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I have been eating Paleo for about a month (yay) and recently have been dealing with horrific temper issues, short fuse, cranky mood, REALLY crabby. I'm normally pretty even keel and I can't remember feeling this out of control of my emotions since I was 8 months pregnant several years ago. (no, no chance of this now)

I'm getting about 7-8 hours of sleep, eating (I think) enough food I drink lots of water, and take in a fair amount of good fats as well as a decent amount of veggies and fruits. I exercise 4-6 times a week; 2-3 of those are fairly intense with lots of cardio. (2 hour roller derby practices are ass kickers).

This short fuse is problematic for several reasons. The obvious, people don't wanna be around me when I'm this much of a sour puss, mainly my family consisting of my adorable 3 year old son who seems to be pushing every one of my buttons simultaneously. Totally age appropriate but I am having to walk away much sooner than usual.

Is there something super huge I'm missing, or something ya'll might suggest to help cool my jets? Mood balancing herbs? more/different kinds of fats?

I'm afraid my loved ones might disown me soon.

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 while a big part of me thinks its simply dealing with a 3 year old I will admit that years ago, once I stopped SAD and started consuming healthy amounts of quality n3s I experienced and very real general improvement in mental health/emotions/outlook/whatever you wanna call it. – ben61820 Jul 31 2011 at 12:57
I'm surveying the effects of coffee with mood. Do you drink coffee still? – Roy Jul 31 2011 at 17:56
I do, 1 cup in the AM ususally either hot or iced with coconut milk. – Vern Aug 1 2011 at 15:24
less carbs, no plant fat, more animal fat ESPEICALLY eggs, eat some raw liver, I am guess your liver is gunked up, makes most people angery, I hoep you are poopin well too, if not, take some mag at night , drink a lot of water! try dandelion root or Oregon grape root for the liver, also milk thistle seed extract is amazing for the liver. – jessica Mar 30 at 21:52

7 Answers

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Some people report that the Paleo diet increases their testosterone, and that can cause moodiness (though in some it can moderate their mood).

Many find that they are in a rotten mood if they don't eat enough carbs. You have not mentioned how many carbs you eat in a typical day. If you're in the 50-100g range, you might try upping that to 150g or so and see if that helps.

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I would say my carbs are in the 100g range. likely closer to 150 on days that I have longer practices or I'm just hungrier. I'm not getting the normal headaches I have before when going on a lower carbohydrate diet, (i have done atkins so many times...) I'll see about sticking a few more higher carb foods in my facehole when I'm feeling super cranky and see if that helps. Thanks! – Vern Jul 30 2011 at 22:56
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I honestly say it sounds a bit like withdraw from carbs (sugar)

Sugar generally effects the same addiction part of the brain that drugs do... it should go away with time.

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That could be, but I would think that've happened in the first few weeks. I'm heading into this full on for about the 5th week now. I could see it being more social emotional as I've cut a lot of my impulse eating out of my normal daily habits... maybe I'm just not coping with stress as well ;/ – Vern Jul 30 2011 at 22:57
from my own experience magnesium citrate and ANY citrate for that matter causes me to feel stressed out. I stopped taking my mag citrate, then suddenly I felt more emotionally stable, social. While taking it I either felt unemotional or TOO emotional. It's bad stuff, be careful when choosing vitamins! Most contain bad stuff and it's little things like that that can affect your food and spoil the whole "eating paleo for health". – justanotherhunt Jul 30 2011 at 23:21
Any place you have researched about citrate being "bad stuff"? I lack the intrinsic factor in my stomach because of a surgery I underwent. The magnesium I take is Chelated Magnesium, but my calcium is cal citrate because that's what my body can absorb. – Vern Jul 30 2011 at 23:33
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 I get extra angry when I'm eating too few carbs, usually coupled by fasting and drinking bad coffee. I upped my starches, and switched to a coffee and chicory blend (cutting coffee didn't work). This was YEARS into eating Paleo, so it may be an issue needing addressing tat won't go away with time. – MF Jul 31 2011 at 0:30
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Have you checked your B12 vitamin supply? I ran out b/c of stress and had similar issues. Needed couple of shots from the doctor. Iw been checked couple of times now and its back to normal and Im feeling great and my mood is back to normal. Im very aware of my diet (eat eggs, meat but no dairy) and supplements since I don't want to have this experience ever again.

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I have pernicious anemia so I give myself a shot of b-12 intramuscularly every month... I doubt it's a b-21 deficiency. – Vern Jul 30 2011 at 22:52
vern, eat that liver, it will help with your anemia too!!!! make sure everything you eat is grass fed, dose up on an omega three, get some sunshine or take D as well. – jessica Mar 30 at 21:54
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I was very moody/irritable when my fatty acids were out of whack, although it was mainly leading up to my period. Evening primrose oil was the answer for me.

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OH! Totally a good idea. Once upon a time before I got pregnant I took EPO for the week before and of my period, but stopped when I got pregnant and just neglected doing so again. Sadly, this crankyness far exceeds that of when I am menstrating... which is why I was hoping to get some strategies, i can't imagine myself this cranky WHILE on my period! – Vern Aug 1 2011 at 15:39
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3-year-olds are designed to make us crazy, but I'm guessing it could be the magnesium chelate. It can be rough on your mental health. You can try angstrom magnesium, eat more seaweed, take epsom salt baths, or apply magnesium oil to your skin it you want a magnesium that might play a little nicer with your brain.

Check out this link for more info: http://drcarolyndean.com/2011/01/glutamates-in-magnesium-chelates/

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Thank you for the link! – Vern Aug 1 2011 at 15:34
and I do take epsom salts baths, for injury.... but in the summer taking a bath SUCKS. I'll keep that in mind though! – Vern Aug 1 2011 at 15:35
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Possibly a vitamin D thing? More sun exposure could do a body good. I feel my most content when I've had a few hours of sun per week. Not sure about supplements but I was doing cod liver oil for a while during the winter when I cant get full skin contact.

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Not really a problem in the summer right now. I don't have AC in my house so I spend quite a bit of time in the sun in the early evenings playing with my son and on the weekend... but I totally agree. Being in the sunshine helps SO much. – Vern Aug 1 2011 at 15:36
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Vern-

How about some data?

Height?

starting weight, waist

current weight, waist

Caloric intake; carb, fat & pro %'s

Take a look at

http://graemethomasonline.com/beach-body-or-beer-belly-alcohol-and-your-physique/

Not for the alcohol metabolism issues but for energy sources vs level of VOmax intensity. Scroll down about 1/2 way & examine the Vmax chart.

Higher intensity activity = carb burning.

Here is a REALLY long / geeky article about carb intake. Bottom line, you dont really need them but for intense workouts they can help. Your workouts are up in the 85% VOmax range....carb burning zone. Most us (me) live closer to 25% VOmax >>> fat burning zone.

http://graemethomasonline.com/carbohydrate-daily-requirements/

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