Fainting

[M-Wat]

Hi everyone! I’m on Day 5 and it’s my first time doing any kind of dietary restrictions. I’m not here to lose weight, but I wasn’t eating healthy at all and I want that “Food Freedom” - not to mention knowing which foods irritate me would be great. For the first 5 days, I have had so much stomach relief that it feels like someone took a bag of rocks out of my stomach; it’s absolutely incredible! Unfortunately, the benefits have come with some not-so-great side effects....pretty much every time I stand up, I feel extremely dizzy and my vision momentarily blacks out. This was an issue before the Whole30 (I suspect there is some sort of underlying problem but I haven’t been tested for anything because I have never actually passed out) but it has gotten way worse. Today, I actually completely passed out after standing up to go get my phone charger. I bonked my head pretty hard. With all the benefits I’ve gotten from the Whole30 already, I definitely don’t want to stop, but I don’t want to do anything to hurt my health! Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

[ShannonM816]

Since this was happening before, you definitely need to check with your doctor.

Things that might be happening that could make it worse since you started Whole30:

1) Many, many people undereat. Be sure that at every meal, you're following the meal template, which means eating at least one palm-sized portion of protein, the length, width, and height of the palm of your hand (more is fine), or if eggs are your only protein, have as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand, which is probably 3-4; add one or two of the fat options listed on the template, in addition to what you cook in; and then pile your plate up with veggies -- 2-3 cups per meal, minimum. Have at least one fist-sized serving of starchy vegetable each day (like potato, sweet potato, turnip, beet, rutabaga, carrot, parsnip, plantains, or winter squash like butternut or acorn squash) -- again, more is okay if you need it. Your meals should be keeping you satisfied 4-5 hours at a time, so you're just starting to get hungry around the four-hour point.

2) Salt your food. Especially if you ate much processed foods before like deli meats, chips, store-bought dressings, fast food, even most restaurant food, you would have been getting a lot of salt, and that's just not present in most of what you eat on Whole30. Our bodies need salt, and one thing that too little salt can do is make your blood pressure low, which may or may not be what's happening with you (I'm not a doctor, I don't know), but it is one thing that would be consistent with feeling dizzy/fainting on standing.

3) Drink plenty of water. At least 1/2 oz per pound of body weight, so a 120-lb person needs at least 60 oz.

You can download the meal template here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/

And again, please check in with your doctor and let them know what's going on so they can rule out any medical issues that might be going on.