As I feared, the low carb flu hit me last night. Even after taking ZMA and a GABA/melatonin combo that normally would whack me out for the night, I was wide awake and restless. These are the same symptoms I had when I tried to do the paleo Whole30 back in August. I believe what happens is that a very low carb diet quickly depletes whatever serotonin I normally make (which isn't much I think), resulting in wakefulness, anxiety and restless leg type symptoms, especially at night. Which is why I've been so eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new supplements that are supposed to elevate serotonin levels.
I decided to go ahead and break my diet chain last night by eating one of my pumpkin muffins and one of my low carb brownies. That added around 375 calories and 40 g of carbs to my 1800 calorie day. It was enough to sooth my night restlessness and help me sleep but not add too many carbs (especially of the sugar or wheat variety). My carb macros have been working out to be 20% on the 1500 calorie days and 30% on the 1800 calorie days. This is much lower than I would normally eat (35-45%) to feel completely "normal" serotonin-wise. I'm totally willing to keep following these macros once I start using the supplements. My hope is that the supplements will raise my serotonin levels enough to offset the depletion of the diet.
So my chain lasted 4 days. I start a new one today and my goal is to keep the chain going longer than 4 days.
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