Brain Fog, Feeling Crappy, Day 31... where to go from here???

[Debdstein]

Yesterday was day 30 for me and for the last 4-5 days I have been feeling really crappy.  Lightheaded, brain fog, cognitively impair, etc.  I considered the possibility that I have not been eating enough... I did weigh myself yesterday and found that I lost 10 lbs in the last month (I have been carrying an extra 20 lbs from since having my second child who is now two... but I never have been 'overweight' in terms of BMI...) The first 27 days I did not have any feelings like this.  I was hoping the plan would help with some joint pain, low energy, and psoriasis.... and help get my into some better eating habits.  Join pain is gone, energy is maybe a bit better, psoriasis is the same, and bad habits are broken... so, some successes there, but this last week I feel terrible.   

 

In terms of how true to the 'spirit' of the program I have been... I guess I have just been doing my best considering having 2 little kids, a husband who is home late, and working full time.  Some days/meals are better than others.  While I have been 100% compliant, I have struggled with the meal planning/sitting down to meals piece.  I eat eggs and fish, but no other meat.  One thought is that I am eating too many nuts... specifically almond butter.  I seem to be going thru about 1.5 jars a week.  A coworker suggested that my symptoms were perhaps due to a sensitivity to something that I am eating more of now... or a toxicity associated with something I am eating.  While I have always eaten nuts, eggs, and fish, I am certainly eating a lot more of all of them now.  In terms of veggies, I am eating more spinach but not excessively...

 

My doctor ordered some blood work (basic chem, ANA, TSH, CBC, SedRate) but I don't have results yet.  While he is keeping his opinions to himself... my husband (who is a gastroenterologist) has not really been super supportive of the diet from the get go... now that I am feeling crappy, he is kinda getting pissed at me for not returning back to my previous ways of eating.  I know that the way I was eating before, while not terrible, had gotten out of control in certain areas... and I really don't want to go back to that... but I just don't really know how to proceed.  I did eat some rice today because I am feeling so crappy.  No change. 

 

Any thoughts???

 

[GFChris]

You could post 2-3 days worth of a typical food log for you, as well as the amount of daily water you drink, hours of nightly sleep you get, along with any exercise, to get feedback on possible tweaks.

 

Yeah, 1.5 jars of almond butter for one person in a week is a lot. While nuts are a compliant fat, the guidance is to limit them on a Whole30.  A serving size of nuts on a Whole30 is a closed handful of whole nuts - that translates to about 2 tablespoons of almond butter.

[Tom Denham]

I went back and looked at your posts since starting. It looks like you have not had a good diet over the past month... largely compliant, but not really getting the protein, fat, or starchy veggies that you need. I suspect that you have fallen way short on carbs from starchy veggies. Some people desperately need the carbs to feel decent. An ordinary American diet is full of junk carbs from bread and sugar. During a Whole30, you need to eat starchy veggies like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, plantains, etc. I suspect that your brain fog and feeling crappy is the lack of starchy veggies. 

 

Our culture supports not learning to cook and not placing any priority on meal preparation. However, cooking and meal preparation is critically important. The problem is not time. We all have the same amount of time. The problem is allocating time for what we think is important. You can boil a dozen eggs, peel them, and have them ready in the morning to eat in the car. You can get up 15 minutes early to cook and eat before you get your kids up, you can prepare supper with lots of leftovers and eat that as breakfast in the morning. You can do all these things if you decide it is important to you.