Mental health worsening after 8 day on carnivore diet?

newbies
#21

Okay, thank you. Will stick with the ZC plan for now!

#22

Cool. There are great carnivores here to help you when ya ask questions with alot of experience. Rock on!

#23

Itā€™s individual. Both the need for gradual change (I couldnā€™t even do keto before a long time on low-carb but thatā€™s me. some people make even the crazy HCLF -> keto jump, it seems worse than HCHF -> keto, of course there are other factors making the woe change super hard, physically or mentally) and the extra carbs.
You already eat some carbs from animal food but it may be super little. I eat 3-20g carbs on carnivore days.
I would add whatever sounds helpful for my sanity - but not super high carb items if possible. I usually add some vegetables I still like, all suits egg and meat very well. I never add green leaves as I always disliked most of them. And I eat zillion other things, from zero net carb items to sugary ones, just because I like them, sometimes mildly desire them and have them and my body handles them fineā€¦
I still have times when I get bored of my carni food (I make sure I never run out of meat, that wasnā€™t good) or when I really want something different and I have my mostly harmless items for those times. As long as I donā€™t eat them in big amounts or frequently, I am very happy with it - but even my boldest plan is doing carnivore-ish with occasional off days, not carnivore so donā€™t listen to me :smiley: I converge to carnivore (this far) but I definitely wonā€™t resist temptation or do anything hard. But the price is that I go off too often and it will take a longer time to arrive to my ideal woe (but itā€™s not like I had another option and itā€™s good enough. carnivore sped up things and gave me benefits right away unlike keto).

So you should decide or rather figure out what works best for you. Doing the strictest thing you can without problems sounds good to me but sometimes one needs to do the hard thing for health, you not doing this gradually probably means inevitable serious hardshipsā€¦ And sometimes doing the strictest woe you can is unneeded. But due to eliminating most things and being a pretty good woe for many (eventually and doing it right, at least), strict carnivore can be a great starting point even then (if the one in question feels okay on it), even if it wonā€™t be the final, ideal woe or itā€™s simply (seemingly?) unneeded.
I donā€™t think one should eat carbs just because they can handle them (some people think that). I can handle carbs moderately well (extremely well if itā€™s occasional) and I donā€™t think I have a single item that considered edible and makes me feel bad in not huge amounts (if I eat it with the right items). But my body still likes extreme low-carb and I prefer having almost only very nutritious, good stuff, it makes sense. So I train myself to be able to stay very close to carnivore almost all the time. It just feels right. My body prefers that even if it doesnā€™t complain much when I add carbs. And my own body surely knows what is best for it.

Good luck! If itā€™s too hard, you may try to relax your ways a little but donā€™t give up, carnivore easily may be the best for you. But no wonder you donā€™t feel it right away, you made a very drastic step!

#24

I know Iā€™ve said thank you a lot, but I do really appreciate the responses. Youā€™ve all been very helpful.

#25

we are here for you and I hope you know we got a real carnivore zc thread running for us carnivores here. Just check ZC threads and join us if you want itā€¦we eat so diff. than many and we support each other thru it!!

(Robin) #26

@carnipaws, How are things going?

#27

Thanks for checking in. Still really rough unfortunately. Iā€™ve committed to this diet and Iā€™m going to give it 90 days before I completely blow it off as it seems like a perfect fit on paper. Still, blows that Iā€™m without any hints of benefits yet when Iā€™m in desperate need of them.

#28

I do not want to be too invasive but what ā€˜mental issuesā€™ are we chatting here? You never quite said what mental effects are hitting you? Is it more private thoughts and anxiety and life hitting stronger or is it just those darn mental cravings and dealing with eating events like social issues etc. that are smacking your brain hard?

So if willing to expand on what you are facing would be good to help you more clearly further on what issues but also if it is coming from SAD into carnivore, I would think your mental state on deprivation of missing tons of food would be very darn tough :slight_smile:

so just some thoughts about how you are doing and what help you might need to help talk you thru some issues maybe

#29

Pretty rough anxiety and depression which has developed without any apparent reason in the last 3 years. My life is great on paper, there truly is no reason for me to feel this way. At the same I also developed acne, fatigue and brain fog. I figure that it could be an inflammation issue and my diet was a great place to start because of how grossly poor it was before. To be honest if it isnā€™t my diet Iā€™m stumped as to what it is. This is my best bet which is why Iā€™m so committed to it.

(Robin) #30

Curious nowā€¦ Have to ask if you take any meds that might cause these symptoms, like statins, post cancer meds (like for breast cancer, in my case),etc. You can take a med for years and suddenly have new side effects. Statins for cholesterol gave me all of your symptoms!

#31

Nope never taken any meds other than paracetamol and stuff like that. Iā€™ve even gone completely sober which didnā€™t help unfortunately. There was just a whole deterioration of my health, physical and mental, which canā€™t be explained by anything which went on in my life.

#32

How old are you, and are you female? Might it be peri menopause? Iā€™m not sure there is an antidote to that other than timeā€¦ But a healthy diet should get you through faster.

#33

23 year old male

#34

Oh wow, so the complete other end of the spectrum. I know of some young males who continued to grow until age 23-ish!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #35

Personally, I find that it is carbohydrate that interferes with my serotonin and also gives me acne, fatigue, and brain fog. As long as I avoid carbohydrate to the extent possible (given the realities of my life), I have no acne, I am fully functional (despite my fatigue syndrome), and my brain works just fine. I am even off all of my asthma meds and havenā€™t needed an antidepressant in a couple of years.

(Robin) #36

Well! I am at a lossā€¦ except hoping you will find that time on plan )keto or ZC) will eventually help you as dramatically.

#37

This is good to hear. Iā€™m not expecting to cure my issues but to find some relief would be great.

#38

I second what Paul said.

Plus add in your body is handling massive changes. Your body is truly detoxing and withdrawing from sugar. It can really mess with us, since you came in from SAD into a strict menu, you are tackling real hard physical body changes/detoxing/withdrawl at maybe a very high content so you could have mental fog and alot more issues. I truly can see this being relieved as long as you hold your plan tightly and let the withdrawl and good benefits come, you should definitely improve.

So I feel, in my non-doctor opinion LOL that you only will have good results coming to you when you get thru adaption time, which could be a little long for ya, but being younger, I feel your strength and age is a huge factor to help you also :slight_smile:

You hold strong!!

#39

Thank you for the encouraging words

#40

Yes you have to think of ā€˜your adaption timeā€™ into a new eating plan, from SAD AND AT the holiday season is gonna weigh heavily on you.

Thing is real physical body changes can smack us hard and of course we wonder about them and think WTH? cause we never experienced them before and thinkā€¦again, WTF is happening here but alot of experienced people who walked this path had to go thru issues like you and dealā€¦but there is a good life on the other side after our bodies leech all those toxins and dump all the ick from our bodiesā€¦there is better health and mental clarity and overall well being improved and our lives get a heck of alot better!

So you hold on strong. Come chat up any feelings or physical body issues you have during this change and there are so many great people on this board with smarts to give good advice.

Sending good vibes, I know you will do well! Just be sure to EAT very well. Eat all you need at all time. Your food is to be your total vehicle on improving and changing so you must eat good and strong and all you require to help the body change and heal. Donā€™t limit, skimp or restict food at all. It is always OK to feed the body ā€˜the good foodā€™ at all times :slight_smile: This is exactly what is required to enact full time long term healthy change for our bodies. Go for it, eat up well!