Hi all

I am new to the forum as came looking for answers to my main problem with low carb.

Firstly I'll give a quick background - I am a life long yo yo dieter, having tried nearly all "fad" and non fad diets in the book. Most of the diets I have been on I have successfully lost weight... for the 1-2week maximum I have managed to stick to it. I have incredibly low will power and regardless what I'm restricting (calories, carbs etc) I obviously crave that thing for hours every day.

I am a fan of low carb diets (have done paleo, atkins and my own, no more than 30g of carbs a day style diet) as my main problem area is my lower abdomen for fat stores and low carb targets this.

However, the last three times I have tried low carb I have caught a bad cold within the first few days, which seems to last as long as I'm no carbing. Therefore, I am reluctant now and my boyfriend has all but banned me for low carbing as he now believes its horrifically bad for me.

Is there any advice for reducing this risk of lower immunity? I will also add that I live to a fairly tight food budget, and so I have no choice but to cut some corners (peanut butter and unsweetened soya milk shakes for breakfast) to keepy my food costs down when low carbing.

My aim is to lose a stone in the next five weeks (holiday in Corfu) but long term to maintain a healthy weight.

Many thanks

Hi and welcome.

Do you have a good understanding of why the standard Western diet is so bad for us and why low carb/paleo is the real natural human diet? Trust me, switching from McJunkFood to unprocessed meat, eggs and vegetables does not cause the common cold. Have you ever given it a proper chance? Quality food, and enough time for your body to adapt to it?

Most of us see an improvement in immunity: other than a sinus infection, I haven't actually been sick with a cold since 2011 (and that was a terrible time in my life and I blame the stress. Actually, the sinus infection was right after stress, too.) A guy I dated for a year was sick five times in that period and I never caught his germs.

As long as you are sure that what you are experiencing isnt induction flu - which lasts for a few days and then - wam, you feel amazing lol!!!

Jo xxx

Hi Charlene, and welcome to our forum.

I see your main problem by looking at your profile - you haven't read any books.

You see, when you say you are doing "Atkins", I suspect you are doing something of your own devising. For example, peanut butter is definitely not permitted in the first 2 weeks.

It also sounds as though you are thinking of low carbing as "a diet", whereas it really has to become the way you eat forevermore.

And I wouldn't be so desperate to lose that stone. If you follow the plan (after reading the book of the plan of your choice - it doesn't have to be Atkins), the pounds will fall off in their own good time.

And if you are following the plan, you should not have low immunity. Atkins, and most other low carb plans, include lots of vegies along with fresh meat, fish (can be canned tuna or salmon), cheese and eggs - also low in cost.

All the best to you, matey.

I have followed Atkins to the letter, however as I said I just can't afford to follow a plan with meat for nearly every meal, and so looked at general low carb advice online and came to the conclusion to eat less than 30grams per day (peanut butter shakes have about 6grams - got the recipe from a low carb plan website).

I completely agree that I need to get out of the mind sight of a "diet" with the purpose to lose a set amount of weight - however nearly 15 years of yoyo and fad dieting is hard to break the habit :/ but I am trying.

I have read that long term low carb is good for immunity - which is why I came on hear to seek help, as to why I keep getting ill. I'm pretty sure it wasn't ketosis flu, i just seemed to have very low immunity within three to four days in, catching a cold (sneezing, runny nose coughing) and getting cold sores. The second time I thought it was a coincidence but third time I realised it must be to do with the low carb. I was eating salads for lunch, and veggies with my teas so wasn't due to lack of vits (in fact, I was eating more veggies than my standard diet - when I am not watching or thinking what I eat its rare to get in 3 portions of fruit of veg a day).

really want to give it a proper chance and change my eating habits. Also out of interest, whats the deal with carb loading/refilling - only read this recently?

Sorry didn't acknowledge this yes luckily they are fairly cheap and I try to incorporate those mostly. Chicken drumsticks are pretty cheap too My problem is breakfast, I have never been a breakfast eater and like to take something I can eat at my desk at work. This rules a lot of conventional low carb breakfasts out. When following my own type of plan and not Atkins, I tend to go for full fat greek yoghurt (some brands seem to have less carbs than others) and nuts, or the shakes.

There's no reason to have an early morning breakfast if you aren't hungry. I don't remember what Dr Atkins had to say about that, but the consensus (and common sense) around here is, "if you're hungry, eat. If you're not, don't." I usually have coffee in the morning and that's it. Sometimes I don't even want that. It depends on my work shifts, though.

Can you give us an idea of where you live? This is an international forum. Maybe you can put that in your profile. The country, at least. We can definitely help you do this on a budget. That's one of my favorite topics; I almost consider it a hobby to be frugal. I was so broke a few years ago that I couldn't even cough up bus fare to get to work, and I had to cycle 120 km/75 mi a week to get to work and back.

Kristine I am exactly the same - I definitely make a hobby of budgeting, and fallen into the trap of "but this pack of bagels is reduced to 5p.." (I'm from the UK by the way!) We do have cheaper shops and markets the stock cheaper meat, but can't get away from the fact that you can live on a third of the cost on cheap refined carbs

That said I still want to do this. After all, if I can't spend a little more money keeping my body healthy and the things that are important, then why bother working full time to earn the money?!

That's interesting what you say about breakfast. I think I have it drilled into me both from general chitchat, to most diets I've looked into (not just low carb, all types) that breakfast is the most important meal; breakfast kick starts the metabolism; etc. I will admit that for the short term I am looking to shift some weight as my aim so tales of breakfast helping this along is my reasoning for trying to force feed myself sausage and eggs when I'm not hungry - but I do want long term goals too.

(I know I am getting away from my original question now)
I'm also interested in what you think to excercise on low carb? As well as changing my relationship with food I am trying to change my relationship with excercise. I have set myself a goal to run half a marathon next year, and I am worried that training for that on low carb will be impossible..

Are you depending on a lot of dairy products? They tend to do a number on my sinuses.

I just got over a horrid sinus infection, which acts like a reoccurring cold. I've had them in the past, so I knew when I kept get a cold and recovering a few days later, it was the sinus infection coming back.

I treated it with sinus rinses with salt and xylitol. I also got some xylitol nose spray and used that AND used something like Flonase. You really have to stay on top of it and start treating until your nose is clear for about 3 days and even then, keep watching for symptoms and jumping on it immediately when things start to itch/tickle.

Other than that, any diet is probably going to be a strain on your body at first, especially if you don't do it right. Make sure you're eating plenty of LC veggies, maybe get some liver in your diet (Pate, anyone?). And SLEEP! OMG... so many people don't get enough.

Adapting to LC/Paleo, I ended up with a much healthier immune system. I didn't get colds when others did.

Also, get some D3! Take about 5000iu a day, 10000iu if your levels are low (blood test). That'll help you too, maybe more than anything else.

Seconded. And thirded. And fourthed. It is an incredible boost to every system in the body.

Have you ever skipped breakfast and been less hungry all day? If you aren't hungry, try skipping it.

And maybe you should look at the issue from the other side. What is it you are eating much more of when you are low carbing?

Food allergies can work that way.