Cutting out bread gave me headaches and mood swings

MICHELLE PYLE tried a low-carb diet three years ago. She wanted to lose the weight she’d gained after having her children — at her heaviest, she was 15 st.

Breakfast would be scrambled eggs, for lunch she’s have a chicken salad and dinner would be meat or fish with roasted vegetables.

‘I did lose weight — about 6 lb in the first week — but it was hell,’ says Michelle (right), 32, who lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and their three children, aged 13, 11 and eight. ‘The main thing was the horrific headaches, which started the day after I began the diet. ‘I’d tried other diets before, such as weight Watchers and Slimming World — they hadn’t worked for me, but I never had headaches like this. ‘They made me really snappy and my husband started getting fed up with it. ‘When you’re the mother of three children, it’s not a good way to be.’ Even though Michelle replaced carbohydrates with lots of vegetables and protein, such as meat and fish, she says she never felt full after a meal ‘I was tired

and my sleep was broken — probably because I was going to bed hungry — and never woke up feeling refreshed.’

She gave up the diet after a month because of the headaches, but says it had a long-lasting effect on her relationship with food.

‘It has instilled this idea in me that carbs are bad,’ she says. ‘I’m trying to retrain my brain but, three years on, I still feel guilty whenever I eat them.

‘I’ll have a roast dinner and allow myself only two small potatoes — but then I’m feeling hungry again by the evening.’

Last year, Michelle signed up with a personal trainer and started a more balanced weight-loss plan. She is now a healthy 9 st 6 lbs. ‘It’s not practical to miss out on an entire food group,’ she says.

‘Moderation is so much better. If I’ve had a big exercise day and want a jacket potato, I’ll have one.

‘My husband is much happier because I’ll go out with him and treat myself to a steak and chips.’

Michelle now believes carb-exclusion diets are not only impractical and boring, but can set up emotional issues with food.

She says: ‘People who are overweight already have some sort of an unhealthy relationship with food — so why add another one?’