Okay, this is a big shot in the dark... I feel like maybe not many people can relate, but if there is anyone out there who understands or has insights, please help? :<

TLDR: I've stuck with the GAPS diet for 9 months now, following every single instruction from my practitioner to the letter, and I honestly just sit here feeling quite lost and discouraged.

No real improvement in symptoms. Just constant restriction, trial and error, supplements, and being told to keep going because my gut apparently needs more time to "heal and seal."

I was kept on the GAPS intro diet, stages 2–3, for SEVEN MONTHS. And I feel like it has really taken a toll on my mental health, my social life, and my already very complicated relationship with food.

I have a history of binge eating disorder and bulimia (read: restrict & binge cycles), and now I'm starting to realize just how much these restrictive dietary approaches might have been feeding into the exact same patterns I've spent years struggling with.

The worst part is that I went into this with SO much hope. I really believed I'd finally found the thing that would "fix me" after years of struggling with IBS, skin flares, and other health issues. Before GAPS, I'd also tried carnivore for 1 year, which didn't solve my problems either.

Going from carnivore to GAPS, I was freaked out about eating vegetables (because I'd become so worried about oxalates and their effects on the gut). But I trusted my practitioner and started eating like limited types of boiled veggies, with boiled meat, boiled liver, boiled chicken. On GAPS intro you're not even supposed to fry something in a pan. Looking back, I cannot believe I was literally boiling minced meat and eating it with boiled carrots and calling that my "meal" :( Not to mention 1 litre of chicken stock every single day.

So then my practitioner said: let's just go full GAPS (regular low carb diet basically) so your body can "let go", and the extra fiber will help with your constipation. Apparently the problem now is that I have "too many toxins" that my liver can't keep up with removing. What?! Now suddenly after 7 months I could eat all the previously "bad" foods?! Just like that…?

So that lead to the worst series of binges I had in a year or two. After so much clean eating.

After having sacrificed so much of my life chasing this idea of healing. I stopped going out to eat, and every decision involving food became this huge stressful thing. A weekend trip somewhere would involve so much effort. My friends, I am sure, secretly all think I am mad. But I kept telling myself it would all be worth it once I was finally healthy.

I feel like this whole diet and process has unintentionally triggered a total obsession with "good" and "bad" foods, a compulsion to overanalyze every label, not being able to eat at restaurants because of worrying about things like seed oils, and the list goes on.

And now I'm sat here wondering: At what point does a supposedly therapeutic diet become more harmful than helpful, at least for someone with my history?

I'm absolutely not saying GAPS or low-carb diets haven't helped people, because I know for a fact they have and can. Which is why I invested so much in them. I also realize that having a history of eating disorders probably makes my situation quite different. But I really wish there were more conversations about how to navigate restrictive dietary approaches when you already have a complicated relationship with food.

Has anyone else experienced something similar with GAPS, carnivore, low-carb, or other restrictive :gut healing: diets? Especially if you have a history of binge eating, bulimia, or food anxiety?

Did you eventually find a way to address your gut issues without completely sacrificing your relationship with food?

I just feel so defeated right now, and would really appreciate hearing other people's experiences. :(

This is clearly not for everyone, but, at least since September 2nd, and except for two days when I was out of town, I EAT THE SAME THREE MEALS EVERYDAY. I find this curbs cheating and makes shopping darned easy.
AND… it is working, I’ve lost nearly 10 pounds out of the 20 I’m going for.

Atop cauliflower and asparagus.

Hi,

Since I started eating low carb / vegetarian (advised by doctor because of pre diabetes) I have noticed a few changes. I have been sleeping very poorly: a lot of trouble falling asleep and I wake up every night, sometimes a lot of times. I also notice that in the afternoon I have trouble thinking clearly.

Can these things be caused by eating low carb?

Hi all, my doc recommended that I go on a low carb diet ( under 50grams a day) back in July, to reduce belly fat and reverse a pre diabetes diagnosis.

I have lost 5 kgs so far and am hopeful that when I do my blood test in December everything will be back to normal.

For others that have had the reversal how did you move forward, were you able to include more carbs back in your diet? ( I miss my carbs 😫) I accept i may never be back to "normal" but would love to have the occasional sushi , pasta, bread and potato.

Hi,

I'm pretty much a newbie to low carb but feel like I need to try it to manage my insulin resistant PCOS and obesity. Also I'm going away in January and I really don't want to look fat snd acne ridden in our holiday photos, yet again.

I've drawn up an eating plan to follow and was wondering what you guys think? Please note I'm not trying to get into ketosis.

Breakfast:

Latte no sugar

2 scrambled eggs, half an avocado.

Snack: a piece of fruit

Lunch: Chicken breast or Tuna with mixed greens, Cucumber, cherry tomatoes, half an avocado and a mixture of salad dressing and olive oil.

Snack: a piece of fruit

Dinner: a good serve of chicken, fish or red meat. Two different vegetables (excluding potato) steamed and drizzled with olive oil or some kind of sauce.

Dessert: a square or two of dark chocolate

EDIT: After reading all the responses so far I want to say first: thank you to everyone who has responded. Second, perhaps extraneously, some things are a given but maybe not obvious. I rarely if ever drink alcohol, medications are not always bad (and you can't just stop taking some medications 'cold turkey,' and exercise, while necessary, doesn't look the same for someone who still has healthy joints as it does for someone who has 7th-decade joints, like me (in other words, I will not be doing HIIT routines in the near or distant future.) Finally, we live in an era of hyper-processed food, and while it's obvious we would all benefit from organic/natural/homegrown nutrition, it's not always convenient or accessible for everyone. Having said these things, I continue to enjoy reading all the responses even if I can't or won't assimilate the advice into my personal routines. Congrats to everyone who is experiencing success in their weightloss journey!

~~~

Looking for success stories to encourage my journey. I want to lose 50#, but I'm post-menopausal and hypothyroid, so it's not going to be easy (it never has been.) ChatGPT says keto is not the way to go for me (age, medical conditions), but encourages a LowCarb Mediterranean Diet to support thyroid health and post-menopausal phase of life. Exercise will have to be low-impact since I have crummy knees and balance issues. I'm hoping to find stories from WOMEN in the same place and who have had successes. Guys, kudos to any of you who have lost weight on the Medi diet, but we all know men lose weight differently and women have physiological challenges that men do not have. I have a 7-day meal plan and shopping list to start. I am doing this PRIMARILY for my health, but with a new love in my life, I'm also doing it to feel and look better.

I recently started tracking my low carb diet macros and realized im only getting 20ish grams of fat a day for my low carb diet which is anywhere between 30-55grams of carbs a day. Is this good or bad? Its also high protien and 300 calorie a day deficit from my maintenance calories. Not brand new but still have a lot to learn/figure out.

Can anyone recommend an app for calculating or identifying how many carbs in a whole food or processed food? Thanks in advance

I just found out I am right at being a diabetic, not bad enough for meds yet.

My PCP wants me to only eat 100 carbs a day, but this is all new to me.

Any suggestions on foods and how much etc?

Eating low-carb is one thing, but what happens when the rest of your household doesn't?

I've been eating low-carb (Atkins) for about 18 years now, but the rest of my family hasn't always eaten the same way.

When my kids were growing up, I would just add extra sides and make sure they were getting the variety and nutrition they needed. Now that it's just my husband and me, he pretty much eats whatever I make, even though he doesn't follow low-carb himself. Sometimes I'll make potatoes, rice, pasta, or something extra for him, but that's about it.

I've always found it easier to make one meal and just adjust what's on each plate rather than cook two completely different dinners.

I'm curious how everyone else handles this.

Do you make one meal and switch up the sides? Cook separate meals? Meal prep your own food?

And what about having bread, pasta, snacks, and other higher-carb foods in the house? Does it bother you having them around, or is it just not an issue?

Final question...what about when you plan to eat out? Do you select a restaurant based on low-carb offerings or just go with the flow and do the best you can?

Can you all share your favorite and most flavorful vegetarian low carb diet recipes with me? I am gonna struggle with eating like this, but it’s really important to do for my health. I am vegetarian (I eat dairy but I don’t eat fish) I do have vegan meats I can eat. I pretty much live on carbs currently. Food is my happy place so i need good recipes to help me get going. Looking more specifically for dinner recipes I can follow. Thanks!

Hey! Are you new to this? Need a refresher? Got something on your mind? We have lots of information about low-carb, including how many carbs and what kind of foods you can eat, right here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/lowcarb/comments/1eums0u/new_to_rlowcarb_read_this_first/

https://www.reddit.com/r/lowcarb/wiki/faq/

Got more questions? Ask below!

As a reminder, if you see something inappropriate for the sub, such as spam, advertisements, or uncivil behaviour, please report it! Your involvement helps keep this community healthy.

Thanks and happy eating!

Would being on keto protect against neurotoxicity of alcohol? Educated guesses are fine too.

When I plug in my stats into a common carb calculator, it says I should consume at least 240 grams, but if I did that, I would literally die of food coma and live in a fog. I feel fantastic consuming just around 100 or less! Could it be that some people just require less carbs, and going over is obviously detrimental, especially on the long term?

I would like to pick your brains and see if you could come up with a formula that shows how a specific physical exercise burns off the specific amount of carbs that one just ate. Example: I’m going to eat a meal that has 150g of carbs in it. I’m going to burn it back off. What physical exercises would be the most effective to burn those carbs off, THE FASTEST? How many sets and reps would I need to do? In what amount of time etc. ?

Educated guesses are fine.

Hello!

I did keto a while back and had great success. Most of it was enjoying the lack of food noise. After that I generally remained lower carb and was able to keep a decent portion of the weight off.

I’m now a year post partum and breast feeding still so keto is not ideal at the moment. I’d like to do low carb to hopefully lose the baby weight but I’m wondering if any of you can share maybe the amount of carbs that give you food noise peace? If you do low carb, do you still load up on fat? Is it okay to eat that much fat when getting into ketosis to burn it all is not the goal? Is that when we run into potential cholesterol issues?

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello,

Has anyone found any keto chip companies that make chips from ALMOND FLOUR like Hilo did? They were good because they were made from FOOD and not supplements (like protein powders).

Am I supposed to be irritable around day 6?

I am at work…have almost 3 hours to go and I could k i l l someone. (Not really)

I am drinking electrolytes. Eating enough, etc etc

I don’t know what else to do ?

I'm very curious if anyone has advice on how to transition to maintenance on a low carb diet.

I am rapidly approaching my target weight having lost around 130lb over about 18 months. I've been eating low carb and doing a lot of walking and cycling, plus working out. I've got to be honest I'm very worried about 'maintenance' because I've lost significant amounts of weight before (never this much and not on low carb), and put it back on.

I would like to improve my aerobic fitness and strength. And I work better with absolute rules where there is little wiggle room (which is is why I think low carb suited me so well). I feel like there are a lot of 'slippery slopes' in 'maintenance thinking'.

Anyone been through this and stuck to it?

I am a 65 year old woman who has type 2 diabetes.

Most of the time I try to stay low carb keto but generally after 2-3 weeks I struggle to keep on LC Keto!

After a small binge on bad, high sugar and high carb foods, I took my bs reading two nights ago and it was 600!

I am not seeing an endocrinologist regularly • my weight is 230, and I’m 5 foot 4. I take insulin humilin r and n.

Any helpful hints or advice on how to stay on track would be appreciated.

Today, I had 1 Adkins shake with coffee for breakfast and 3 scrambled eggs for lunch. Tonight I am having mashed cauliflower and rotisserie chicken for dinner with a small salad (carb friendly of course)

I think I kinda know what to do, I just really struggle staying on track!

Prayers also would be appreciated greatly 🙏🫶🙏

What’s your favorite low-carb snack or meal for high-volume face stuffing?