Late Day Nausea

[allegra]

I'm on Day 6 and overall I think i'm gonna like Whole30. I am having a weird issue. Later in the day, starting on Day 3 or 4, I get super nauseous.  Like, have to sit down and breathe slowly through my nose-level nausea. I have a low performing thyroid which I take meds for but I'm not sure if that's related. I usually don't feel nauseous.

 

Prior to Whole30 I was not much of a breakfast eater but when I did eat it, I would grab some sort of breakfast sandwich or hashbrowns and sausage. Lunch was a sandwich and dinner was whatever the rest of the family ate. I'm very lucky in that my fantastic-cooking mother moved in with me so I get a balanced meal for dinner.

 

I haven't been weighing/measuring anything but my daily menu this week has been pretty similar to this:

 

Breakfast:

 

2-3 eggs (scrambled or fried with ghee)

Veggies (spinach, green beans, greens, whatever is in the fridge)

2 slices of Pederson's bacon

I did have cantaloupe 2 days

 

Lunch:

 

Salad made with romaine (salad in a bag from Trader Joe's)

An assortment of proteins, compliant crab, tuna, etc. One day I had a crumbled turkey burger on my salad.

Each day's dressing was one of the compliant Tessamae's. I'm partial to Lemon Garlic and Chesapeake flavors.

I would usually nibble a few kale chips or roasted plantain chips with my salad but it was often a 'chore' to eat the entire thing because I'm generally not very hungry.

 

Dinner:

 

Veggies! Cauliflower, squash, spinach, greens, salad, grape tomatoes

Chile lime Chicken Burger, Turkey Burger with lettuce 'buns', grilled salmon and pan-fried catfish.

Lemon garlic dressing on salad

Guacamole on the chicken burger

 

I have used Trader Joe's everyday spice or 21 spices or pink himalayan salt for seasoning items this week. That's new. I would have used True Lemon's lime, garlic cilantro spice mix last week but that was before I read the ingredients.

 

I think that's it. Drinking 2 quarts of water a day (that's pretty normal).

 

Hit me! What am I doing wrong? I feel fine pretty much all day but around 3:30p or 4:00p the ickiness creeps up on me and I am swooning. And the nausea doesn't leave me until I wake up the next morning. I manage to eat something for dinner and oddly enough, that usually helps but, ick.

 

Thanks in advance all you Whole30 rock stars!

 

P.S. I have pics of all my meals if that helps for gauging portions. I've been sending them to a friend who started Whole30 this week too, so we can what we're each eating.

[ShannonM816]

Hi, Allegra!  Mostly your meals look okay, although when you have eggs as your only protein source, the serving size is as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand -- for most people that's 3-4. 

 

I do notice that you don't have much in the way of starchy veggies. You ought to try to have at least one serving of them each day, and some people find they need more than that to feel good. Adding it to your lunch might help -- I suspect that part of the problem is that while your salad may be really big, those leafy greens just don't stay with you the way more dense vegetables would. I personally like roasted sweet potatoes in my salad, or you might try roasted beets in it if you like them, or you could have the starchy vegetable on the side if that sounds better. I think that would not only get in your serving of starchy vegetables, but I think it would make your lunch keep you satiated longer and might help with the afternoon ickiness.

 

You say you're using some salt, which is good, but I wonder if you're maybe a little low on it right now? We do need some salt in our diets, and you were probably getting more than you realized in your bread and sausage and things like that before.

 

We usually recommend 1/2 oz of water for every pound of body weight, so a 130 lb person would need about 65 oz of water per day. 

[allegra]

Shannon,

 

Thank you so much for your response! I appreciate you!

 

So, I'm not eating enough eggs? I thought I was being a little 'much' eating 2-3 for breakfast each day. I always eat either bacon or sausage with my breakfast. Aren't those a protein? Do I still need to increase the number of eggs?

 

I have never thought about adding sweet potatoes to a salad. I can try that! Also, I do like beets, I'll pick some of them up next time I'm at the store. I like the specific suggestions. 

 

My mother, the retired RN, also suggested that since I used to eat predominantly processed foods and popcorn,#truestory, that my salt intake has probably taken a nose dive. I was trying to just eat a little of that pink little grinder but I can increase that. I didn't eat any for a couple days because the Morton's mediterranean sea salt we bought had Yellow Prussiate as an ingredient. What the pudding is that?! I decided not to eat it and waited until I got the himalayan salt from Trader Joe's.

 

Based on your math (and the fact that I weigh much more than 130) I am not drinking nearly enough water. Wow! 

 

Thank you so much! I'm looking forward to implementing some tweaks so I can feel better soon.

 

Have a powerful evening!

[ShannonM816]

Bacon usually seems like more fat than protein, so I usually think of it as a fat source. The real test is, is your breakfast keeping you comfortably satisfied for 4-5 hours until your next meal? If it is, then it's working for you. If it's not, then try adding another egg. 

 

I'm not sure what yellow prussiate is exactly, although a quick google search shows it's an anti-caking agent, so I guess it's meant to keep the salt from clumping. It's not one of the ingredients that's specifically against the rules on a Whole30, but you can definitely find salts that don't have it if you prefer. 

[Physibeth]

The other thought on your nausea could be that you are processing all those raw vegetables. Based on what you posted I'm assuming this might be quite a bit more raw vegetables then you are accustomed to eating. I think adding more cooked vegetables might help a lot. If you are already shopping at TJs I know mine often has pre-chopped and seasoned veggies in microwavable packages that might make great additions to your meal 2.

 

My favorite salt is Redmond's Real Salt.