Re: Interesting insight

[Guest guest]

Hi Laurie,Thanks for sharing your experience! It was really interesting. Being able to be still long enough to notice not just the taste of foods, but also their longer term effects is pretty awesome. 

It does sound to me like you are allergic to wheat. you might be worth getting tested by your doctor for allergies and also celiac disease because once the wheat is out of your system the tests won't work... we've had a couple people on here in the past that eventually figured out they had Celiac Disease. and a couple others that figured out they had an issue with wheat after being diagnosed with diabetes -- seems like these two sometimes travel together. it actually ended up being really enlightening for them, because like you, they just felt SO much better without wheat in their lives, and that effect kept getting better the more time passed. i am really glad to hear that you are already feeling so much better!

i also really " hear " you on the issue of feeling " jangled. " when i exercise " too much " i can feel that way as well. the problem is that my body and i don't always agree on what " too much " is. i was having some medical issues earlier this fall that prevented me from running for about a month. Running is a big part of how I regulate my mood and energy. So I was dreading but also excited to get back to it. I was relieved that after a month off I hadn't lost all my fitness... but I found that even a 2.5 mile run could leave me feeling " jangled " and worse, unable to sleep! or even wind down. even though it felt great to feel high energy, it was exhausting to not be able to relax. this last happened to me two nights ago after running 4 miles.

the good news for me is that the effect does wear off over time, that is, i get used to running the new mileage. i am hopeful for you that your body will get used to having this new level of energy, and it won't feel so uncomfortable. i am glad to hear that you are using exercise to help your high energy -- keep that up! if you have the ability, swimming was also a form of exercise that would totally knock me out afterwards. meditating also sounds like a great idea. maybe you could get some meditations you can listen to at night when you are trying to go to sleep? one of my friends swears by melatonin. i took it once and it was actually a little strong for me, but i don't know if i took the right dose.

anyway, it sounds like you are already well on your way to finding some good solutions, but i thought i would mention these, and also just say that i am sympathetic! let us know how it goes, and how your experiment with life without wheat goes!

best,abby

 

Hi, All,

 

I just wanted to share with all of you the insight I've had from going off wheat for a few days. I'm fairly certain I'm allergic to it, because in addition to it making me have pretty bad digestive problems, I also find when I'm not eating it, I no longer feel lethargic. At all. Quite the contrary. My skin also no longer itches, and the rash I have had on my midsection for three months has disappeared. Hmmm. Pretty powerful evidence after only three days.

 

But here's the insight: While the first two days being less lethargic felt GREAT--I was able to get caught up on things and wasn't needing to sleep so much--yesterday, on the third day, I began to feel like my nerves were jangled. Not such a good feeling. And then this morning, I felt truly rattled. I still had high energy, but it didn't feel like something I want so much anymore. I wanted to be able to relax. I remember when I used to smoke, I'd always have a cigarette at times like this, to relax myself.

 

I'm beginning to think that I was using overeating in general, and eating something in particular that made me lethargic, to counteract this feeling. In other words, I was using the food to " self-medicate. "

 

I always used to find it so offensive to see how nervous a person my father was, and my grandmother, and I always wanted to be one of those pacific people, full of grace and ease. I realized now that I have that same nervous energy in myself, and that I need to find some way other than food I'm allergic to, and food in general, and too much food, to calm myself down. I'm signing up for a Shambhala meditation training class that starts in January, and I've messed around with trying to meditate (without much success), but I think now I really need to do this in earnest, in addition to the gentle exercise I'm doing, which does also help. What I was feeling this morning is NOT good, but I don't want to use eating when I'm not hungry to " solve " the problem.

 

I also found it very interesting to read someone's (was it mj's? can't remember) discussion about nutritional support for our lives, how food can and does change the way we feel, and the importance of finding, for each person, our own best foods for keeping us feeling our best. I noticed this morning when I was feeling so jangled that eating half a grapefruit did me no damned good. I knew I needed something, fast, to slow down my racing heart, but I was feeding the dogs and didn't want to take the time out to eat something that would take too much time. I have one dog who came from a situation where she was starving, literally, so she gets terribly anxious in the morning especially to get her food. So I started to eat a half grapefruit while I was continuing to prep their food. The grapefruit looked and tasted great (once I got myself after the first two bites to actually sit down to eat it), but it left me still feeling jangled. After the dogs were fed, I sat down and ate my brown rice farina (something I recently discovered and just love), which I'd been warming as I fed them. I eat it with a little butter and salt.

 

And guess what? I now feel calmer. What a nice revelation! I think maybe the reason I was eating wheat was for this nice mellow carb reaction, but wheat specifically wasn't what my body could best use. It just wanted complex carbs. I have not put wheat on my " never-never " list, by all means, but given how horrible eating too much of it makes me feel, I think most of the time I will choose other foods instead when possible (like at home), ones that won't have cumulatively awful side effects for me.

 

I hope this is helpful to someone else; I just felt the need to put this out there, in the name of full disclosure if nothing else.

 

Thanks to everyone for being here all the time. You have no idea how much it means to me.

 

Laurie

[Guest guest]

Hi, Abby,

I was tested for celiac a couple of years ago--definitely don't have that, but my doctor didn't suggest testing for wheat allergy. I may look into that. Right now I'm still feeling pretty good, and like you say, adjusting to the different level of energy. I also had a session with my coach today that really helped, and she made some suggestions for working through those jangled feelings. I have a big default message of "There's something wrong with me," and I think maybe I transferred it over to the realm of medical illnesses! So now I need to work on being aware of that new little twist in my psyche.

Lots of good things are happening for me now, and like the list member who mentioned having problems even seeing she'd lost weight, I find that when too many really awesome things start happening, I get overwhelmed. So I need to work with feeling good about having really nice things happen to me, feeling like I deserve them. In some ways it feels like it was "easier" (ha--not really) just overeating and feeling miserable about myself! It was so simple in some ways. I have no desire to go back there, but at this small distance from it, I can see why I used that system for years.

Thanks for your response, Abby. What you say is always so thoughtful and compassionate and helpful.

Laurie

Re: Interesting insight

Hi Laurie,

Thanks for sharing your experience! It was really interesting. Being able to be still long enough to notice not just the taste of foods, but also their longer term effects is pretty awesome.

It does sound to me like you are allergic to wheat. you might be worth getting tested by your doctor for allergies and also celiac disease because once the wheat is out of your system the tests won't work... we've had a couple people on here in the past that eventually figured out they had Celiac Disease. and a couple others that figured out they had an issue with wheat after being diagnosed with diabetes -- seems like these two sometimes travel together. it actually ended up being really enlightening for them, because like you, they just felt SO much better without wheat in their lives, and that effect kept getting better the more time passed. i am really glad to hear that you are already feeling so much better!

i also really "hear" you on the issue of feeling "jangled." when i exercise "too much" i can feel that way as well. the problem is that my body and i don't always agree on what "too much" is. i was having some medical issues earlier this fall that prevented me from running for about a month. Running is a big part of how I regulate my mood and energy. So I was dreading but also excited to get back to it. I was relieved that after a month off I hadn't lost all my fitness... but I found that even a 2.5 mile run could leave me feeling "jangled" and worse, unable to sleep! or even wind down. even though it felt great to feel high energy, it was exhausting to not be able to relax. this last happened to me two nights ago after running 4 miles.

the good news for me is that the effect does wear off over time, that is, i get used to running the new mileage. i am hopeful for you that your body will get used to having this new level of energy, and it won't feel so uncomfortable. i am glad to hear that you are using exercise to help your high energy -- keep that up! if you have the ability, swimming was also a form of exercise that would totally knock me out afterwards. meditating also sounds like a great idea. maybe you could get some meditations you can listen to at night when you are trying to go to sleep? one of my friends swears by melatonin. i took it once and it was actually a little strong for me, but i don't know if i took the right dose.

anyway, it sounds like you are already well on your way to finding some good solutions, but i thought i would mention these, and also just say that i am sympathetic!

let us know how it goes, and how your experiment with life without wheat goes!

best,

abby

Hi, All,

I just wanted to share with all of you the insight I've had from going off wheat for a few days. I'm fairly certain I'm allergic to it, because in addition to it making me have pretty bad digestive problems, I also find when I'm not eating it, I no longer feel lethargic. At all. Quite the contrary. My skin also no longer itches, and the rash I have had on my midsection for three months has disappeared. Hmmm. Pretty powerful evidence after only three days.

But here's the insight: While the first two days being less lethargic felt GREAT--I was able to get caught up on things and wasn't needing to sleep so much--yesterday, on the third day, I began to feel like my nerves were jangled. Not such a good feeling. And then this morning, I felt truly rattled. I still had high energy, but it didn't feel like something I want so much anymore. I wanted to be able to relax. I remember when I used to smoke, I'd always have a cigarette at times like this, to relax myself.

I'm beginning to think that I was using overeating in general, and eating something in particular that made me lethargic, to counteract this feeling. In other words, I was using the food to "self-medicate."

I always used to find it so offensive to see how nervous a person my father was, and my grandmother, and I always wanted to be one of those pacific people, full of grace and ease. I realized now that I have that same nervous energy in myself, and that I need to find some way other than food I'm allergic to, and food in general, and too much food, to calm myself down. I'm signing up for a Shambhala meditation training class that starts in January, and I've messed around with trying to meditate (without much success), but I think now I really need to do this in earnest, in addition to the gentle exercise I'm doing, which does also help. What I was feeling this morning is NOT good, but I don't want to use eating when I'm not hungry to "solve" the problem.

I also found it very interesting to read someone's (was it mj's? can't remember) discussion about nutritional support for our lives, how food can and does change the way we feel, and the importance of finding, for each person, our own best foods for keeping us feeling our best. I noticed this morning when I was feeling so jangled that eating half a grapefruit did me no damned good. I knew I needed something, fast, to slow down my racing heart, but I was feeding the dogs and didn't want to take the time out to eat something that would take too much time. I have one dog who came from a situation where she was starving, literally, so she gets terribly anxious in the morning especially to get her food. So I started to eat a half grapefruit while I was continuing to prep their food. The grapefruit looked and tasted great (once I got myself after the first two bites to actually sit down to eat it), but it left me still feeling jangled. After the dogs were fed, I sat down and ate my brown rice farina (something I recently discovered and just love), which I'd been warming as I fed them. I eat it with a little butter and salt.

And guess what? I now feel calmer. What a nice revelation! I think maybe the reason I was eating wheat was for this nice mellow carb reaction, but wheat specifically wasn't what my body could best use. It just wanted complex carbs. I have not put wheat on my "never-never" list, by all means, but given how horrible eating too much of it makes me feel, I think most of the time I will choose other foods instead when possible (like at home), ones that won't have cumulatively awful side effects for me.

I hope this is helpful to someone else; I just felt the need to put this out there, in the name of full disclosure if nothing else.

Thanks to everyone for being here all the time. You have no idea how much it means to me.

Laurie