Energy/Focusing Tips?

[BerenTebogo]

I am reluctant to even inquire into this line of discussion since my mother has been preaching this shit to my wife and I for years and I think she's insane.

How exactly do you know when you're allergic to some foods / how do you become allergic to some foods / what do you do when you appear to be allergic to many types of food?

I've been having some serious gastro-intestinal issues for a while now as well as heavy fatigue for a few years now and my wife sleeps pretty much 9-10 hours a day or more and cannot function with less which is weird.

We eat primarily bread and dairy products (pizza, pasta, breadsticks) and then a large amount of beef and chicken. I seem to react worst to fruit though so I don't know what to do really <_< kinda cuts out everything.

Doctor thinks I'm either insane or lying and keeps prescribing me OTC meds that do jack fucking shit.

[Oulanbator]

Food/diet seems to be a consensus and I definitely have not been eating many fruits/vegetables over the years (I was one of those kids who always hated eating his vegetables and I guess I never got over that like most do...).

Well, it's not only about vegetables and fruit. It's about the kind of food you eat.
What you're supposed to do is to eat some food that delivers energy over time: pasta, rice, potatoes ( not fries), cereals ( not corn flakes... corn, oath, weath...), bread ( not hamburger bread, real bread)... and of course you need to eat other faster food at the same time.

Fruits are absolutely awesome as snack food: easy to carry around, easy to eat, sugar for quick energy, and a fucking real taste. When you feel "tired", eat an apple, a kiwi, a banana etc...
I used to hate fruits and to eat milk based shit... just give fruits a chance, they rock 10 times harder than all the industrial chips or cookies or cereal bars or soda: tastes better, healthier, cheaper, more efficient for everything.

I do have a habit of going from TV/Gaming right to bed, and then using my laptop in bed for a few before going to sleep. What's a good way to slow down/unwind after quitting gaming and before going to sleep?

Watching a screen ( tv, computer) is supposed to prevent your body from sleeping, because the screens make your body produce hormones that somehow keeps you awake.
Read a book, a magazine, a newspaper, a comic... whatever, not a screen. Yeah easier said than done, and it sucks spending our free time doing stuff we don't like instead of stuff we like, but well, that's life.

[Absolutely Virtue]

How exactly do you know when you're allergic to some foods / how do you become allergic to some foods / what do you do when you appear to be allergic to many types of food?

An allergist can give you tests to determine if you're truly allergic to certain foods. But not being able to digest them and being allergic are two totally different things.

Dairy may be a problem. Many people find they have more and more trouble with dairy as they get older. Same thing with fruits and vegetables, strangely. If you're having stomach issues, the fiber in those things can sometimes be too much for you to handle. I would:

1) Go to a different doctor. If he's not listening to you or helping you, he's not doing his job. Put capitalism to work, lol. You know the old joke- what do they call the guy who graduated last in his medical school class? Doctor.

2) Keep a journal of everything you eat and drink, and note how you feel. Nutrionists ask you to do this, because it's the only accurate way to find out what's really making you sick. It also helps you realize how much crap you eat without even realizing it.

[BerenTebogo]

It seems, in my experience, that fiber has been the only thing that actually helps. Like that fiberone cereal shit? I ate that for a while but it tasted horrible so yeah.

I guess there is some new stuff out that is supposed to be better, maybe I'll try it. Is there a difference in grain fiber and fruit fiber?

[Nuriko]

It seems, in my experience, that fiber has been the only thing that actually helps. Like that fiberone cereal shit? I ate that for a while but it tasted horrible so yeah.

I guess there is some new stuff out that is supposed to be better, maybe I'll try it. Is there a difference in grain fiber and fruit fiber?

I was having similar issues a few weeks back. Again it was probably related to my diet (or lack there-of). Doctor had told me to get more fiber and cut back on the dairy. Thus far it's helped a bit. Though all I've done is started eating some sandwiches with wheat bread as well as some Cheerios and tried to make that all the milk/dairy I had.

[Farseer]

Watching a screen ( tv, computer) is supposed to prevent your body from sleeping, because the screens make your body produce hormones that somehow keeps you awake.
Read a book, a magazine, a newspaper, a comic... whatever, not a screen..

This helps me allot. If i try to sleep right after being on the pc, I lay there for hours before getting to sleep ._. I think it also has something to do with games stimulating your brain, so waking it up instead of calming it down =/

[Absolutely Virtue]

I was having similar issues a few weeks back. Again it was probably related to my diet (or lack there-of). Doctor had told me to get more fiber and cut back on the dairy. Thus far it's helped a bit. Though all I've done is started eating some sandwiches with wheat bread as well as some Cheerios and tried to make that all the milk/dairy I had.

Not sure what issues people are having, and don't want to gross too many people out (lol). But I'm imagining that people are either going too much, or not enough.

If you're going too much, you might look into probiotics such as acidophilus. These are things you can find in the supplements/vitamins aisle at the supermarket, and they basically help replenish the beneficial bacteria that normally live in your body.

If you've been sick with the stomach flu, or taken a course of antibiotics or something that has upset your stomach, doctors sometimes prescribe these things. Studies have shown them to be effective in treating chronic diarrhea, because they help your body absorb what it needs better. But they're something you need to take regularly- not something you only take when you feel bad. Worth checking out, and not expensive:

Probiotic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Sonomaa]

vitamen b12 saves my soul, 1000mg tabs under the tongue, omnomnom

[zoobernut]

Food allergies can have very wide range of reactions and can cause these sorts of problems. If you get an allergy test done ask your doctor to do the blood reaction allergy test (forget its actual name) where they test allergens against your blood rather than the scratch test.

The scratch test is not very accurate for food allergies mostly just for airborne or skin contact allergies.

[MarkM.]

change your routine up. you probably get up every morning and do the exact same thing in the exact same routine, your brain sets itself on cruise and just goes. if you normally brush your teeth with your left hand, try the right. go various routes to work. another thing that studies have shown is that smells can greatly increase brain activity. stuff like that will help, it did for me.

[Psion]

A few tips for staying mentally alert and more energetic, which mostly hasn't been mentioned:

1)get 8-10 hours of sleep. Yeah, I know I know, mamma always said dont sleep more than 8 hours, its unhealthy, but according to a recent study, people who got another 2 hours of sleep showed increased mental focus and alertness, even if they reported feeling fully rested after 8 hours.

2) if it isnt feasible to get that much in one sitting, get the last couple during the other part of the day! Human beings arent naturally diurnal, and instead we are naturally set to sleep twice a day, several hours during the night, and a shorter period during the day, usually 1-3 pm or so for a hour or two. this makes sense, as this is usually the hottest time of the day, and is a waste of energy to work in as your body tries to deal with the extra heat. to nap successfully, make sure to set your alarm clock for an hour and a half after you fall asleep or so, so you dont wake up groggy. at one and a half hours youll be in REM sleep, the restful stage. if you go to the two hour mark or more though, youll be back in deep sleep, which if you wake up from that youll be feeling groggy for half an hour to an hour or so while your body rewakes up.

3) MEDITATE. meditate meditate meditate. it cannot be emphasized enough how much of an impact this simple mental tool can have on your life and energy. think of it as a defragmenter for the brain. it doesnt take much time, you can even do it while your waiting for something for several minutes. its easy to do once you figure out how, and it lowers stress quite a bit, helps you deal with new stresses better, and improves your mood overall. with your body not stressing out so much, it will be healthier and more energetic, emotionally, physically, and mentally. dont worry about it being satanic or whatever if your religious (my parents are and thought it was... lol), even religions like christianity have meditation. but the simple mental exersise of calming yourself and focusing on something really helps out.

4) accept yourself. that sounds silly i know, but if you are always beating yourself up over something, learn to accept that part of you, and decide if its something that needs to change. for example, i used to be a christian, but being gay it meant a conflict of interest. after years and years of praying to god trying to help me be "cured", i finally had a break. i found out some of my friends were wiccan, which made another conflict of interest... they were living in sin, yet they lived such honest good lives, always helping people and being happy. what was i supposed to beleive... that they were sinners? or that maybe christianity was false and they were just good people helping others in the world? i chose the latter, and learned to accept myself for who i was, that i wasn't someone with a sin i never asked for, but just a normal person with normal feelings, and that i shouldnt beat myself up for it. the instant i accepted that about myself my mood literally shot up to the sky and it hasnt fallen down since. since then ive been learning more about myself, thinking what parts of me i want to change and what is fine as is, and planning on how to change what i dont like. if i cannot do so, then i dont get upset, just accept it and try again.

5) break up the routine. the other posters arent kidding about your brain going on auto pilot. try doing something new once in a while. like right now im making a papercraft airship from FFX, and its quite a challenge! but its also fun and different, and helps keep me from falling into a trap of sameness.

finally, dont freak out about drinking 6-8 glasses of water, as technically a lot of your food has a lot of moisture. your body isnt stupid, and its getting a lot of moisture from that already, a few glasses are fine. any more and youll just be pissing it out. ;x of course, more water never hurt... so long as you arent drinking a ton of it at once. (you can die from that if you drink a lot of water in one sitting, like a gallons worth or more)
cutting out the caffeine and high frutose syrup are also great suggestions, and can help you lose weight on the latter too! if you need help sleeping, you can also try drinking some chamomile tea a little while before bed, as it has a mild relaxant in it.

out of all of those suggestions though, i suggest 8-10 hours sleep and especially meditation the most. those will really help out.

[Ghost_Wheel22]

Consider taking a ZMA supplement. Helps with muscle recovery and increases the quality of your sleep.

[Chicomagiko]

More raw foods, visit a doc, get more nature in you(hike, bike, kayak, even fishing can be therapeutic), look into tai chi. Basically, change and experiment with your pattern in life and stick to what benefits you the most.

[Psion]

Oops, forgot to mention Tai Chi myself. An investment in that is most definetly worth it, it's very relaxing and you feel light as a feather and very calm but energetic afterward. Its also good gentle exercise too, so its a bonus. :3

[BerenTebogo]

I, personally, cannot justify 10 hours of sleep a night.

I'm sorry, I'd rather cope with being miserable sometimes and LIVE more of my life. If I sleep 5 hours a night vs. someone who sleeps 10 hours a night and we both live to be 60 I will have actively lived 50% more life than they have.

I dunno, that's just me. I'm gonna try everything else mentioned, but even if at time it is just playing FFXI a bit longer I am going to do, in the end, what makes me happy as opposed to what is necessarily healthy. I'd rather die happy at 60 not withering away at 90.

[Kang]

Well for the not being able to fall asleep before midnight part I can relate. I've had some times where I wasn't able to get any sound sleep for days. It's usually caused by stress or worrying to much (starting a new job, etc).

I try to not think about those things but it's hard sometimes. Showering before I go to bed helps as I'm able to clear my mind. I've also tried falling asleep with the tv on. It gives me something else to focus on as it stops me from thinking about stuff that worries me. Hope this helps.