Sleepiness from Starch?

[greengreenwin]

Hi all, my eating routine has been through a lot of tweaks in the past. I basically went vegan starting January this year. At the beginning- I was sort of incidentally following the 'starch solution' without knowing about it. But I mostly ate a small smoothie (3 bananas average with a couple strawberries), and sometimes more fruit in the evening or a big salad, and at night mostly salad again with some sweet potatoes. And then I started to gain a huge amount of weight after starting this insane diet called Rawtill4- where this diet promotes usually around 2000-2500 calories a day. This might not seem much- but i was at the time not exercising like a professional athlete, and I felt pressured to almost binge eat to get enough calories in. I did a lot of strength training and cardio and for some reason I started to gain weight.

Now here I am today. It's my FIRST day on the starch solution. i've learned to go easy on the calories and just to eat when I was hungry and until I was moderately full. The problem is- I've been extremley sleepy after eating starches (one meal I had for lunch was a small bowl of rice, corn, steamed broccoli and mushrooms with some mungbeans) I was so tired that I went for an afternoon nap- which NEVER happened before to me when I usually ate mostly greens and fruits. The thing is, even in the beginning when I went vegan, I mostly ate fresh fruits and vegetables- but whenever I ate rice- it made me extremely tired. I know this shouldnt be the case because I'm asian and grew up on rice haha. Is this normal when transitioning into the starch diet? or do starches not "fit" my body? Is this sleepiness happening simply because my body was just used to eating salads and fruits and the occasional potatoes now and then? Its strange..Im not sure if i should stick to more starches Please help this newbie out!!!!

[grid]

I'm not a medical professional, but I experience terrible sleepiness when I eat too much in one sitting. I don't say it is the reason behind your experience, but I would give it a try and eat more small portions instead of a big ball of food three times a day. Or maybe you could tweak the portion of the starches vs. veggies on your plate. Putting more veggies and less starches might help because I can imagine that you overeat on starch after eating mainly veggies and fruits. That's because veggies has much less calorie density and fruits are just simple sugars, so the same amount of starch with the same satiety feeling you experienced from veggies/fruits might temporarily overload your system.

Another experience from my past is that I have wheat allergy and the most obvious sign was that I could not stay awake after eating wheat containing food. Maybe you eat something regularly that is not good for you?! I'm sure it's not starch per se that makes you trouble. You might be sensitive to one (or a few) but not others and there are huge variety of starches out there to chose from.

I don't know if it can help you, because these are just random thoughts of mine, but hope you the best. I'm sure you won't regret to go through the learning period of this program. Each one of us had to find our own way of eating by using the principles, but trust me, it's worth it

Let us know if you need any further help.

[Katydid]

First off, I would look at your sleep patterns. Are you getting enough sleep? You may have needed a nap because, well, you needed a nap Not everything is about food. Second, because whole starches digest slower than fruits, you may be coming down off of a constant sugar "high" from you previous diet. It may take some time to get used to the slow trickle of glucose as the starch slowly breaks down - instead of the "whoosh" of the straight glucose and fructose from a smoothie. So my guess is that starch isn't making you sleepy, you are sleepy. You just aren't artificially stimulated from a sugar buzz anymore. Sort of like giving up caffeine Give yourself time to adjust and make sure you don't substitute sugar for sleep.

Now as a caveat, I do think that a high-raw, mostly fruit diet can be effective for someone who is extremely athletic (long distance bikers, marathoners, etc.) who burn tons of glycogen and need all the "fast" sugar they can get. I just think that for us average weekend warriors , a starch-based diet is easier on the teeth, liver and pancreas.

Kate

[greengreenwin]

Thanks so much for your advice guys! I definitely think the sleepiness has something to do with my habit of eating more fruit in the past. My body probably got too used to digesting smoothies (i used to eat fruit smoothies twice a day for breakfast and lunch usually) so thats probably why Im getting really sleepy from eating something other than fruit LOL. I grew up eating rice since I was a kid and I never really experienced this much sleepiness before, and I average around 8-9 hours of sleep every night so Im just going to have to troop through this!

Also, just out of curiosity I have another question for anyone that can answer this. Its nothing too serious but lately I've been experiencing a few "mini" black outs? This happened to me from time to time before in the past, but I noticed that when I walk around sometimes, I briefly feel dizzy and my vision blurs for a second. Do I need to be consuming more food? or is it something else?

and for anyone who's been on the starch solution for a while, did you guys find that eating some fruit (moderate amount) for breakfast and some for lunch made you gain weight or has it had no adverse affect on your weight?

[grid]

Also, just out of curiosity I have another question for anyone that can answer this. Its nothing too serious but lately I've been experiencing a few "mini" black outs? This happened to me from time to time before in the past, but I noticed that when I walk around sometimes, I briefly feel dizzy and my vision blurs for a second. Do I need to be consuming more food? or is it something else?

It could be anything, so if it happens regularly, I would definitely talk to a doctor about it.

I have similar experience, but I do know that it's because my blood pressure is way too low for a living human. Some moderate exercise helps and it also helps if you find the best time to sleep. I mean, I used to sleep 8-10 hours every night and I could not sleep less without being useless the next day, but after a while on the McD plan I realized that if I sleep from 10pm to 5am (or 6am if I'm very exhausted), I feel so much better and my blood pressure is much closer to normal. The more I sleep the lower my blood pressure gets, and the symptoms can be those mini black outs or even terrible weakness and depressed feelings.

and for anyone who's been on the starch solution for a while, did you guys find that eating some fruit (moderate amount) for breakfast and some for lunch made you gain weight or has it had no adverse affect on your weight?

I don't know what you mean by saying 'for a while', so ignore my thoughts below if you consider my 2 years too short.

I used to eat a lot of fruits (had a short period when I ate similar to rawtill4), but I never experienced weight gain with fruits. Since on this program, I eat less fruit not because of the principles but because I don't feel like eating so much fruits. However, when the fresh fruit season comes (late June, early July), I eat almost only fruits during the day for about 2 weeks without noticeable weight change. Moreover, anytime during the year, when I go to the town (I live in a farm area), the only food I take with me is apple. Those days I eat about 4-6 apples and eat proper food (starch + veggies) only after coming back home. Sometimes I have to go out 5 times a week, so I eat pretty much fruit during that week, yet I don't notice any weight gain, either.

So I haven't experienced any adverse effect from fruits (provided we're talking about high sugar fruits and not high fat ones), but I'm not sure it's the same for everyone. I've never had weight problems, so maybe someone who needs MWL to keep weight off thinks differently.

Another thought: I don't know if you still enjoy smoothies or not, but if you use stevia, it can make you to seek high sugar foods which can lead to binge eating that can cause overeating, which implies to weight gain. So be careful with stevia if you use it

[greengreenwin]

thanks grid! I think I definitely need more healthy sleep patterns, I'm usually a night owl so I end up sleeping between 2-3am and then waking up at 10-11am haha. And I'll keep watch for stevia!

I've already been eating mostly starches for a few days and I'm noticing that my waist is slimming down already, cant wait for more results to show!

[Katydid]

Reguarding dizziness, I had issues when I was following a very strict no-salt added version of the program I began to have problems with very low blood pressure. I had bouts of dizziness and issues where my legs were falling dead asleep at my desk and when I would stand up suddenly my legs would collapse under me. I loosened up my salt restrictions by not worrying about whether my canned veggies and condiments were salt-free and the problem went away. Last time I had my blood pressure checked it was 104/69 so goodness knows how low it dropped before I allowed a little sodium back in my diet.

Kate

[grid]

Thank you Kate, I'm trying to be less restrictive with salt, maybe it helps. We have unusually hot here these days and I feel so weak that I can't do almost anything... (that's why I'm here so often )

I love our helpful Star McDougallers

[Starchyme]

I have the exact same things going on. The starch/carbs put me in LaLa Land for a little while. I also have a similar incidence to yours. I don't black out, but for an instant I get a tiny feeling of doing so, as well as dizziness. I think I narrowed mine down to when I take a walk outside and the area's lawn has been sprayed with weed killers. But I've told several doctors and they are baffled cause nothing seems to me medically wrong. Have you taken note of when it occurs?

[Ltldogg]

t's my FIRST day on the starch solution. [/b]

1. It's your 1ST day. Stop worrying, follow this program as outlined by Dr. McDougall and Jeff Novick. Time and adherence are important. I don't mean 2 days, 3 days or even 7 days. Try 30 days, 1 year, 10 years and see how you feel.
2. See my first point!

[PotatoBrain]

One of the main reasons I started this program is because years ago I read a book called "Potatoes not Prozac" that explained that carbohydrates affect serotonin and can help moods, and help one sleep well.

I have always done low carb ( unsuccessfully), but realized that the dream paralysis I suffer from (along with associated nightmares) goes away if I eat a potato before going to bed. That one potato makes me sleep like a baby ...no dream paralysis.

I found I get sleepy too during the day if I eat a big breakfast, but if I eat a light breakfast and light lunch and save the bulk of my calories for evening, yeah I get sleepy, but it's evening and nite nite time anyway, and I don't miss the dream paralysis at all!

I am just a beginner but thought I would share this in case it helps. I hope this plan works cuz I love potatoes, and I think they help the seratonin connection in my brain.

[MINNIE]

PotatoBrain (great name) I'm with you about potatoes and serotonin. I like to have my potatoes in the evening for that reason.

I definitely started sleeping better soon after adopting the McDougall plan. I rarely have sleep paralysis now. It used to happen fairly often, and was a very frightening thing indeed. Total heart-pounding fear. I never realized it was connected to the oily food I used to eat - until I stopped eating it:).

That's just a personal anecdote, which of course proves nothing. But for what it's worth, my sleep certainly didn't get worse eating this way!

[PotatoBrain]

Minnie,

The last bout of dream paralysis I had caused me to dump low carb Paleo. I would struggle really hard to wake up, then do what a psychology teacher I had said to do ... Get up and eat some crackers before going back to bed or else one will fall back asleep and dream paralysis goes on and on all night. It's horrible. And it's so hard to wake up and takes so much determination.

Enough. One would think the protein in my urine on last checkup would have been my deciding factor, but nope it was the relief I get from dream paralysis that made up my mind!

[grid]

Hi PotatoBrain,

I have no problem with sleep paralysis (I had when I was a teen, but somehow it disappeared after moving from my parents, so I think it was induced by the stress in our family), but I still have sleep problems. I usually have problems falling asleep and if I can fall asleep, I tend to wake up 2-2.5 hours later and the whole cycle starts again.

Since I'm on this plan, I no longer have problem with falling asleep, but at the beginning I still had problem staying asleep. Later I found the book called Power Foods for the Brain by dr. Neil Barnard and he wrote that high starch food helps while high protein food work against relaxed sleep. I ate a lot of beans for dinner that time and when I gave up this habit and replaced the beans with starch, the difference was more than impressive, and yes, potato works a bit better for me, too. So nothing can beat a nice (compliant) mashed potato to calm me down before going to sleep, but still, any starch can work as long as you don't eat it with high protein food

Hope you the best and let us know how you progress

[PotatoBrain]

My fitness tracker tracks sleep patterns and it is significant how much more restful (deep) sleep I'm getting eating starches. Since dream paralysis occurs when cycling between stages of sleep, the less times I cycle through stages, the odds of dream paralysis go down. I am having a LOT fewer episodes of restless sleep now. Most of my night is spent in restful sleep.

The stress thing you mentioned makes sense too cuz we tend to toss and turn (with more restless sleep episodes causing more cycling in and out) when stressed.

The author of that book did say all carbs, I think she used potatoes in the title because it was a catchy title. Too bad that book is out of print now, because some of the posts out there on the web are recommending low carb as the solution. I know low carb makes me cycle in and out more frequently.

My fitness tracker helped me figure that out.