For years I have problems staying full, especially in the morning. It is worse when I exercise, like cross country skiing or bike riding. So I carry granola bars and make sure to eat before it gets to the stage where I feel like I am having heart palpitations. When I start to get "anxious", I have to stop and eat RIGHT AWAY, or it gets to the point where my hands get kind of shaky and I am feel like I am gasping for air. Then, in the afternoons, I am desperate for a nap and it's not a quickie. When I succumb to the drowsiness, I'm out for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I am not diabetic, nor overweght and tests come back showing nothing, evertying is in normal ranges
My diet wasn't really too bad, except for the need for chocolate everyday (usually at night) but a 1/4 to a 1/2 bar is sufficient for me to be satisfied. NO diet drinks, little white flour, no processed food, I eat fresh fruits and vegetables, love yogurt smoothies, oatmeal or shreeded wheat for breakfast, etc. Lean meats, mostly chicken and fish with the occasional hamburger. I've been following the deck of cards format for protein for years and kept high carbs to small portions (no potatoes when I eat corn, 1/2 cup pasta per meal, so forth)
I started this diet in the hopes that the Zone would help me to manage this roller coaster feeling and maybe lose the last 10 pounds I have been trying to get off for the last year. But the anxious feeling is worse than ever. I get hungry after an hour and a half and the anxious feeling is almost always in the background. And I am more tired than ever! As a result, I am snacking a little more often trying to get rid of the anxious feeling before it gets to the panic stage. SO I am consuming about 14 blocks each and of course my weight is going up! Should I eat more than the 3 blocks of each in the morning in the hopes that I get a better start? I was really hoping the higher content of protein in the morning would help to put be in a better way but it is not working out that way. What forum do you recommend for ideas on how to manage this?
thanks for all and any help
Denise :)

The higher protein should help, along with making sure you have adequate fat. You sound carb sensitive to me, which means that you might do better if you stick more closely with the low-glycemic foods.

You wrote: "My diet wasn't really too bad, except for the need for chocolate everyday (usually at night) but a 1/4 to a 1/2 bar is sufficient for me to be satisfied. NO diet drinks, little white flour, no processed food, I eat fresh fruits and vegetables, love yogurt smoothies, oatmeal or shreeded wheat for breakfast, etc."

I think you have the right idea, but perhaps putting it to practice is difficult.

Lets start with breakfast. You mentioned that you love yogurt smoothies. I have a recipe for a breakfast smoothie that works for me (and I am carb sensitive, too).

1/8 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 cup frozen strawberries, slightly thawed
1 block of cooked steel cut oats
2 blocks vanilla protein powder
2 tsp olive oil
(I also add 2 tsp fish oil, but if you don't, then increase your olive oil to 2 2/3 tsp)

Try this one, I think it might help, as it gives you some lower glycemic fruit along with just a bit of some moderate density carb (oatmeal) to help sustain your meal just a bit more.

I would recommend consuming the number of blocks that the calculator suggests. You may notice a difference after you adjust your carbs.

Hi Denise!

I'll be happy to help! We can do it right here in this thread. I've helped a lot of people here to successfully adjust to the Zone. You're describing to almost to a T how I used to feel. But mine was a little nap. I also had a spacy feelging , kind of like I would faint, though I never did faint. Then my symptoms would begin again mid to later afternoon. I'm happy to say I no longer have these symptoms. They've been gone since I got myself into the Zone. The was about 13 years ago. There have been a few times when I went too long without eating (fasting for medfical procedures), or ate the wrong thing, and began not to feel so great, but nothing like I used to be.

You're most likely pretty sensitive to carbohydrate. If not, then you may be making some Zone errors. If you've read a Zone book, you probably noticed that the Zone includes adjusting carb, and sometimes fat, to eliminate the kind of symptoms you're feeling. Eating protein beyond your daily requirement would not be the appropriate adjustment. I won't go into detail about that here, but it has to do with the excess protein needing to be broken down and dealt with by the body, which causes other concerns. It's explained well in Zone books.

In order to make the most appropriate suggestions for you, I'd need some more info.

How long have you been eating the Zone diet?

What are your LBM and Body fat% results from the Zone calculator?

Could you post a day of your actual meals and snacks? Please indicate the specific foods, the amounts of the foods, how you felt 3 or 4 hours after the meal, the timing of meals, and the timing of your exercise. This will help the most in deciding how to adjust.

It would also be good to keep a food diary noting the same info as I just mentioned. It's very useful to look back at what you ate and how you felt afterwards.


Thanks!

Thanks for your replies!
I did much better today although not Zone perfect by any means. My Omerga RX came today and perhaps taking that helped. This evening was much better than the last few days. I started zoning on Friday last week, so it hasn't been long. I actually didn't nap today and had my snack about 1 1/2 hours before bed (Which is right after this note). I have also been reading like crazy. The internet is a wonderful source but Dr. Sears book on anti inflammation came today with my Omega RX order. It will be good reading for the plane ride.

Sue, my body fat from the zone calculator show 31.5% and my LBM (Lean body mass?) is 102.67.
I am going on a mini vacation tomorrow through Sunday so I will have to do the best I can and am bringing my omega rx capsules with me and some zone bars for my minimeals. I will use a journal to log my meals along with how I felt as you suggested and report back to you beginning next week - hearing from you and that you suffered similar symptoms gives me hope I CAN master this monster :)
thanks, wish me luck :)
Denise

Denise,
I am glad that you are doing better.

I agree with you about the reading, it is much easier to grasp when you read the book, than by trying to figure it out on the internet.

I wish you luck, but I have the feeling that you won't need any luck!

Denise,

A couple of points :

[you wrote]

My diet wasn't really too bad, except for the need for chocolate everyday (usually at night) but a 1/4 to a 1/2 bar is sufficient for me to be satisfied.

------------ How long before bed are you doing the chocolate ? Do you eat it alone or with something ?

[you wrote ]

I actually didn't nap today and had my snack about 1 1/2 hours before bed (Which is right after this note).

________ That's stretching the time between the snack and bed out a bit - see if you can shorten it.

[ you wrote ]

I have also been reading like crazy. The internet is a wonderful source but Dr. Sears book on anti inflammation came today.

-------------------- The forums are a great "adjunct" to the books but you should "keep reading" focusing on the books - that's where everything is layed out and explained in full - and there is A LOT of science behind the development and implementation of The Zone Eating Plan.

To only "pick up" The Zone concepts through the website and internet would leave you with a very much "incomplete picture".

...from the "END" Zone

E.Wally

ewally@veriZOn.net