Food Clock

[Gfresh404]

I posted this as a response in another topic but thought it was important enough that it deserved its own topic. Basically one study found that we have something called a food clock where if you do not get enough calories throughout the day, your body will not let you go to sleep. Your body thinks there is a food shortage and essentially tells you that before you go to sleep, you need to find some food.

I just thought this was interesting and very true. I know when I do not eat enough, I can never fall asleep.

I think this could be a large reason why so many Celiacs have trouble falling asleep.

Here is the whole article if you want to take a look: Open Original Shared Link

It also talks about how to effectively result your body clock. Let me know what you guys think.

[Shess0816]

I posted this as a response in another topic but thought it was important enough that it deserved its own topic. Basically one study found that we have something called a food clock where if you do not get enough calories throughout the day, your body will not let you go to sleep. Your body thinks there is a food shortage and essentially tells you that before you go to sleep, you need to find some food.

I just thought this was interesting and very true. I know when I do not eat enough, I can never fall asleep.

I think this could be a large reason why so many Celiacs have trouble falling asleep.

Here is the whole article if you want to take a look: Open Original Shared Link

It also talks about how to effectively result your body clock. Let me know what you guys think.

I totally buy that! I know that in addition to having trouble falling asleep, on days when I accidently miss a meal (because there's not enough time or I'm to busy or whatever) or if I miss my snack before bed, or if my meals throughout the day are too small, I almost always wake up around 3 am absolutely starving. I feel so hungry that I feel like I might throw up. When I wake up like that if I do not get up and get something to eat, I can never fall back asleep. That actually never happened before I went gluten free. It's kind of a new phenomena for me!

[Gfresh404]

I totally buy that! I know that in addition to having trouble falling asleep, on days when I accidently miss a meal (because there's not enough time or I'm to busy or whatever) or if I miss my snack before bed, or if my meals throughout the day are too small, I almost always wake up around 3 am absolutely starving. I feel so hungry that I feel like I might throw up. When I wake up like that if I do not get up and get something to eat, I can never fall back asleep. That actually never happened before I went gluten free. It's kind of a new phenomena for me!

I'm the same way, although it used to be a lot worse. I usually do not wake up in the middle of the night anymore, I just have trouble falling sleep.

How long have you been gluten free for?

[homemaker]

I totally buy that! I know that in addition to having trouble falling asleep, on days when I accidently miss a meal (because there's not enough time or I'm to busy or whatever) or if I miss my snack before bed, or if my meals throughout the day are too small, I almost always wake up around 3 am absolutely starving. I feel so hungry that I feel like I might throw up. When I wake up like that if I do not get up and get something to eat, I can never fall back asleep. That actually never happened before I went gluten free. It's kind of a new phenomena for me!

Wow sounds like me, I have been gluten-free now for about a month. I wake up early sometimes and I am so hungry I feel shaky and jittery.

It is getting so that I lay out all my breakfast foods in so that I can make breakfast as fast as possible. It almost feels like low blood sugar or something. This is totally new for me too since going gluten-free...weird isn't it?

[ang1e0251]

I feel like that in the morning too. I tend to have low blood sugar anyway but now, upon waking, it's really bad. I tend to munch on Hormel Natural ham if I can't wait till breakfast is cooked. I found too if I take my B12 earlier, it tides me over a little bit.

[OliveBranch]

Gfresh404--

Thanks so much for posting this link. I think this may finally have solved the mystery of my incredible insomnia for the past 2 weeks. Although I've had problems with insomnia to varying degrees for a long time (and especially since going gluten-free), the severity of it these last two weeks had me completely stumped--it got to the point, the other night, that I actually did not fall asleep at all during the night, despite extreme exhaustion. As a result of all my food restrictions, I had dropped to a weight that was below normal for me, and perhaps my body was getting concerned about that. I am now trying to eat more during the day, and more steadily, and see if I can reassure my body that it is not starving.

I am very convinced that the 'food clock' can, as the article says, sometimes supersede the 'light clock.' Last night was somewhat better, having increased my calorie intake. Let's hope it keeps working!

Anyway, thanks for the article :-)

I posted this as a response in another topic but thought it was important enough that it deserved its own topic. Basically one study found that we have something called a food clock where if you do not get enough calories throughout the day, your body will not let you go to sleep. Your body thinks there is a food shortage and essentially tells you that before you go to sleep, you need to find some food.

I just thought this was interesting and very true. I know when I do not eat enough, I can never fall asleep.

I think this could be a large reason why so many Celiacs have trouble falling asleep.

Here is the whole article if you want to take a look: Open Original Shared Link

It also talks about how to effectively result your body clock. Let me know what you guys think.

[homemaker]

I have also have been sure to eat more during the day just to reassure my body it is not starving. I nibble on nuts, especially almonds, it seems to hold the hungry horrors away. The night times are difficult especially if I don't eat too much during the day...and the early morning hours before breakfast. I usually try to have a breakfast that does not take time to prepare. I make gluten-free Waffles and gluten-free Pancakes and freeze them and either pop them in the toaster or microwave them to thaw them out. I eat gluten-free Cereals with fruits and nuts and of course some yogurt. The funny thing it that I could stand to lose some pounds and my body is acting like it is starving...I have only been gluten-free for 2 months now but with all this eating I have not gained too much...

I read somewhere that Celiacs... that suffer prior to DX with being underweight usually gain weight on a gluten-free diet and Celiacs that were somewhat overweight before DX ended up losing weight on a healthy gluten-free diet. If anyone could find that study that would be great...I wish I knew where I read that.

But anyway...I am stuffing the GOOD stuff in ....and watching my portion sizes, but giving my body what is demanding and maybe I can get some better shut eye

[Shess0816]

I'm the same way, although it used to be a lot worse. I usually do not wake up in the middle of the night anymore, I just have trouble falling sleep.

How long have you been gluten free for?

I have been gluten free since March 2009. I just keep noticing the more I stick to an eating schedule, the better my sleep is! I also get super irritable and irrational if I do not get a meal on time. Does anyone else get like that?

[gfgamine]

I definitely get severe nausea that can only be relieved by eating and eating and eating. Currently, I am not waking up starving (but have in the past), but now can't even get to sleep because I am completely starving (after already eating way more then usual). This week, I've been eating in excess of 1300 calories. At this point, I am very bloated and feel disgusting, but it's the only thing that relieves the nausea.

My question for all of you is about consistency. After almost a year of being gluten-free (with a few minor slip-ups early on), I find that these periods of extreme, excessive hunger aren't consistent at all. I went through an initial phase of crazy hunger in the beginning (and gained back the 15 lbs I'd lost leading up to my diagnosis), and that makes sense to me. I needed it. However, after coming down from that, I still have days or weeks still where all of sudden I need to eat everything! Seemingly without explanation, my body "decides" it needs more and more calories. If I don't supply these calories, I become incredibly nauseous. I've yet to find any connection or trigger. Does anyone else experience unexplained, inconsistent spikes in hunger or caloric intake? Any idea what causes it or how to cope?

[Februaryrich]

I definitely can't fall asleep when my hunger calls me before bed time haha. I just get a banana and am able to sleep again