie diets fail, you don't get the protein you need to maintain muscle mass. You'll lose weight, but part of it will be from loss of muscle mass, and you end up being even less fit than when you started.)
posted by gjc at 8:31 AM on January 7 [7 favorites]

...only carbohydrate consumption naturally stimulates production of serotonin....Carbohydrates raise serotonin levels naturally and act like a natural tranquilizer.

posted by Lucinda at 10:12 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]

I used to self-medicate with carbs before I started taking Zoloft. I'm not kidding. The carb = anxiety connection is fascinating to me.
posted by jeanmari at 7:33 PM on January 7

Your brain is mad because it's not getting the glucose it craves requires.

Fixed that for you. Fat and Protein molecules are too big to fit through the blood brain barrier. Sugar molecules do fit through the barrier.

Without sufficient carbs your brain starts to starve. Then your body starts breaking down fat and/or protein to make sugar. This process is very very iniefficient and creates a lot of ammonia. In order to get rid of the ammonia, you pee. A lot. And since pee is mostly (ha!) water, people loose weight. Until they start drinking more water to compensate. Or until they get sick of feeling...sick.

No and low carb diets poison your body.

Eat some quinoa (a lovely whole grain) and lose weight the only way that works - expend more energy than you take in.
posted by bilabial at 7:35 PM on January 7

No and low carb diets poison your body.

Complete and utter crap.

A diet free of simple sugars, starches, and bleached flour while high in fat, fiber, and fresh vegetables is the healthiest way a human can eat.

Don't drink bilabial's high fructose corn syrup kool-aid.
posted by unixrat at 11:43 AM on January 8