Am I having "the low carb flu"?

[injex]

I'm now 6 days in in paleo eating and since yesterday I began to notice weird things.

Yesterday my stomach felt sick the whole day.

Eating two bananas to get some carbs helped a lot.

Overall I had 70 grams of carbs yesterday.

Today after eating lunch, I felt dizzy and lightheaded.

Today, eating a banana and an apple managed to stop the dizziness and the lightheadedness.

Overall I had about 60 grams today.

Is this related to my low carb intake?

If so, if I would keep going on with very low carbs, maybe 1 fruit a day and of course some veggies, would my body adjust and stop being this way or are 50/60+ grams a day of carbs necessary for the body?

I'm wondering because those symptoms are not mentioned in the low carb flu article, Mark Sisson wrote a while ago http://www.marksdailyapple.com/low-carb-flu/

[Brometheus]

Well...I guess I have a couple questions.

How much are you eating a day? Are you trying for calorie restriction as well as paleo eating? How much fat? Which version of paleo (yes, there's a lot of them). The basis of paleo isn't to restrict calories, so I would ask how much fat you're eating. Basically you want to replace any amount of carbs with an equivalent amount of fat. For me, I use heavy whipping cream, butter, lard, coconut oil...

I know that I eat about 70% fat, 15% protein, and 15% carbs. Usually just a sweet potato. I tend to avoid fruit because it has fructose, vs the glucose of the sweet potato.

Something along the lines of the archevore diet, though I'm going lower carb because of my dietary goals. I don't really have any symptoms at this point, but I do a cyclic ketogenic style, not permanent. I find a permanent vlc/ketogenic diet just doesn't work for me.

I tend to get headaches when I don't eat enough, when I fast for a ridiculously large amount of time, or some other thing that I can't tie to any particular problem. It's also noticeable when I don't eat enough fat. However, that is my experience, and may not be applicable.

Are you stressed when this happens? Stress while adjusting could do this.

How's your potassium intake? Most people say that they do better with the acclimation period by drinking coconut water, eating a banana, etc. (I know, you ate fruit. I'm just linking cause to effect.)

Note: There is a section about low-carb adjustment here, about having a piece of fruit while you acclimate, etc. http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2009/8/27/how-to-lose-weight.html

There is going to be a killer curve while you adjust to fat burning and you decide to stay on the really low-carb approach. More stories here: http://paleohacks.com/questions/20311/low-carb-flu-what-was-your-experience#axzz1P6PmIbJI

I see several options (no, I am not a doctor, follow these guidelines at your own risk):

A) This is merely getting used to no grains and fat burning. Will pass in time following the archevore guidelines about acclimation.

Nutrient deficiency -- potassium, magnesium, vitamins (depends on what you are eating).

C) You are sick enough to go see a doctor.

[injex]

I'd say it's primal paleo, except for that I don't eat grass feed meat because I have no money for it and I also eat bananas.

Well I restrict myself to about 2000-3000kcal a day.

The food of a typical day looks somewhat like this:

50-100 gram of nuts / seeds

A doner meat plate with some salad (doner meat is turkish style chicken / lamb / pig meat put in slices on a stick, 1 slice meat without fat, next slice with fat, rinse and repeat)

2 Fruits

Paleo Bread (almond meal + coconut oil + egg whisked, a little bit of baking soda in it and put in a microwave for 1:20 mins)

Bacon

Unfortunately I can't cook at home due to circumstances, so this is what I eat pretty much every day.

I'm not really stressed out when this happens, but so far I had this week only work days, so there might be a chance that it's related to my work.

Oh and so far I lost already 6.61 lbs in those 6 paleo days so far.

The archevore and paleo hacks sites look really great, thanks I will definitely favorite them!

[Brometheus]

I go back and forth on the grass fed meat thing. I don't usually worry about it, since it is expensive, and I can figure out the omega 3/6 balance without eating it.

I would recommend not restricting the calories. The benefit of paleo is to eat till you're satiated or full without the worry of calories (within reasonable limits). I'm assuming you're eating 2-3 meals a day then? If so, make sure to eat protein with every meal.

[Oogiem]

so far I lost already 6.61 lbs in those 6 paleo days so far.

That sounds awfully fast to me. I think I'd go with upping calories and eating some fruit and maybe gradually cutting the carbs.

[Guest Carjack]

The first week of weight loss after switching to low carb is water weight, assuming you have rapid weight loss in the first week.