Jacob.desoto Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Hello, My name is Jacob, I am a 26 year old male with bi-polar disorder or in other works manic-depressive disorder. I woke up today with arthritis in my hands and I have been doing this whole 30 for about 2 weeks now. But in the morning I am get severe anxiety, you know the anxiety that feels like a heart attack and hard to breathe. What i have noticed is I seem to calm down after I have some sort of complex carbohydrate(Carrots, Celery etc)... But my body keeps telling me i need more food. Its really scary having these feels only in the AM.. Any ideas on how to simmer down my nervous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators ladyshanny Posted July 19, 2016 Administrators Share Posted July 19, 2016 Definitely you may need to increase the amount of starchy veggie that you are eating. Our recommendation is at least one fist sized serving per day but people with depression or anxiety may need quite a bit more than that. When you come to Whole30 most people inadvertently end up far too "low carb" and that can mess with you if you have serotonin issues. You say your body is trying to tell you it needs more food. As Whole30 is not a restrictive diet, I wonder how much you are eating at meal times. Can you give us a rundown of a couple typical days of eating, including portion sizes, timing, fluids, sleep and exercise? Note that no one here is a doctor and we cannot dispense medical advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob.desoto Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 Ok morning is always in a rush, since i have to drive an hour and half to work, First I get 5 carrot and 5 celery in a bag, 6 blackberries/7 raspberries/ 15 blueberries in a bag, and a bottle water. thats my morning so far. I've tried eggs and spinach before but it wasn't what i was feeling. Thats usually my morning. As I type this though I feel I am missing out on essentials. Was never a breakfast person but with whole 30 I need food. Also, what I have noticed having a complex carbohydrate like a belvita blueberry biscuit immediately leveled me out. Do you think grains are helping? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators ladyshanny Posted July 19, 2016 Administrators Share Posted July 19, 2016 Ok morning is always in a rush, since i have to drive an hour and half to work, First I get 5 carrot and 5 celery in a bag, 6 blackberries/7 raspberries/ 15 blueberries in a bag, and a bottle water. thats my morning so far. I've tried eggs and spinach before but it wasn't what i was feeling. Thats usually my morning. As I type this though I feel I am missing out on essentials. Was never a breakfast person but with whole 30 I need food. Also, what I have noticed having a complex carbohydrate like a belvita blueberry biscuit immediately leveled me out. Do you think grains are helping? Please review the meal template linked in my signature below. Your morning food is painfully light and doesn't include protein or fat. Pre-cooking and preparing the night before is probably going to help you if you have such a long commute. No one here is going to recommend that you eat a breakfast cookie made with sugar, dairy and grains but you are an adult and if you wish to leave off Whole30 and eat these cookies for breakfast, that's certainly up to you. No one here is trained to give you medical advice or to presume as to whether or not your condition will be helped or hindered by this item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted July 19, 2016 Moderators Share Posted July 19, 2016 Also, what I have noticed having a complex carbohydrate like a belvita blueberry biscuit immediately leveled me out. Do you think grains are helping? No, I think food in general is helping, possibly carbs -- you can get both of those things without having grains or dairy or sugar, but you do have to work at it a little bit more. For every meal, have 1-2 palm size portions of protein (that's the length, width, and depth of your palm) or if eggs are your only protein have as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand; 1-2 thumb-sized portions of fat, or a heaping handful or two of olives or coconut flakes, or a half to a whole avocado, or 1/4 to 1/2 of a can of coconut milk, or occasionally a small closed handful of nuts or seeds -- this is in addition to whatever fat you cook in as much of that stays in the pan and isn't consumed; then fill the plate with vegetables -- one cup at a minimum, aim for closer to three at most meals. Up to two times a day, or fewer if you want, have a serving of fruit the size of your closed fist. At least once a day, make sure one of your vegetables is a fist-sized serving of starchy vegetables (potato, sweet potato, winter squashes like butternut or acorn squash, plantains, jicama, pumpkin, root vegetables like turnips or carrots or parsnips or beets). Since you're suffering from anxiety, you could have a serving like this at every meal for a while and see if your mood improves, and then once you're feeling better play with how much you really need each day to feel good. Be sure you're having other vegetables as well. You don't have to have eggs and spinach for breakfast. Leftovers are the easiest thing to have, since they're already made and you can just heat them up, or not if you don't mind them cold. Here's a thread with some other examples of non-egg breakfasts for more ideas, or google Whole30 no egg breakfast to find lots of past discussions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob.desoto Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 Thank you so much. I need this information so i can plan accordingly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm531 Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 I'm painfully new to the program, but I have to agree, I think you're not taking in enough. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decker_bear Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 On 7/19/2016 at 1:18 PM, ladyshanny said: Our recommendation is at least one fist sized serving per day but people with depression or anxiety may need quite a bit more than that. Sorry to revive this thread but ... WOW!!! I never knew this. I asked the mods to review my food log the other day and there was a recommendation to play around with reducing my starchy veg and "eat the rainbow." I modified it ever so slightly this morning by leaving out the sweet potato and subbing in a hunk of roasted cabbage with a cauliflower puree. Less than 90 minutes after M1 I was hit with a crazy bout of anxiety that didn't go away until after I ate M2. So, I start searching the forum (because the anxiety thing is totally weird, right??) and come across this. WOWSERS. I have Generalized Anxiety and ADHD (not a good combo) - it is CRAZY to me that I might be able to keep it at bay just by eating sweet potatoes and squash. Thank you @ladyshanny and @ShannonM816 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted September 12, 2016 Moderators Share Posted September 12, 2016 You anxiety after not eating sweet potato in M1 was not related to not having a serving of sweet potato during that meal. Consuming starchy veggies does help, but the changes in either direction take time to develop. There is room for you to skip your starchies every once in a while with no consequences. The problem is when you keep them too low too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 @decker_bear - Omega 3 Fatty Acid's are known to have anti-depressant properties, plus eating oily fish alongside starchy veg makes the tryptophan (the pre-cursor to seratonin) more bioavailable (in the same way that taking vit c alongside iron speeds up absorption) so I'd suggest you include both at the same meal - and actually in this case the humble spud is superior to the sweet variety. Ever wondered why we Brits are so fond of fish'n'chips? It's all about trying to put a smile on our faces in this grim climate of ours! Although the fact we then batter the fish in wheat flour & fry it in an inferior oil kind of defeats the purpose That said I'd agree that you need to 'eat the rainbow' - you'll get a wider variety of the nutrients necessary for the prevention of anxiety and depression that way. Make sure you limit your nut/seed consumption too - they are much higher in Omega 6 Fatty Acids (linked closely with anxiety/depression) and will undo any good work you do in ensuring you get adequate Omega 3s. Worth noting is that there are MANY other seratonin boosting foods (turkey, oysters - HUGE bang for your buck here - pineapple, mushrooms, banana & liver to name but a few), all of which provide different vitamins & minerals, so you should be looking to ensure your diet is varied enough to include at least some if not all of these. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decker_bear Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 On 9/13/2016 at 0:29 AM, jmcbn said: Hope this helps. Sure does, thanks! Interestingly, smoked salmon is the one thing that almost always sounds edible - maybe it's my brain trying to tell me something? I can also almost always eat oysters, and I found some packed only in olive oil with no other ingredients (I hope those will work and I'm not going to have to shuck raw oysters myself, LOL). This really does give me a whole new perspective. I'm trying to "eat the rainbow" - I swear - but I'm still in the "everything makes me nauseous and food is my enemy" stage. I'm working through it. This morning I managed to eat some beets at M1 - and I consider that HUGE progress! I feel like you've given me a lot to work with here, thank you so much for that! Definitely going to start including some of those foods you mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 Just want to re-iterate the point re starchy vegs. I have dsythmia and anxiety, and starchy vegs are key to keep me non-bonkers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.