I'm always tired!!

[Jezabelle]

Well. . . maybe not always, but sometimes it feels like it. I struggle to get up in the morning and am always running late to get dd to school as a result. The worst time is after lunch. I feel utterly exhausted and just stick the telly on for dd2 whilst I take some time out. I haven't even managed to hang the washing out yet today. Just can't seem to motivate myself!

I know I should go to bed earlier and am going to make an effort to do so over the next few weeks. I think I eat fairly healthy meals in the evenings. Salmon en crout with potatoes and asparegus last night, roast pork tonight, often do pasta dishes, (bakes and bolognese). I'm a bit unimaginative with lunch. Usually a ham sandwich with my 2yo with tomatoes and cucumber.

So, any tips on improving my diet so I'm not so knackered all the time?! I drink about 5 cups of tea a day, just to perk me up a bit. I drink too much wine most weekends but not usually much in the week.

Oh, also I was hoping to lose a bit of weight, (just half a stone or so) and look a bit more healthy before my dds naming ceremony in a months time.

Thanks for reading, any words of wisdom much appreciated.

It's all about having a good breakfast.

Forget things like cereal (full of sugar) and focus on a mix of complex carbs and high protein, like scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast, or cheese on toast or beans and eggs on toast etc.

It's all about a good, low sugar, high protein breakfast I think.

I would try doing the GI diet(glycaemic index). It is all about eating foods that give you a slow steady energy release . I use it when I want to lose weight and I always feel like I have much more energy on it.

Cut out sugar. Completely. The difference it makes in just a few days is phenomenal.

I also find reducing stodgy carbs like pasta and bread helps too.

Thanks so much for all your posts.

Ok, tomorrow I'll do poriage with fresh pineapple for breakfast, loads of it to see me through til lunch, (the dcs like that too and I'd prefer it to the egg and beans type option). Then prawn salad with sweet chilli sauce for dipping and mixed seeds for lunch. I'll try snacking on nuts and dried fruit and cut out refined sugar. Will have to have roast pork tomorrow for dinner as didn't get round to it tonight! But will go heavy on veg and meat and light on potatoes.

I will definitely look into the GI diet. I'm off to bed early tonight too. So fed up with feeling shattered!

I'm going to suggest you take a daily supplement with iron and boost the iron/vitamin C content of your diet at the same. Low iron stores are very common in young women and one of the symptoms is chronic fatigue. Alcohol is a toxin and also interferes with good quality sleep - if you can cut down to a couple of glasses once or twice a week, you'll feel rather better and you'll probably lose weight. If the fatigue is particularly bad, you should also see your GP because chronic fatigue can be symptomatic of other medical problems - some rather more serious than others.

Tips to boost your iron stores

• Daily multivitamin with iron
• Eat more.... red meat, pulses (beans, chickpeas), dark green vegetables, liver, wholemeal bread/pasta and other wholegrain foods, whole eggs, fortified breakfast cereals
• At the same time eat more vitamin-C rich foods as this helps your body absorb the iron..... kiwifruit, citrus fruit, berries, OJ, cranberry juice, fresh vegetables etc
• Avoid the following which limit iron absorption.... caffeinated drinks (tea, coffee, cola) and excessive amounts of dairy products

Thanks Cogito, I'm very keen on the idea of taking a supplement, at least in the short term, and there's a great health food shop near me which is happy to talk you through all the different supplements on offer. They're very knowledgable. Problem is they all seem so expensive! We're a bit skint at mo. Any ideas on a not-too-expensive-but-good supplement?

BTW, I already feel far less tired that usual after my poriage for breakfast and prawn salad lunch. The mayo won't help with the weight loss thing though! 'Twas low fat one!!

As long as the supplement has the RDA for iron and a good selection of other vits and mins, you'll be fine. I don't think complicating it with various fancy combinations or paying over the odds necessarily means you get something better - although your health food shop owner will want to steer you that way. If you're under 50 you should be able to get all your vits and mins from your food if your diet is varied enough. The supplement is just to get you off the mark.

BTW... if you're aiming for weight-loss you're presumably reducing your calorie intake. Calories are just another way of saying 'energy'... so if you're depriving your body of energy in general you are more likely to feel tired. Try increasing your activity level, improving your diet nutritionally and getting regular meals/snacks rather than slashing your food intake. And be realistic about whether you need to lose weight or not. Trying to maintain a body-weight that is unnaturally low for your frame can mean you feel washed out rather than vigorous.

Berrocca gets me through, have run out and feel like crap right now.

Hi I've been feeling similarly to you. Really sluggish, lethargic and a thick head.

Anyway, I was anaemic in both my pregnancies and from the first trimester so I think I tend towards the low side when it comes to iron.

I've been taking an iron supplement for a week (Spatone) and I feel enormously better. I'm quite stunned acutally. It's the only thing I have done differently and I'm sure it's not a placebo effect. My general pallor is much better as I think I looked a bit grey before.

Try cutting out ALL wheat for a week and see how you go.DH is always exhausted and bad tempered when he eats wheat (even expensive organic)it's in most bought stuff so read the labels.

I buy rye bread from sainsbos and waitrose and make my own (rice flour does the same job as wheat in cooking). Dh also looses weight weight when he's off wheat i agree with an iron and or kelp supplement.

Your diet sounds excellent so taking any supplements is a complete waste of money.

I wouldnt change your diet if there is no other side effects and wouldnt cut any dairy or wheat. If anything improve on the quality of the ingredients.

If you feel that bad then there is prob a reason for it. If your not eating crap then yr eating regime isnt the reason. Could be a touch of the blues/touch of depression? A bit of cabin fever? lack of freshair or exercise. Messing with bed time hours can also do this. Bed early - up early. Mixing lates with earlys can really bugger you up. I stopped drinking in week as this was the major reason for me feeling so rubbish all the time.

I would pop to your GP first just to check bloods etc. Could have a touch of post viral fatigue?

I'd been feeling sluggish and lethargic for ages until I made a few changes.

Multi vit definitely has helped me. Someone recommended Floradix so I take a bit that every day.

Cutting down on junk and wheat.

Getting some regular exercise.

The difference is amazing. I honestly thought I was always ill or something before I did all that.

Bacon, IME some (not all) people have an intolerance to wheat (most eat it at every meal) of course drinking is not good but it depends what you're drinking and how much.

Jezabelle, just a thought but it might be an idea to get your thyroid functioning checked. I used to feel like you, and it didn't matter how much sleep I had, I would hit a brick wall after lunch and would have to have a nap just to function. DP used to call me "narcoleptic* . A blood test showed I had an underactive thyroid and am now on a low dose of thyroxine and feel so much better! The condition also slows your metabolism so getting it checked could help your weight loss.

Why do we feel tired? We, most of the times, ask this questions from ourselves, even if we rested well, why do we still feel fatigued and tired?
Feeling tired is a natural and normal phenomenon and we all feel tired at some point of our day and that point is when we work so hard and our muscles get tired and they need rest. Pretty normal! But if we are still feeling tired even after we rested well, is not normal. There is something wrong with us and it has to do with our mental and psychological state. Feeling tired and fatigued all the time is an alarming sign that your body is bearing much more than it should. It is a symptom that something not-so-normal is going on inside our body and the reasons could be many; your lifestyle, your eating habits, your sleeplessness nights and the list goes on.
Normally we feel tired when our muscles get tired and when we give them rest they come back to their normal state but feeling mentally and psychologically tired is much more than this, this not just needs a rest of few hours but a 180 degree change in your life style. Our lifestyle matters a lot ad reflects out health, having sedentary life style ends up having weight gain, diabetes and other related conditions. The interesting fact is all of these things are inter-related and they either directly or indirectly affect us.
Human brain and body works in an appropriate manner to maintain a balance and a little disturbance in one region can upset the other which ultimately disturbs the whole body functioning.
There are many physical reasons our body feel tired all the time, it could be any physical condition, any symptom of any disease. These are the physical conditions that can onset prolonged fatigue and tiredness.
• Anemia
• Insomnia
• Sleep deprivation due to excessive use of gadgets at night
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Thyroid disease
• Heart disease
• Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
• Muscle tension syndrome (MTS)
• Insulin resistance
• Diabetes
• Allergies
The psychological tiredness is way more common than the tiredness caused physically. The main and commonly known cause of psychological tiredness is anxiety. Anxiety leads to insomnia which may results in prolonged fatigue. It has been studied that a huge number of people face insomnia due to and anxiety and tension of job stress and money issues. Other than this, depression can also lead to prolonged fatigue and tiredness. Feeling depressed due to any reason such as personal life conflict, social instability, loss in business or such thing can cause tiredness of mind and if mind is not well, body fails to work normally. Stress, depression and anxiety are inter-linked with each other, there is a difference of thin line between such conditions and one condition can onset other.

Ref:www.healthunits.com/fatigue/why-am-i-always-tired/