Weak and shaky after 3 weeks

[JR68]

Hi everyone,
I really need some advice. I’ve been plant-based for three weeks but instead of feeling great, I feel weak and shaky most of the time, with cold arms and muscle weakness before food then hot flashes after food - I’m thinking maybe low blood sugar. I’ve tried to eat more but I have LPR so can’t eat much in one go. I also have possible SIBO, histamine intolerance, and amyopathic dermatomyositis which is in remission after following the AIP diet so I’m concerned that completely changing my diet has either really confused my body, or the AI condition is progressing. I changed my diet after a scarily high cholesterol reading and watching Forks over Knives. My GP (I’m in the UK) is no help and I’m getting very anxious about everything, which obviously isn’t helping any of my symptoms. I really don’t know what else to do. Any input would be great, thank you in advance.

[Mom+Me]

Hello JR68 and welcome to the Discussion Board,

I'm sorry you are experiencing these symptoms. Unfortunately I do not know anything about your health ailments and I am not a medical professional. However, when you say you've been WFPB (which is great; congratulations!), are you completely oil-free and are you centering your meals or mini-meals around starch?

In people who have no health issues or maybe high blood pressure and/or cholesterol, feeling weak and shaky would most likely be attributed to not eating enough calories from starch. Vegetables and some fruit are wonderful! But since you can't consume too much food at any one time, I personally would eat probably about 6* mini-meals all centered around starch--potatoes, corn, whole grains (rice, quinoa, etc.), some beans/lentils, etc..

To this day if I don't eat enough starch and/or drink enough water, I can feel tired and even sometimes get headaches. Yeah, I should know this but sometimes I get so busy I don't have time to eat--bad, I know. So being prepared with cooked starches on hand is a key to this Plan...as well as making time for yourself to eat when you're hungry.

Wishing you the best and hoping your doctor will be more helpful! Ideally, if you could have a telehealth visit with a competent WFPB doctor that would be best. Here is information on having a telehealth visit with a health professional with the McDougall Program. I do not know if this would be financially feasible or if it would work since you are in the U.K. (it probably would), but you can check it out. This article from Dr. McDougall could be very helpful to you in possibly finding a new physician.

*Counting calories and/or portions (with the exceptions of beans) is not recommend on The McDougall Plan. But you have to get enough calories in each day. Maybe 4 or maybe 8 starch-based mini-meals would work for you. Only you can completely figure that out. Using something like this may help you get an idea of how many calories you are consuming to make sure your caloric needs are being made. Again, I cannot emphasis enough the need for starch.

[vegyluvver]

I think I would ask your doc for a glucometer and if they say no, try to find a new doc. Hypoglycemia is nothing to fool around with if that's what it is.

[JR68]

Thank you both for your replies. I’m going to start checking my blood sugars when I feel worst, I think, and try to connect with a plant based doctor. I really want to commit to this new way of eating and I hope it’s just that my body is taking a while to adjust to using starches instead of fat - I don’t have any oils but I do eat a few nuts a day with some tahini so I don’t lose any more weight. I probably need to include even more starches, low gi of course!

[Hal]

One thing to remember is you may need to eat more, more often because the 'fuel mixture' is different. I can't load up on a day's worth of energy in one SAD dinner and a pizza slice for lunch anymore.

My SAD meals were fairly small, but they were high fat. I was very slowly collecting a 'belly' and other strange looking 'white fat' apparitions in the jowls and chin, and i was becoming aware of my 'workings' which only happens when the 'workings' stop working so well. So when i got the "for the rest of your life" line from my doctor i went to the internet to find out what was happening to my system. It took me a while to find the starchy things i like to gorge on. Now I just need to work more whole wheat and less white pasta into my menus. ..and remember that it's time to eat again - i eat four times a day now.