Diet is one of the most important things you can do to get better.

The information on this page is in addition to the information on Gastrointestinal page and the Candida page.

Low Carb Diets

Most people prefer one of two diets.  Many people with chronic fatigue find that a low-carb Atkins-type diet is very helpful.  This also known as the hypoglycemic diet.  On this type of diet the person eats very few carbs, but a lot of meat and even fat.  For me it provided dramatic but temporary relief from my symptoms.

The Atkins diet should not be mistaken for the dangerous liquid protein diets that have caused many deaths in the past. Those were over 90% protein. On the Atkins diet you eat whole foods. You cannot get that level of protein from whole foods.

There are some drawbacks however.  The diet is often used to treat epilepsy in children.  One study of such children found that 10% experienced liver problems which were reversed when the diet was discontinued.  If you don't feel well on the diet, discontinue it.

The Atkins diet is very popular today and the book can be found in most bookstores.

The Zone Diet

The Zone diet is designed to balance insulin levels, which in turn reduces food cravings. For that reason, I find it a very easy diet to stick to.  I have stuck to it without cravings or other problems for several years now.

Here is some background on the Zone diet. I'll be as brief as possible here, but since this diet did make a major improvement in my condition, I feel I do need to explain how it works. The Zone diet is a diet that is very balanced. It is a diet that consists of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat at every meal. It also recommends the avoidance of high glycemic foods.

Every carbohydrate has a glycemic index. This is a measurement of how quickly a person's blood glucose rises after eating the food. A food with a high glycemic index such as sugar will send a person's blood glucose level up quickly. The body will then respond by producing high levels of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that promotes the conversion of blood glucose into fat.

Diabetics must avoid high glycemic foods since they are unable to produce the necessary insulin to counteract the blood glucose. High blood glucose levels are extremely unhealthy.

Most people regard sugar as unhealthy. What most people do not know is that many "healthy" foods such as bread have glycemic values as high as table sugar! This is hard to believe, but it is true.  High glycemic foods cause blood glucose levels to rise, which causes the body to produce insulin. Insulin causes blood sugar to be stored away. This causes blood glucose levels to drop. Low blood glucose levels trigger the body to decide it needs more energy. It causes a person to get hungry and have food cravings.

The truth is that high glycemic foods such as sugar and bread cause the body to go on a blood glucose and insulin roller coaster!  I have yet to hear from anyone on line or in person who has tried the diet and did not have more energy within two weeks.

Perhaps the most convincing evidence in favor of the Zone is the effect it had in the sports world. Dr. Sears convinced the coach of the Stanford swim team to put his team on the diet back in the early ‘90s. In 1992, the members of that team won eight gold medals in the Barcelona Olympics. Four years later that team won eight gold medals in the Atlanta Olympics. Today most major sports teams use the diet.

The books, "Enter The Zone" and it's sequel, "Mastering The Zone" were on the New York Times bestseller list for several years, and can be found in most bookstores.

Raw Foods and Juicing

I have heard from a number of people lately who swear by the benefits of eating raw foods.  One woman I know personally has said that she lost 60 lbs. and her chronic fatigue went away by doing so.  My understanding is that this requires eating at least five servings of uncooked fruits or vegetables every day.

The theory is that cooking not only kills bacteria, but destroys beneficial enzymes.  See my page on "Other Success Stories" for more detail.

Low Fat / High Carb Diets Don't Work

Before developing chronic fatigue, I began working in a new office. I started eating a "healthy" diet. I would get a bagel with low-fat cream cheese from a shop around the corner from the company every morning. I would eat a turkey sandwich on a large roll for lunch. I would often eat pasta for dinner. I would occasionally snack on "Healthy Choice" cookies and drank plenty of diet soda sweetened with NutraSweet (aspartame).

Yes, I was eating a "low fat" diet, but I was eating processed foods and wheat products that act almost the same as sugar in the body. I was also consuming lots of products with aspartame.  I no longer can recommend a diet with less than 30% fat to anyone but if you do, don't do what I did.  Avoid NutraSweet (aspartame) like the plague.  Avoid too much wheat and sugar, and eat vegetables, beans and other natural and more healthy foods.

The diet I was on would turn out to be the worst possible diet I could have eaten.   It is probably the worst possible diet that anyone would chronic fatigue could eat.

Over the next eight months, I became more and more fatigued and gained weight. I started feeling like I was in a fog much of the time. I was exercising more than ever and dieting harder than ever in an effort to reverse the decline, but things kept getting worse.

At first I felt "brain-fog" in the morning, which would clear around noon. The fog started lasting longer and longer until it covered most of the day.  I feel very strongly that this diet and the NutraSweet were responsible had a lot of responsibility for my chronic fatigue.

Giving up Sweets

I've heard from many people that they just can't imagine giving up sweets which is necessary in either the Atkins or Zone diet.  I also thought I could never give them up, but it was much easier than I thought.

I found that when I had one sweet thing whether it was sweetened with sugar or artificially, I just had to have another.  The best way to give up sweets was simply to give them up cold turkey.  If I didn't have that first soda, I didn't need the second.

I used two teaspoons of sugar in my cereal in the morning and one teaspoon in my coffee and that was it.  It really wasn't bad once I got used to it.

I found that unsweetened Lipton ice tea is really not bad when I want something beside water to drink.  It doesn't require sugar to make it taste good.  It's not as hard as you might think!

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