[RACEKA]

Has anyone been on this diet?

The first 2 weeks is a cleansing week which is basically no carbs. I feel light headed. I think I'd feel better with a bowl of cheerios. The diet is supposed to clean you out then teach you to add the carbs back in a little at a time. My sugar is high at 120. It should be below 110. I also need to lose about 60 lbs.

I'm at work and don't know if I'm having a panic attack or I'm feeling dizzy from the diet. I have to have blood tests on Saturday so I want to keep my sugar down this week.

Is it unhealthy to not eat carbs? They seem to be what fills you up.

Any comments I would appreciate.

[bebop]

I am a carb junkie. I went on a no carb diet a few yrs ago due to some health issues. yuck! I hated it. although I did start losing weight pretty fast. I did not have any of the symptoms you are describing though. it is not really an unhealthy diet. be careful though with all the proteins. that can cause kidney stones.

[Perna]

All carbs are sugars but complex carbs convert "slower" and in a balanced way. Your sugar reading might be up because the only other sugars you're getting/foods you're converting are doing it in an unhealthy way?

If I had medical problems I'd ask my doctor about what sort of diet would be good to try. I use the DASH diet which the American Heart Association and medical organizations like:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dash-diet/HI00047

I subscribe to http://www.dashforhealth.com and do one of their versions for weight loss.

[mel4]

hey rae,

i was on south beach about a year ago for a little while.....i nearly passed out on the diet. i kept getting dizzy, and felt weak and faint all the time. a few times, the room completely started spinning (literally!), it was pretty scary. i decided to call it quits after realizing that if i continued cutting out my carbs completely, i was sure to pass out sooner-or-later. yes, i did lose some weight after about a week, but they pounds came right back on after stopping the diet.

ive lose about 30 lbs within the past 3 months reducing my fat intake and exercising just a little bit more, and not once have i felt faint or lightheaded. i'd give it a shot!

good luck!
melissa

When I do atkins, I feel so light headed and sick that I feel like Im going to die. Its so horrible.

[Yoda]

I have done South Beach a short time and Adkins ~ 6 months and had good results after I individualized it to my needs. One time I completely stopped eating carbs, both simple and complex, and experienced the dissociative state you describe. At first I thought it was part of my PTSD but I started thinking about going a week with no carbs whatsoever and ate a grilled cheese sandwich to see if some carbs would make me feel better. About 45 min later the dissociative state passed. I still like the Adkins diet but realize the need to include some complex carbs in my diet.