Side effects such as headaches and irritability when starting a diet is a common and very frustrating occurrence. After all, you finally feel as though you’re making a solid effort for your health and appearance and your body seems to fight back against it.

These types of symptoms such as irritability when starting a diet can make it difficult to keep up your motivation. Think about it. You could continue what you’re doing and feel headaches, fatigue and moody, or you could have that sugar and calorie-packed caramel latte and double chocolate cupcake and feel great.

The good news is that the headaches and other symptoms like irritability when starting a diet are temporary. They feel lousy but they do go away and it is only a matter of days before they’re done. It won’t be a battle you’ll need to fight over the long term.

That said, have you ever wondered why it happens in the first place? While reducing all the excess fats, salts, refined sugars, alcohol and stimulants may be good for you overall, it does cause your body to change the way it functions. At the start, that shift in your body functions and expectations can leave you uncomfortable, tired and even potentially bloated along with being grumpy…very, very grumpy.

Unlike what many people claim, this is not caused by the process of your body flushing out some kind of buildup of impurities or toxins. Those are the claims of fad diets, cleanses, detoxes and products but are not based on medicine.

Instead, suddenly changing your diet from one filled with processed food in favor of one high in vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients can actually come as a shock to your system. It can lead to an imbalance of dopamine, ketones and even the micro-biome in your body.

Junk food naturally causes your brain to release dopamine, which is the “feel good” brain chemical. It’s why those foods packed in fat, sugar and salt make you feel good even though they’re bad for you. When you stop eating those foods, you don’t get that regular hit of dopamine, causing you to crave the foods for the first while. When you don’t eat them, it can make you feel down, anxious or moody. It’s as though you’re going through a kind of withdrawal.

Beat these symptoms by focusing on keeping up with the nutrition, starting each day with a great high fiber breakfast and making sure you get a very good night of sleep on a regular basis. A dieting support group is also very beneficial for getting through tough times.