Day 19 - Feeling lightheaded and like I'm going to pass out

[beckerj88]

Hey there, not sure if this is in the right place or not (I also posted it in my food log, but I know those aren't moderated). 

 

This is my first whole30 and things have been going well until the last 3 or 4 days. I've been feeling lightheaded and dizzy often. I feel like I'm going to pass out. I take blood pressure medicine, and I saw my doctor last week and he cut my dose in half because I had been having some lightheaded issues then as well. That seemed to provide some relief for a few days. However, I seem to be back to square one again. These past few days feel different than last week though. I get fatigued and I feel very weak like I'm going to pass out. I also the past few times have been getting sweaty when it happens as well. I would love any feed back as to what may be causing these issues!

 

Here is what I have eaten for the last few days:

 

Tuesday:

M1: 4 scrambled eggs, prosciutto, topped with salsa and a banana. 
M2:Spring mix salad with chicken breast, 2 hard boiled eggs, topped with balsamic and olive oil dressing. I also had half a banana.

M3: no fuss salmon cakes. Tried to make a mayo with it but wasn't getting an emulsification so I made a big batch of guac and had it with that. I ate late (still doing schoolwork) so I was again pretty hungry and ate 4 cakes. 

 

Wednesday:

M1: 3 scrambled eggs, topped with guac and salsa. 2 salmon cakes. 

M2: shepherd's pie (lamb, onion, carrots, cauliflower on top instead of potatoes) (probably a cup and a half) and a banana. 
M3: shepherd's pie again (probably a little more than a cup)

 

Thursday:
 M1: 3 scrambled eggs, carrots, guac, and salsa. I also attempted to have the left over buffalo but it got really dried out when I heated it up.

M2: shepherd's pie. I wasn't super hungry when I ate but I knew that that was my only window to eat. Was full afterwards.
S1: some chicken salad made with garlic aioli and mustard. My stomach kind of hurt afterwards. Not sure what in the food would have caused that. Maybe the mustard?
M3: sloppy joes (beef, whole30 ketchup, applecider vinegar, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, onion) served over zoodles. 

 

Friday:

M1: 4 eggs scrambled topped with guac and salsa (I need to buy some peppers and other veggies to throw in there this week has just been so hectic I haven't had the time to do so)

I've been feeling like I'm going to pass out a lot lately. I'm wondering if it could be related to my blood pressure? It's been "normal" between 110-120/70-80. I'm wondering if it's dropping to low at certain points though. Maybe it's an electrolyte problem? If so, what can I do to correct that? 
M2: leftover shepherd's pie, and an apple. I didn't finish all of the shepherd's pie. I was feeling like I was going to pass out and I thought maybe it was because I was hungry. I was nauseous though so I didn't finish eating it. I ate the apple first because I thought maybe it was because my blood sugar was low? It was at 11:30 which is pretty early for me to feel hungry
The feeling got worse and I ended up going home from work. I drank a lot of water and felt somewhat better a few hours later. This feeing has been lingering though and has been coming in waves.
M3: the feeling started coming on strong again so I made myself eat dinner. I didn't have much energy to cook so I sliced some baby yellow and red potatoes and baked them in the oven, and had 3 scrambled eggs with some salsa and guac on top of the potatoes
 

Thank you for your feedback! Here is a link to my food log if you need to see anything else:

http://forum.whole30.com/topic/35504-starting-my-first-whole30-today/page-3

[Karen_Suep]

In all honesty (someone better versed can tell you differently) it sounds like hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) as I have the same symptoms (as a diabetic) when my blood sugar dips really low (my dr wants me between 80-140 2 hours after a meal... I have woken up with 40-50, felt hot/sweaty/lightheaded and felt better after drinking my emergency juice and then grabbing a snack of protein and carbs after my blood sugar was in a better range)

It may help to up your fats and change the carbs up. A banana is really good at getting blood sugar up, but because the way the carbs are in the fruit it can cause a major blood sugar swing. L(higher glycemic load... similarly grapes, mango, pineapple, etc... Berries have a lower glycemic load and there are a variety of other fruit that work on either end of the spectrum). The way I've notice it works in me is if I eat lower carb amounts (lots of not starchy veggies... I'm currently in a cruciferous veggie phase) and choose sweet over regular potatoes (though sometimes I just want regular) etc, have a decent portion of protein and on the higher end of the fat in the template, I stay sated longer and my blood sugar has fewer swings. For me, the key is getting in my fat and protein and saving carb heavy things for later and/or eating them all together.

If you have a way to monitor your blood pressure at home, see how it's doing. You could also need another adjustment to medication. If you wanna check blood sugar, find a cheap monitor (make sure the strips are cheap too. I like the target up and up brand personally) and test when you're symptomatic. If it's below 70-80, it is probably too low. If it's above 180, it's too high.

[Karen_Suep]

Also it seems like your meals are light on veggies. Bulk that up and it will probably help too.

[beckerj88]

Thanks for the feedback, Karen. My fiancée has type 1 diabetes so I actually checked my blood sugar today (although I wasn't really symptomatic at the time) and it was 83. I have have a BP monitor and will keep monitoring regularly. I'll try changing up the fruits and veggies too and see how that goes!

[Karen_Suep]

It might help to review the template too. Having someone who has diabetes nearby can often help with navigating symptoms and how to test, so you got that going for ya

My poor husband has to deal with a very moody Karen if I have a day my pancreas decides to work less than normal which has been pretty often lately. I'm working on diet and medication tweaks so it's not as bad as it was when I was first diagnosed.

[SugarcubeOD]

You are not eating enough... eggs when they are your sole source of protein are as many as you can hold in one hand. I know you can hold more than 3... if you don't want more eggs, add some other protein to your meal.

Your breakfast on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday have no vegetables. Thursday is just carrots... did you eat 3 cups of them?

Your lunches have essentially no vegetables... leafy greens chew down to nothing so unless your salad was served out of a bucket, you probably only had a nominal amount. The serving size of your shepherds pie is probably less than a cup of actual vegetables.

Except for your dinner with zoodles... again, a very waterfilled vegetable that you need in great quantities if it's the only veg, and your one cup serving of shepherd's pie, you didn't eat any vegetables.

Your protein is hard to judge the amount of, but my guess is that based on the rest, you are not eating enough. A protein portion is 1-2 palms (your own palm - width x length x thickness)... I don't have huge hands and a cup of shepherd's pie wouldn't have NEAR enough protein for my palm.

6 of the meals you wrote down don't have any added fat.

Please look at the meal template and start matching your meals to it. You should match to the higher end of the template because nutrition is cumulative and since you've been eating this way, you'll need to do some catching up.

Also, make sure you are salting your food. When we remove processed and packaged junk, we remove a HUGE amount of sodium that we used to get. Salt is imperative for your body so salt your food.

How much water are you drinking? The recommendation is 1/2oz per pound of bodyweight so if you weight 150pounds you're at 75oz of water... do you get enough?

[beckerj88]

Thanks for your input. Definitely need to be eating more veggies. This week was hectic with 60+ hours working/school. I

 

In terms of added fats...all of those recipes had added fats in either the form of cooking lard, avocado oil, ghee, or coconut oil. Is there some kind of other added fats that I should be using instead?

 

I salt all of my foods with sea salt.

 

I carry around a 34 oz nalgene and I drink probably 5-6 of those throughout the day.

 

Salads, while not eating out of a bucket, were large. At least 4-5 cups worth of greens in them.

 

Maybe the estimate of 1 cup of shepherds pie was low balling it because I was certainly full after each one. It was in a Tupperware container so maybe it was closer to 2 or even 3 cups. 

 

I stopped taking my blood pressure medicine and that seemed to help some. We'll see how it goes from here on out making the adjustments you suggested as well.

 

Thanks again.

[Karen_Suep]

Fats you cook with often aren't enough. It's best to add some to it (like a handful of olives or coconuts, a couple of tablespoons of mayo and/or mayo based sauces, 1/2-1 avocado, guacamole, etc)

[beckerj88]

Ahh, okay. I guess that part wasn't very clear to me. So the fats that you cook with then are negligent then?

 

Thanks! 

[SugarcubeOD]

Ahh, okay. I guess that part wasn't very clear to me. So the fats that you cook with then are negligent then?

 

Thanks!

Pretty much because most of it stays in the pan and if you cook something that is more than one serving size, consider that that fat amount is then divided by the servings. You won't gain weight from eating fat so the best thing to do is add a serving or two like Karen says... avocado, mayo, olives, coconut etc...