80/10/10 stress sensitivities

[yonem]

[i tried posting this on Dr. D's forum, but my ISP is banned(?) so i couldn't, so thought i'd post here instead]
Eating 80/10/10, my skin looks great, physically (in terms of exercise), my energy level seems to never go away, HOWEVER. i have one HUUUUGE issue.

I feel waay too sensitive to stress. It almost makes me want to hurt somebody because it hurts too much. And I don't know how to deal with it. I just get so racked up about some little thing that's stressing me, yet the pain of the stress pierces me like needles are stabbing and ripping all over me. Honestly, exercise doesn't help, because the source of stress may still be there, and it PAINS me so much more than before, and it DOESN'T go away. How would one deal with stress, if you feel so sensitive to everything?? Makes me feel so out of place, so I start to numb myself with very heavy foods, because it's NOT worth seeing what pain i'll cause on others due to my own stress sensitivities. honestly, i am not overexaggerating. i just feel so, violent, sometimes, because i feel so stressed out about some things in my life that i have very little control over my life, and even if i did, it's not worth the pain to get out of the situation, because it causes WAAAY MORE pain for others, so i choose to numb myself. how should i deal with this? thanks, sorry if i sound crazy. i don't know how else to explain it. in fact, i could barely sleep today because i felt so uptight about everything stressing me.

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi and welcome!

Well, I'm no expert by any means...but the first thing that comes to mind is, what is causing the stresses in your life? Is there any way to deal with these issues head on?

The other thing that comes to mind is to first ask how long you've been raw and to ask whether or not you feel maybe you should be a little less rigid in your diet for now and then maybe later go back to 80/10/10.

Meditation also comes to mind as well as prayer (if you do in fact pray). Hoping others can and will come in and offer some advice or suggestions.

[racheljj]

It sounds like you might need more protein and/or fat in your diet? Why not experiment a bit and see if you add in a bit more protein, do you still feel the same way? Same thing for fat? You know, just have an avocado or some nuts. (And this is just based on my own experience and experiences that I've heard from others--this is not a medical opinion or anything like that).

Good luck,

Rachel

[myluckystarz]

um, yea, relating!!!!!i actually have been diagnosed with PTSD, and am hypervigilant. Are you?
BTW what is 80/10/10?

[yonem]

thanks for the replies and responses. to answer your q's, i have eaten raw for almost 3 years now, sorry but i don't know what PTSD is, & i don't feel "this" way (the sensitivities) eating more proteins & fats, however, I heard that eating fats and proteins only help to "numb" you, so i've been trying to find a way to make 80/10/10 (it means 80% carbs, 10% protein, 10% fat) work, but it's difficult unless you follow a very strict lifestyle, such as always making sure to have plentiful amounts of ripe fruit available (definantly not the case here), getting more than enough sunshine everyday (not really much now, considering it's winter), and finding a way to just burn through all the insane amounts of energy you experience.

it's almost like you have to set yourself free in the middle of nowhere to make it work, so that it (being the lifestyle) doesn't interfere with family, friends, and the rest of the world. i prefer not to talk about the stresses, i might scare some people if i did. all i'll say is eating this way makes it much more difficult to handle stresses, and makes you more suspectible to break into a fit about things, unless you live under those strict lifestyle principles meantioned above.
am i the only one who feels this way on this type of eating? the only reason i am trying to make it work is because of the whole N.H. principles and how they say too much fats, proteins is actually not healthy, and i am not following it out of dogma. i know it works. it's just that you have to be strict with your lifestyle to make it work, otherwise you'll find yourself failing quite fast and easily. does that make sense? am i the only one who tries to follow 80/10/10 whom experiences the same issues? if not, what did you do to make it manageable to overcome these kinds of issues/stresses? thank you much once again for your feedbacks!

[Rawkinlocs]

Yonem,
I don't think you're the only 80/10/10'er here, but I'm not absolutely postive of this.

So, since you can't at this PRESENT time be as strict with your diet and have the abudance of fruit, etc. present, would it not be best to just go ahead with the less-than-optimal foods added more to your diet until you CAN do it the way you really want and feel in your heart to do (or at least until you get the stresses of your life taken care of)?
In my non-expert opinion, I'd say that perhaps your body does, indeed, need a little more of the protein/fat right now and you can always taper back down later.

We don't want you to end up hurtin' someone! Would you happened to have contacted people such as Nora Lenz of http://rawschool.com or Janie of http://ringlet.org, who both follow the principles of NH? Maybe they can be of assistance to you as you go through this.

But 3 years...Wow! That's great!!

[Rawkinlocs]

...
BTW what is 80/10/10?

Myluckystarz, I'm copying and pasting what I found in the FAQ section of Dr. Douglas Graham's website:

The numbers refer to the percentage of calories that should be obtained daily from the three food elements: carbohydrate, protein and fat. Put another way, 80% of your calories should come from simple carbohydrates, 10% from protein, and 10% from fat. So, in a 2000 calorie per day diet, 1600 calories should come from carbohydrates, 200 from protein and 200 from fat. This works out naturally if 90 - 95% of your calories come from sweet fruit, 2-6% from leafy greens, vegetables and non-sweet fruits, and 0 - 8% from nuts and seeds. This is generally accomplished with two or three large fruit meals during the day with a large salad in the evening.

[CherimoyaMel]

Thanks for posting that, Rawkinlocs!

I've never really been clear on 80-10-10.

I think that would be too much fruit for me. I tend to feel better with one fruit meal and 2 vegetable meals, each preferably containing leafy greens.

[Sharon in Colorado]

Yonem,

Would you like for me to post this on to Dr. D's board for you?

Could this stress be holiday-related? I've got some holiday/pms related stress going on big time so know that you are not alone. I try to give my load to the Lord when it gets too much for me.

I do have a feeling that since you aren't eating all that extra fat and protein - that normally keeps a body busy trying to assimilate it all - your body has plenty of energy to release and whatever challenges that are going on with you right now is coming out in stressful energy instead of good energy. Do you excercise enough? Pray/meditate? Are you sleeping enough? These kinds of things could help you with your energy release.

[lil]

Hi Yonem:
I've been following the 8/1/1 for a bit. It's the best eating plan that I've found for myself. I've also seen Doug Graham speak and one thing he talks about is that you have to be healthy to follow his diet. And not just healthy physically (ie: not major illnesses) but also healthy emotionally and spiritually.
I've had the energy surge as your experiencing but not the increase in stress. In fact, the opposite. I'm much more relaxed than I've ever been. But I have been over-stressed in other times of my life and I've learned about how to recognize and manage my stress better.
I doubt it's the diet. That's one of Grahams pet peeves - is when people do his diet and are not doing well, they blame the diet rather than look at other factors in their life that are likely causing the problem.
Maybe its time to deal with your inability to cope with the stress?. Not knowing what your stress is being caused by - it's hard to make recommendations. But - maybe you need a counsellor or some other professional that can help you get through this(?). Certainly you can block any emotional feelings with food - but is that what you want for yourself?

FYI: PTSD = Post Traumatic Stress Disorder