Protein vs Carbs for Breakfast

I use Lose It! to food log and be accountable with my friend JD who is on there to drop a few pounds himself - he is a madman when it comes to walking and exercise and is very inspiring!

But that's not why I'm here right now. I wanted to tell you about a blog post I made on Lose It! a number of weeks ago when, after eating a bagel, I felt damned near lethargic. Fatigue was in my every single fiber, I kid you not. I queried on the Lose It! forum about it and got a range of responses, including a moderator who told me there was no freakin' way I would feel that horrible that quickly. She mentioned that blood sugar changes wouldn't be that fast...and maybe she is right. I can tell you I felt like absurdly tired and could barely, barely function at my DESK JOB within minutes of killing that bagel.

I have to think it's the carbs? The sugar? I felt next to comatose - no exaggeration.

This morning I overate. I had a big breakfast with steak and eggs and I even tried some sausage because I was weeeeak looking at it. I overate and should have felt the way I do after Thanksgiving dinner, but I did not at all. Fatigue wasn't even a factor.

I can GUARANTEE you that if I had an english muffin or bagel or plated myself some hashbrowns or home fries or had a biscuit on top of it all, I would not have been able to drive afterward.

That's the difference between protein & veg breakfasts versus simple and sometimes even complex carbs (not that I bothered with veg this morning. I was horrible!)

It is really hard staying away from carbs because they taste good or look good or bring fond memories at times...but the trade off? That feeling of sludge in my veins? It just isn't worth it.

Not. At. All.

I HATE feeling so tired and disabled.

Today's pure protein breakfast beat the shit out of wanting a bagel or biscuit. For real.

After the blood rush.

So, I went a little crazy last week and ate A PINT OF CHEESEY POTATOES from Belmont Barbecue. Yes, they're that good. It took me a few hours to do it, and I hadn't meant to eat it all, but I kept dipping in an dipping in until I finally accepted defeat and dumped the mash in a bowl and stuck a fork in it. I'd already had a little pork and a little brisket, which I MEANT to purchase for my lunch.

I got the potatoes because they were an offered side. So was coleslaw, but look which one I picked. And I felt rather guilty about the potato pint, and then I felt really frigging terrible.

I felt stuffed, first, but more importantly I felt tired and sickly and my head felt like it could have exploded. I could hear blood rushing my ears, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. I was queasy and unhappy and sent myself to bed.

I did debate making myself throw up - that's how bad it was and how much I wanted to make it stop - but the thought of that scared me enough not to.

I went to bed. I woke up, still lousy feeling, and had to go out for the night. I felt okay while I was out, but when I woke again the next morning I could tell the ramifications of pigging out on cheesy potatoes were not quite over with. And I had a doctor's appointment first thing.

I've had this fasting appointment scheduled for three months, so I didn't skip. I went in for the blood draw because I want to make sure I'm doing ok with this diet. Results are still pending for that; however, my blood pressure that morning was 160/104.

The nurse wasn't going to take my BP as there wasn't an order for it, but I told her what I did and how I was feeling so she went ahead. Then she said... "YOU are going to see the doctor today."

The doctor stopped in and we talked about cheesy potatoes and my normally low carbs lifestyle and I asked "can the sugar cause my blood pressure to spike?" and she said no, it's salt. So, okay, salt.

Then she put me on Lisonopril. I agreed to take it because I felt worse than hangover horrible and I've been on it for three days since...but I was still curious about the starch/sugar of the potatoes being the problem.

I called Ivana who said heck, yes, the starches can work that way and she recommended a chapter of a book I already have and gave me the name of a doctor to call who is familiar with this low carbs thing.

Then I hunted Google to understand, if I could, how starches can be the culprit. I found that it's possible, but I'm too tired to show you how. But you can look it up: Sodium IS what spikes the BP but insulin reaction causes the sodium release that spikes the BP. Interesting huh?

So, I'm hoping the BP will get and stay reasonable and I won't choose to eat a pint of anything heavy salt and heavy carbs again soon. or ever.

In better news, I've lost 6 more pounds as of today.