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Day 28, constantly sleepy


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So, I've not really had any problems so far. I had a healthy relationship with food before, lucky me, and I still do now. I like the food I'm eating, I don't get hungry before it's time for the next meal, generally I feel good and I've noticed a number of small benefits.

However, almost since the halfway point I have been very sleepy. I mean that my body is asking me for more hours of sleep a night than it ever has done.

I don't have trouble falling asleep, or getting up. I fall asleep in a matter of minutes, sleep for 6-6.5 hours and wake up before my alarm clock (a few minutes before) on the days I need to set one, and I'm always immediately awake, not sluggish. This is how I've been all my life. Since about halfway through the whole30 I feel tired and want more sleep. I still fall asleep fine and wake up fine, but while my head is clear, I feel sleepy. Since a few days afternoon lows have made a comeback too.

For the first half of the 30 days I felt very energetic, at some point I felt a bit overly hyper and couldn't sleep, that went back to normal inside a few days. But this constant sleepiness has persisted since about day 18-22. 

I thought at first it might be related to my period (start day 24), although usually I get insomnia for 1-2 days when it starts instead of sleeping more. But that's over and I only ever have problems (of any kind, pains, etc.) for the first 1-2 days. I thought it might also be related to me eating too much water melon one day and my gut hurting after. I cut out water melon and eventually all fruit since it didn't really go away, but that was on day 13 and I've stopped eating fruit completely since day 21, replacing with more veggies, eggs and nuts. My gut is indeed feeling better, but I'm always sleepy. 

Could I still be recovering from that? I've not noticed any strong reaction to water melon in the past. I ate more fruit than I usually do during the whole30. 

But my big issue is like I said, that I'm always wanting more sleep, which is extremely uncharacteristic for me. And my back starts complaining when I spend that much time in bed.

Any experiences would be great or hints for possible reasons.

And I'm rather sure I'm eating enough, taking extra care not to undereat. 

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It is not likely that watermelon 15 days ago is causing you to be very sleepy... it IS possible that your body just wants more rest.  6 hours isn't a ton; the usual recommendation is 7-8 hours.  Even if you've only slept 6 hours previously, it's worth a try to go to bed earlier or sleep in later if you can and see if that resolves the problem.

The fact that you're also having afternoon slumps is also an indication that you're potentially not eating enough.  You say you've taken care to ensure you're not undereating but without further information about exactly what you're eating, we can't really make any suggestions.

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The water melon was just a trigger, I kept having problems afterwards, that's why I cut most of the fruit out eventually (I realized I still had a couple of batch meals in the freezer that had a bit of fruit juice in the sauce).  Besides, fructose is also in some veggies. After I finish tomorrow I plan to see a certified nutrionist to test for possible fructose malabsorption. 

I've honestly never not felt rested after 6 hours and am usually more tired if I try to sleep more. On the weekend I do sometimes sleep more, and I did this weekend, but it didn't change anything. To be clear, I still wake up after 6-6.5h on the weekend, not around the time my alarm would go, but I sometimes decide it's too early to get up and turn around again.

So I might try sleeping more, but I genuinely doubt that's the issue. I feel much too tired for just missing an hour or two of sleep. I usually feel awake and fine for a couple of days on even less than 6 hours. 

Alright, providing meal info is no problem.

Are pictures ok? Below are some examples of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tell me if you need more information.

I can't eat avocado (makes me feel nauseous after a couple of bites), same for coconut (it's ok as milk and oil, it masks the taste too) and I hate olives, so solid healthy fats have been a challenge. I try to make sure I use good cooking fats liberally, include oil in sauces, drink the rest of sauces, have fatty meat (like leaving the fat on pastured grass-fed duck) and eating nuts like cashews, hazelnut and macadamias. Generally I have breakfast, lunch, a snack that used to consist of a fruit + nuts, now is usually an egg + veggies + nuts, and dinner. I'm awake too many hours to make 3 meals work out. I've not felt hungry, except in the first few days of adapting or when it's time to eat.

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This may or may not have relevance to you, but I recently switched to a different maganesium brand, which uses a different type of the mineral. I have always taken mag in the mornings, just from habit, but after 2 weeks of feeling like I was going to fall asleep at my desk and nodding off on the couch every evening, I realised that the new kind is particularly recommended for helping you sleep (and I can report, it is very successful at it!).

So, maybe just review if you've changed or added any supplements or foods that might be having that kind of effect.

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Your meals all look fine to me for the most part... I would ask about added fat in some of them but otherwise they look good.  As you know, it only 'starts' with food and it's possible there's something else going on like low iron for instance... might be worth a trip to your PCP to see if there's anything they can rule out.  If you stopped eating fruit 7-8 days ago and this is still lingering, it's not really reasonable to assume fruit is the cause.

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I guess the top and bottom one look the most low fat. Well, the top has some sesame oil in the sauce, the meat and veggies were fried in a generous amount of coconut oil, before it all went into a casserole dish and covered with a mix of egg and coconut milk. That just ended up in the middle or bottom of the bowl when I portioned it all.

The bottom one has olive oil in the tomato sauce (naturally), coconut milk in the cauliflower mash, plenty olive oil soaked up by the aubergine while frying, and some macadamia oil was added to the "meatball" mix before frying that in more coconut oil (though of that I think most stayed in the pan). 

So I hope I should be fine.

I did actually go to my doctor today to request a general check. I'll have results by tomorrow or the day after and we'll see. I've been iron deficient as a kid, I can't remember if it actually felt like this.

Yes, I do realize that is too long ago, but as I mentioned, I forgot there was some juice in the sauce (lime in the first dish shown) and I think that in combination with some of the higher fructose veggies in it may have been a potential trigger. But we'll see. I'll keep the rest of that frozen until I've had a chance to test potential fructose malabsorption.

And I did sleep more last night, but mostly what I got from it was waking up way too early and having to go back to sleep and a hurting neck and shoulders. Still, it was worth a try.

Thanks for your input, anyway :)

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Hi, sorry for the late reply.

Everything was fine except the urid acid in my blood was elevated above the maximum value. I was told to cut back on alcohol and meat/fish.

Well, I don't drink in the first place, but I cut back my meat/fish consumption to one meal per day and a small portion at that. And I read up on purine, which the body metabolizes into uric acid, and all the foods that contain it in significant amounts (more than you'd think). Weight loss also means extra purine in the body from the breakdown of cells.

I have since improved to normal levels of sleepiness. So to anyone with even slightly sensitive kidneys out there... this much meat is _not_ safe for some of us. Don't do it, you will end up with gout if you do it for too long.

I enjoyed my Whole30 and I learned a lot, but it's not a sustainable way of eating at all for me, not even for 30 days. And I never experienced the mystical "Tiger Blood" phase (which really needs a better name). 

Oh, and it's a definite yes on the fructose malabsorption, but that does trigger different symptoms. I have since been slowly testing what fruit is safe and what isn't, for me.

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