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Worse Sleep with Whole30


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I am a poster child for poor eating from the book - I ate a diet full of carbs and processed foods. However, I never had trouble sleeping - maybe even too much. I could sleep for 11 hours a night with no problem.

 

I am on day 4 of my first Whole30 and every night since starting, I've struggled to fall asleep (taking 1-2 hours to go to sleep) and I'm waking up multiple times during the night. None of my normal habits have changed except my eating so I assume it's something related to Whole30. Any ideas what might be going on? Is this just part of the detox phase or should I change something?

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Are you able to post a couple of days worth of meals here so we might help you troubleshoot?

 

There could be so many issues here:

 

1) not eating eating enough starchy veggies (and the timing of the starchy veggies)

2) eating too many nuts - yes nuts can and will disrupt sleep.  (I am one of those people who can only consume a very small amount of nuts)

3) not eating enough for meal 1.  Yes meal 1 plays a huge factor for sleep.

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I had always been a great sleeper also and never had an issue...until my first 10-14 days of Whole30.  I was terrified that my good sleeping was gone.  But....as I pressed on it came back as my body adjusted and my hormones all regulated.  I think Derek's idea is good to post food, stress, fluids and before bed sleep habits so that someone can review. 

 

But don't discount the fact that your body is going to be going through a LOT of healing and transition right now....sleep might be disrupted for awhile.

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Thanks guys! So here are my last two days of eating. I am nursing my son and struggling to stay with just 3 meals so I have snacked.

 

Tuesday

Breakfast: sausage & egg scramble w/wholly guacamole

Green Tea

Snack: cashews & unsweetened applesauce

Lunch: crockpot pork w/zucchini & tomatoes

Snacks: Larabar and Banana w/Almond Butter

Dinner: Chicken burger w/wholly guacamole & tomatoes, sweet potato spears & green beans. Sliced strawberries & coconut milk.

 

Yesterday

Breakfast: egg & sausage muffin w/wholly guacamole & smoothie (spinach, kale, chard, berries, 1/2 banana & chia seeds)

Green Tea

Snack: cashews & unsweetened applesauce

Lunch: taco salad with ground turkey, tomato, olives, sunflower seeds & wholly guacamole

Snacks: Larabar and Banana w/Almond Butter

Dinner: Sausage & mushrooms w/wholly guacamole, green beans & red potatoes. Grapes. 

 

I drink TONS of water and some tea. I would say probably 120oz  of water per day.

 

Before bed I usually am on my phone or watching TV. Last night I was reading on my Kindle but shut it off about 15 mins before getting in bed. These things have never affected my sleep before though. 

 

My stress has been normal but without turning to food to cope, I would say my stress is probably a little higher than usual. 

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If you are nursing you probably need to add a 4th meal. The 3 meals and no snacks is for people who are not feeding another tiny human. 

 

Your 1st meal on Tuesday lacks vegetables and on Wednesday they came in liquid form...smoothies are discouraged on Whole30 for a slew of reasons (I'll add a link below). Did you just have one egg and sausage muffin? I doubt that is a palm of protein unless they are huge. Your other meals look good. Instead of snacking on fruit and nuts have another meal or mini meal composed of protein, fat, and vegetables. Keep fruit to 1-2 servings a day with a meal and be careful with nuts. Larabars are emergency food only so keep one in your purse for dire needs. We always recommend higher servings of fat and starchy vegetables to moms who are nursing so play with that as well. Perhaps having a starchy vegetable with each meal.

 

Screen time within an hour of bedtime can certainly be disruptive to sleep. Even if it hasn't seemed to effect you in the past it could be now because your hormones are re-balancing. 

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If you are nursing you probably need to add a 4th meal. The 3 meals and no snacks is for people who are not feeding another tiny human. 

 

Your 1st meal on Tuesday lacks vegetables and on Wednesday they came in liquid form...smoothies are discouraged on Whole30 for a slew of reasons (I'll add a link below). Did you just have one egg and sausage muffin? I doubt that is a palm of protein unless they are huge. Your other meals look good. Instead of snacking on fruit and nuts have another meal or mini meal composed of protein, fat, and vegetables. Keep fruit to 1-2 servings a day with a meal and be careful with nuts. Larabars are emergency food only so keep one in your purse for dire needs. We always recommend higher servings of fat and starchy vegetables to moms who are nursing so play with that as well. Perhaps having a starchy vegetable with each meal.

 

Screen time within an hour of bedtime can certainly be disruptive to sleep. Even if it hasn't seemed to effect you in the past it could be now because your hormones are re-balancing. 

 

That's really helpful Physibeth! Thank you!

 

I must admit I do struggle with veggies in the morning - they don't sound appetizing at all. Any recommendations of things you do? I wouldn't mind adding mushrooms and tomatoes to my egg muffins I guess. And I agree, I probably should have more than one. 

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I am also going to recommend that you step away from the larabars and cashews for now.  Add a mini meal instead - some chicken. olives and cucumber/carrots/peppers might work here better.

 

Gotcha about the Larabars! I'll quit...although they are so good :)

 

So no nuts at this point?

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Go easy the nuts for a few days. I'm not saying eliminate them completely. Just try to lean on them less as a fat source and experiment with others - olives, homemade mayo, coconut milk..... Since you are nursing you still need to eat more fat than average.  

 

I would say couple of steps to focus on more is to eat more in general on your meal 1.

And add an extra meal/mini meal instead of a snack.  

 

I know lara bars are yummy.  But basically they are a sugar bomb.  Yes they are technically compliant but they are also to be used for emergencies - not really on a regular basis.  

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Root veggies at my last meal has helped.  Looks like you're doing that already.

 

Try to cut off electronics 1 hour before bedtime.  Use that hour to dim or turn off the lights and do some reading (in a book, not on a tablet) or some meditation/self-reflection.

 

No caffeine after about 10 a.m.

 

Nuts are okay and compliant but are on the "occasional" to "limit" side of the W30 fat sources.  Try to get most of your fats from coconut, olives, avocados (and their derivatives), clarified butter, .  Not sure about the nut-sleep connection, but it's a good idea to limit them for other reasons as well.

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  • 2 years later...

Hi Everyone! I'm on Day 5 and optimistic.  I've noticed the beginnings of many positive things.  One question: is it normal for sleep to get worse before it gets better? I've never been a great sleeper anyway but am wondering if people noticed worse sleep during the initial detox/healing days and then later on saw it improve. 

THANKS!

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@rfischer17 - I've merged your topic with a previous one where the poster had essentially the same question/issue. Feel free to google "Whole30 + your issue" as most things have already been answered. I got to this thread by googling "Whole30 sleep worse".

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