Low Carbs, Foggy Head, Frustration

[TITAN]

Im trying to get my diet sorted out.
Yesterday I had planned to work out after I got home and took care of a few things. By the time I should have headed to the gym I just didn't have the energy to go. I fell asleep.
My total carbs yesterday consisted of a half cup of cooked brown rice, three flour tortillas and a few hundred calories worth of vegetables. About 11am I had the sweet taste of ketosis in my mouth and it didn't really go away untill my girlfriend took me to Boston Market and I had the mashed potatoes and a piece of cornbread. Those carbs made me feel a million times better.

I don't want or need to be in Atkins' style Ketosis right? What I am trying to do is avoid insulin spikes from high Glycemic Index carbs correct? High Fiber/Protein/Fat is preferred because they make you feel full and are slow digesting and have an effect where they slow down the rate at which the carbs you do eat hit your bloodstream right? I don't really enjoy the low carb headache and even now I am starting to get the sweet taste in my mouth.

[TITAN]

I just noticed in Adam's Diet that it explicitly says to get a carb fix 45 minutes before you go to work out. Guess that would solve the lack of energy before going to work out wouldn't it? The pieces are starting to fit together...

[JoshDunn]

Is this the first time going low carb? I'm a carb addict so I still eat carbs just whole grain, wholemeal, ones. Post up a sample day and we'll have a look for you.

Low carb isn't the best way for everyone.

[Adam Campbell]

hard to believe you were in ketosis with three flour tortillas and 1/2 cup cooked brown rice. Plus, what do you mean by a "few hundred calories" worth of vegetables? That sounds like at least 200, which would be 50 grams of carbs before even including the other stuff.

Normally, feeling like crap on a low-carb diet means you aren't eating enough calories. However, judging by your carb intake, you were. So hopefully the problem isn't that you decided to eat a lowfat, lowcarb diet which completely defeats the purpose.

The other thing is that ketoadaptation does take a few days. Your body adjusts fairly rapidly to using fat as its main source of energy but there is an initial period that can make you cranky and maybe even feel tired.

If a day is all you're willing to try, it's not likely that you'll stick with it anyway. So no, you don't need to go into ketosis to get most of the benefits of a low-carb diet. However, if you're adding mashed potatoes and corn bread to the tortillas and brown rice, you're about as far away from a low-carb diet as you can get.

[BFG]

To me it sounds like a low carb diet is far from yuor normal eating patterns so why do it?

Im totaly anti people making wholesale diet changs as invariably they fail to stick to them, its better to re-educate to healthy eating and clean up the act by reducing the overall calorie input and fat intake.

So find a diet that is suitable to your palette you are more likely to succeed in your goals

[emartin10]

What probably happened was you DID have an insulin spike and then crash with the simple carbs from flour tortillas, mashed potatoes, and cornbread. Those are all simple carbs - and most likely, the "million times better feeling" was an insulin spike, which resulted in the crash - you falling asleep.

Try to focus on whole grains like brown rice, whole wheat bread or tortillas, whole wheat pasta, and sweet potatoes. As Adam said, you are pretty far away from low carb.

E