Low energy

[Mars]

everyone!

I am doing this diet thingie and ya know, I must not be doing it right because I am sooooooooo tired. I am still taking my vitamins, B-12 on top of that but I seem to have No energy - ZIP! It's almost if my body goes into "shut-down" mode when I get home from work. Saturday is like that all day too - recouping from the work week. ???

I am wondering if it is my lack of eating the proper foods that is contributing to this???

Are there foods that are "allowed" that will help boost energy? I really don't have any clue when it comes to carbs, etc. when you are talking different food groups.

I could look up the internet, but I like you guys' answers better! (It's like getting from a friend!)

Luv,
Mars (I need a planet smilie here folks)

[Momster]

I can't give you informed advice about diet, but if you are low in energy then something is definitely lacking.
Many here can help with suggestions, but your GI should also be involved because everyone is different. Be careful and look after yourself.
Hope you feel better soon.

Love - Momster

[annie oakley]

I'm not sure about energy foods, except protien foods. Peanut butter maybe, don't know what diet you are on. I get real tired when my blood pressure gets too low. My whole family has high b.p. and mine is low. Hope you get some energy back soon. Love The Herb Lady

[Mars]

Sorry, I am GF - no other MI (that I know of).

If you read my journal today (this is unusal for me), I haven't eaten but a handful of Lays chips today. I know this will affect me today but I have this feeling whether I eat or not. One more stange thing about me!

Ohhhhhhh, the secrets I am telling today!

[Babci]

Hey Mars

I too am doing my diet & feeling very tired. I was a real high carb eater so I figure my body is detoxing. I also stopped caffeine. I have been adding more canned fruit, can't seem to digest fresh fruit yet & I am eating more often. I should probably get a cut of the Nana cookie profits but have found them to be very helpful for a quick "pick me up" & pretty tasty too. Also munch on a small bag of chips throughout the day. At least I'm not falling asleep on my patients Last week I did fall asleep in the car as I was heading into one of my nursing homes. Never did anything like that before. They keep telling me it will get better so I'm trying to snooze when I can. Figure the body is telling me something. Love & light, Rita

[Umber]

Doesn't it stink to be so tired! My thyroid issue is killing me in the energy dept. I went out for a walk yesterday and didn't think I would make it back. My stamina is zippo. I don't enjoy doing the things I use to do, like baking or making dinner.

Hugs

Lori

[Peggy]

I'm no help in the diet department, but for me it is a mind over matter type thing. Yes, I get sooooo tired and want to do nothing other than cuddle on the couch with my blankie and my kitty. The weather effects me big time, and so does my period. I work full-time and still have to come home and cook, clean, and try to get some exercise. If the D is bad it's even worse.

You know what I do? I get out for a walk when I can, I go for a bike ride when I can, I do the chores when I have to, if I'm so inclined I do some sit ups when I can, and the rest of the time I don't frickin' worry about it!

All the above can stress me out big time...stress is NOT GOOD with this disease. Don't beat yourself up when you can't do things...look forward to what you can do tomorrow, or the next day, or the next.

I'm not sure the best kind of juice on the GF diet, but juice really picks me up. I'm at work, its the afternoon and I'm bagged, I have a small glass of oj and the brain just seems to 'kick in'. When my period is at its worst I have a cuppa green tea and DO the couch with the blankie and the kitty - and I don't worry about it!!!

Hopefully some of the more experienced GF'ers can you give you better insight than me...but this is mine for now.

Love,
Peg

[kate_ce1995]

Thats an interesting idea about detoxing....

I go through waves of tiredness too. But now I can "usually" contribute it to a slip in diet. However, there are a couple things that I've always read to watch for regardless of diet. Low iron (anemia...even if you aren't "anemic", just low-normal), so a nice steak might help, say if you tried to work one in every 3-5 days (don't know what your usual meat habits are). Peanut butter is probably another good one. I "think" magnesium has something to do with energy levels and nuts are full of that.

If this keeps up, do ask your doc. Others have said along the way though that the fatigue is the last symptom to get better on the diet. Maybe from other standpoints you are feeling better, so doing more and therefore getting tireder.

I think I'm too tired to make any sense now.
Katy

[tex]

Hmmmmmmm. Well, I'm certainly not a dietitian, but when feeding livestock, farmers generally feed high protein rations for growth and development, and high starch rations for energy. This carries over to wildlife, also. For example, in the spring and summer, when buck deer are developing antlers and does are carrying or raising fawns, we feed high protein rations. In the fall and winter, we feed them corn, (which is relatively low in protein content, but is composed primarily of starch), in order to help them stoke their little furnaces and give them energy, during the colder months of the year.

IOW, eating starchy foods should increase your energy level. If you're trying to prevent weight gain, you should eat some protein along with the carbs. The potato chips probably do give some energy, since potatoes are a starchy food, and the fats from the cooking oil should also convey a little energy.

Back when I was still drinking them, when I was sick and weak, and low on energy, a coke about mid-morning always gave me enough energy to finish my work, (physical labor), and allowed me to last until I could eat my noon meal. That was when I was burning a lot of calories, though.

As Peg suggested, the fruit and veggie juices are a much better choice that soft drinks, since the sugar in them is much better for you than the HFCS in all the other commercial drinks. This is assuming that you can handle juices--they don't like me very well, so I have to avoid them. Sigh.

My diet consists of meat and potatoes, and a few rice flour-based chocolate chip cookies. I seem to have plenty of energy, (as long as I don't try to add anything else, and wind up getting sick from it). Yeah, I know, it's boring, but it feels good to feel good.

Tex

[Mars]

That's an interesting thought - doing more = more tired! I have found that I am more energetic and feel better during the day. The aches are less, the cramps are less but at the end of the day I feel like I have run a marathon.

At the end of the week, the energy is nill and I attribute it to something like the body crashing after a workout. I guess, in a way it is!

Sometimes this brain needs to have company to get the thought process working! Now isn't that - 2 brains in this body!

I am more of a meat eater than anything else. I do like a good steak too! The only problem I seem to have is cooking for me alone. Larry works 2nd shift and I am alone at night. I guess another thought process change is in the works! Laziness might have something to do with not cooking too! (Ssh, don't tell anyone!)

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Peggy]

I like that Wayne...er Tex...er Raymond...or Xet...er whatever!

"It feels good to feel good"



New Potty People motto perhaps?

Luv,

[Mars]

me up! Talk about multi personalities! Oh well, that's us Gemini's!

[Lucy]

Mars,

What are your stools like now? Do you see any indication of fat in them -- slimmy, floating, or very smelly stools?

If there's still an obvious presence of fat in your stools, I would think that that would indicate your innards haven't had a chance to heal as yet. It would be hard to imagine anyone healing that fast anyway, but it does get better and better, overall, as one continues avoiding immune reactions in the gut.

With me, I know that since I so quickly felt free of all the aches and pains, that I got much more active without actually meaning to, so I'd be fine while doing the activity, but due to the lack of conditioning, would find myself fatigued at the end of the day.

It's hard not to be impatient if you've gotten a bit of immediate gratification in relief of the other more severe symptoms soon after starting the diet. This is what happened to me, anyway.

If you talk to your doc about it, you might want to ask him to screen you for things that might be low in one having a bit of malabsorption (nutrient levels, as well as anemias, blood sugar, and thyroid.

Thyroid problems are M.C.'s ulgy sister. It was too late to save mine.

Try using a variety of nuts that you like for a between meal snack, but just a few of them at a time, and then wait 20 minutes to see if you're satisfied.

Also, when you DO have hubby home and fix cook something, don't forget to cook some extra meat for later when you're eating alone.

That way, you can just NUKE a few ounces to go with whatever starch you have that evening, and maybe some mixed green veggies and fruit or a fruit smoothie.

One thing I'd really like to see you do if it's not too much trouble would be to put more information in your journals as to how you know the meats you're getting aren't injected or don't contain gluten in them. Will leave it up to you to decide a brief way to contain this.
You might want to put product names in parenthesis, along with the stores where you bought the products. This might help others in your geographic area locate gf foods after reading your journal.

Oh, and if you could, it would be nice if you could list the ingredients the first time you mention a particular product.

Another thing that I wasn't getting was how long after you eat gluten is it before you would/did typically have a reaction of whatever kind. Once you've figured this out, it gets MUCH easier.

Hang in there. It will get better!
By the way, the ozone gets to me bigtime, but I never know about it until it's too late!

Yours, Luce