Before I went on the keto diet, I loved carbs. 

Potatoes, pasta, chips, bagels, and my favorite, sourdough bread. 

You probably do too. But you have realized, as I did, that eating all of those carbs isn’t giving you the body you want. 

Now that you’re cutting them out, you’ve taken the first step towards reaching your goal. You should be proud of yourself. 

But you may be experiencing some negative side effects like headaches, irritability, and fogginess. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do to get back to feeling normal or even better than normal.

Drink Lots of Water

Many people see a lot of weight loss in their first week of a keto diet primarily because they are losing water weight. When you go on a low carb diet, your body will flush a lot of water out of it that it doesn’t need to run on fat instead of sugar. 

It’s easy to become dehydrated. That’s why it’s super important for you to drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration and the headache associated with it.

Balance Your Electrolytes

When the water is flushed out of your body, you also lose electrolytes like magnesium, sodium, and potassium. 

Electrolytes are essential to maintaining your energy levels, controlling your body temperature, and helping your brain function. 

In order to maintain safe levels of electrolytes while you’re on the keto diet, you should consider taking a supplement.

Get Enough Sodium

Not having enough sodium in your diet can cause poor energy levels and headaches. 

You should be getting at least 5,000 mg of sodium per day in order to avoid these symptoms. Consider choosing pink Himalayan sea salt or cooking with bouillon cubes to up your intake.

Meet Your Body’s Potassium Requirements

When you are low on potassium, you can become depressed, irritable, have skin problems and muscle cramps and even develop heart palpitations. 

It’s essential that you get at least 3,000 mg per day. A great source of potassium is avocados with more than 1,000 mg per serving.

Eat More Fats

When you are on a keto diet, 65-70% of your total calories should be from fat. This is a huge change for most people who previously were on a carb-heavy diet. 

To help your body adjust and avoid headaches, you should make your fat intake a priority. That way you will stay full and feel great.

Persevere

After reading about the keto headache and all of the things you need to do to stay balanced, you may be reconsidering the keto diet. But don’t be discouraged.

Focusing on getting all of your essential nutrients and minerals and exercising frequently isn’t a bad thing. Over time, you will adapt to the diet and find it much easier to stay balanced. 

Stick it out, the results are worth it!