Side effects of changing to a healthy weight loss diet

An old friend from back home called me a few days ago with this question:

Q: “When I shifted to eating healthier, i.e., eating vegetables, fruits, legumes, and nuts & seeds, eliminating sugar and fast foods altogether, I started feeling weak and nauseous. My uncle (who’s a third-generation butcher and a serious afficionado of high-fat variants of Philippine cooking and chicharon-bulaklak connoisseur), told me that’s what I get from not eating meat. He suggested I eat meat immediately to get stronger. I used to eat a minimum of 16 ounces of red meat and/or chicken a day, mostly from fast food restaurants and steak houses. This is excluding my three times a week habit of eating pork chops (or sausages) and five eggs twice a week for breakfast. I love meat (and Meat Lover’s Pizza), but I want to give a healthy diet a chance since my total cholesterol is at 387 and my pressure is 170 over 125.”

A: Your body has been used to processing a very high amount of protein and salt, so the shift to better food needs time to re-adjust. You have been subjecting yourself to a high level of metabolic stress because of the excess protein your have been consuming and fat. The readjustment to lower protein and sodium levels will take some time, so in the beginning you’ll actually feel worse when you shift to a high-level, nutrient dense, lower calorie healthy diet. This detox process is no different from the withdrawal symptoms one gets when quitting addictive substances.

Some authorities would argue for a phased-in change, tapering off your high meat consumption as you increase your greens and healthy whole food intake. Supposedly this minimizes the toxic dumping that accompanies a shift to a lower caloric (and conceivably, healthier) diet. Losing weight fast can potentially have harmful effects.

Other sources, e.g., Dr. Joel Fuhrman, argues that shifting immediately to a nutritionally excellent diet would be a more strategically sound approach, given your alarming profile.

My feeling is that it really depends on how sound the new diet can be, and how informed, disciplined and motivated you will be with your new regimen. Nausea is usually not a good motivator, so it will depend on how well you’re going to weather the detox storms coming your way…