Diet question... feeling sick!

[sascraps]

I feel really nauseous and lightheaded... It came on about a half hour ago. I've been dieting seriously to lose weight and I'm pushing toward a raw vegan diet but I'm not quite there yet. And I may not get that far because I feel like I need fish daily for the protein and omegas since I'm FtM and I read that that's good for promoting higher T levels (even though I'm not on it yet).

Anyway, I hope this feeling will pass or maybe I'm just sick? I don't know. I didn't feel so good when I took a hike (that turned into rock climbing! argh!) last Friday either. But then I was ok through the weekend until now.

I have dropped down to about half of my normal daily calorie intake. My old way of eating was Dominos pizza & breadsticks or 2 Jimmy John's subs every day. So my old way of eating averaged me out at 2500 calories daily and now all I eat is fish, fruit, vegetables, yogurt, whole wheat bread, and granola. And that leaves me at barely hitting 1000 calories a day and hungry enough to eat a horse in the evenings, which is when I'll tend to splurge and say hey, I can still eat a small Domino's pizza and be under 2000 calories! I mean, that's pretty crazy to me right there.

But I can't afford that every day, nor can I afford to double up on the fresh produce. But I don't know why I feel so sick this evening. Could it be my body's not used to this? I bought soy milk today for the first time too and had a glass of that earlier. I also have this flax seed granola for the first time. Could it just be that my body's not used to this hippie diet? Or could I maybe just have caught a 24 hr bug or something? I feel sick.. 

[quinn]

You could be allergic to soy. But I think it's more likely you're just not getting enough calories per day. Eating less than 1,000 isn't a good idea, because it's borderline-starvation (900 or less per day is classified as starvation), which only encourages your body to store fat any time you eat a little more than that, because it goes in starvation-mode. So you should probably try to get somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 per day, depending on your body type and all that. Also, how frequently are you eating? If you only eat 2 or 3 meals a day, with no snacks, then it could just be a case of low blood-sugar. The only other thing I can say about this, is make sure you're drinking enough water every day, because dehydration symptoms are similar to those too.

[sascraps]

I already, without trying, drink 3-4 liters of water a day. I have a problem with dry mouth and dehydration as is, so I'm constantly drinking water.

But I have suspected I have problems with low blood sugar because I've felt sick before and then better after eating a candy bar or something. But as for dieting, it just seems so wrong that everything else I eat for the day is super healthy, but then I need to get a small pizza or some Taco Bell because I'm not taking in enough calories. lol

I pretty much eat all day though, every couple of hours I have more fruit & veggies and the counselor at the free clinic said that it's not good for weight loss to eat so close together like that. She said I should stick to 3 meals a day at certain times and eat nothing in between.  But for now I'm not on a regular schedule yet, and she knows that, but it's something I'm working on trying to get adapted to.

And she only told me she wanted to see me eliminate pizza so that I could drop 300 calories per day from the 2500 average I was used to. She said if I did away with 300 calories a day I'd start losing weight. So when I eliminate pizza and all the fast food, I actually cut my calorie intake in half.

[Clayton]

I'm not an expert but going from pizza to raw vegan diet is a very big a change for your system.  Pizza and breadstick are major carbs that turn into major sugars so maybe its just a result of a drastic (but healthy) change in diet.  Be patient and don't give up !!   

[Cindy]

Go to a Dr and get your blood sugar levels checked. You may be diabetic and on your previous diet I would not be surprised (sorry). Not meaning to be preaching.
The symptoms you describe do suggest Type 1 D. Do get checked pronto because you do not want to go into an insulin dependent coma.
Sorry to scare, but I wouldn't wait days for a Dr appointment I'd go to an ER soon, as in now.

Cindy