Why do my symptoms get a lot worse when I try to eat healthy?

[healthiskey]

Why do my symptoms get ten times worse when I try to eat healthy? EVERY time I cut out processed carbs and replace them with whole grains and start eating salmon, chicken breasts etc I get really depressed, anxiety, my blood circulation gets ALOT worse and I become pale and booted looking.

It doesn’t make sense to me. I do everything right and then get punished for it by my body. Even recently I tried to eat just mostly healthily while not being too strict on myself and still having some cheat meals and I completely crashed still. I am not sure what’s happening. I do suffer with mental health issues so I guess that could be some of the reason but I also believe it could be some underlying health issue like pre diabetes as my auntie has diabetes and alot of my symptoms are similar to that although wouldnt eating healthier actually improve them symptoms? I seem to feel and look my healthiest when I just eat what I want even if it’s bad. I’m really confused as to what’s happening and it’s destroying my life. I am. 25 year old male if that’s any help. I’m sorry if this post is all over the place I’m just extremely stressed right now and it’s very disheartening when I try to do the right things and they end up making me worse.

[Activity2004 Administrator]

Hi healthiskey ,

Have you talked to your doctor about the symptoms/issues you've been having when eating certain foods? Sometimes, if a person has a food allergy, it can cause how a person feels/changes the person's health. What did you have for your meals/snacks lately?

Did your doctor do an A1c (3-4 month blood test to see your blood sugars for 90 days) to see if you have pre-Diabetes?

[healthiskey in reply to Activity2004]

No I don’t think I have had an A1c test done but I have had my blood sugar levels checked in the past and they were normal. I will call my doctor now and explain it to her

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to healthiskey]

Thank you for letting us know that, healthiskey . Please let us know what your doctor says about both after you get all the information.

[healthiskey in reply to Activity2004]

I didn’t talk to my doctor but I got a glucose level checker. I’m afraid to prick myself though haha gotta wait for someone to come home to do it for me

[Cooper27 Administrator]

How soon after you cut out the processed foods, do you start to feel like this?

If this happens over a few months, then it needs to be discussed with your doctor. If it happens within a few days of you making the changes, then it may simply be withdrawal. It can be pretty rubbish, but if you persevere, then you pass through the other side in about a week.

If you're bloated, this could be down to changes in your gut bacteria too, probably as they adapt to more fibre and some of the bad bacteria die off.

[Eryl]

My thoughts are that grains are not essential, it's just that if you eat grains they should be whole. The extra fibre and change in gut bacteria which comes from eating whole grains often causes bloating. Also are you making up for the lower calories of less processed foods with enough health oils like olive oil and coconut oil rather than industrially refined seed oils. As has already been mentioned, if you've been on a high processed low fibre diet for a long time then it will take some time to reduce the bad bacteria and build up the good bacteria in your gut. 'Keto flu' is a well known fenomenon where people reducing carb intake drastically suffer flu like symptoms (around six week into the transition) until thier bodies reawaken the fat burning function of their bodies. Also be aware that many dressings that are used on theings like salmon or salads are very high in carbs and refined seed oils.Have you read or heard of a book called "The Pioppi DIet" by consultant NHS cardiologist Aseem Malhotra. That's a good place to start and the one tha MP Tom Watson followed to reverse his diabetes and loose weight.