Day 17, and the headaches are bringing me down

[Eamosier]

This is my first whole 30, and overall I feel pretty good.  My only issue is that starting on day 4, I have had intermittent severe headaches.  I thought at first it was just a delayed sugar hangover, but I don't understand why this is still happening.  I've cut out the balsamic vinegar I was using on my salads because I was worried it might be the sulfites, but three days later I still woke up with a killer headache that doesn't go away with ibuprofen.  I didn't really have headaches before so it is concerning to me.  For breakfast I usually have some sort of casserole with spinach, ground turkey, eggs, olives.  For lunch I might do sautéed steak and peppers, or broiled salmon and broccoli.  Dinner varies, but usually involved a chicken breast and an assortment of either grilled or roasted veggies like zucchini, broccoli, or on the odd occasion a small portion of potatoes.  If I snack, it would be on a handful of raspberries or a sliced apple. I want to be more active, but the headaches are making me nauseous as well.  On a day without a headache, I feel great.  My seasonal allergies are much better which is a miracle because everything is covered in a thick yellow dust outside.  Is this weather related, related to allergies?   Any ideas, or is this to be expected? 

[Physibeth]

It's hard to tell from your descriptions if you are eating enough. Are your meals lasting you 4-5 hours? I do notice a lack of regular starchy veggies. You could try increasing your starchy veggies to a fist sized serving a day and see if that helps. Are you adding fat to your lunch and dinner? Snacking on fruit alone isn't ideal, if you are hungry enough to need a snack try to make it a mini meal. How much water are you drinking? Are you salting your food? What are the biggest changes between how you were eating and how you are eating now?

 

Headaches can be caused by a lot of things. Mine are usually caused by sinus pressure or dehydration.

[Eamosier]

There may be some truth in the not eating enough. I do get hungry before meal time. I also occasionally skip meals if I'm stuck at work or on the road...

[ShannonM816]

There may be some truth in the not eating enough. I do get hungry before meal time. I also occasionally skip meals if I'm stuck at work or on the road...

 

Definitely be sure you're adding fat to your meals -- I only saw some mentioned at breakfast with the olives. The fat you cook in is generally not enough, as it can stay in the pan and not be consumed.

 

Skipping meals is also not good. Try to plan ahead and have emergency food with you so you never have to do that (and I don't mean Larabars). You can keep cans of tuna, salmon, or sardines almost indefinitely -- even if that were all you had, it would be better than having nothing, but with a little extra planning, you can probably make sure you always have some kind of veggies with you -- things like carrots and celery and snap or snow peas that will last pretty much all day without refrigeration, if you don't have access to a fridge or cooler -- if you have a fridge or cooler to keep things in, you have almost unlimited options. For fat, if you're working in an office, consider keeping a bottle of olive oil at your desk to add to things. You could keep a bottle of vinegar too and you'd have salad dressing -- if you work near a place where you can get a plain salad, and you keep some cans of fish like I mentioned above around, you'd always be set for a meal, even if it might be a bit boring.