Joy dot: starting the morning with some joint mobility exercises - my shoulders feel much better after 2 days.

I am not Kathleen, but here are some things I have learned.

Sometimes when I wake up during the night, I am hungry and can't fall back to sleep. If I am hungry, I have some protein and carb, like a cheese stick wrapped in a whole grain tortilla. Then I can usually fall back to sleep. So it could be hunger or blood sugar that is waking you up.

When I exercise, I need snacks. (I do 20-30 minutes of cardio and some strength training each day, sometimes more cardio than that.) If I exercise in the morning before work, I need a mid morning snack. If I exercise after work, I need a substantial snack at about 4 PM, and I might need a yam cake on the way home, depending on how late it is and how hard I worked out. My snacks are always protein and complex carb. Maybe a hard boiled egg or cheese stick and whole grain crackers. For the more substantial snacks, I often use dinner leftovers.

I also find that I need to eat at the high end of the protein spectrum, because I am physically active and have a relatively fast metabolism. How much exercise are you doing?
Allison

: Kathleen, You are too funny!
: BTW I went out the databases and
: found your dissertation. I'm still
: searching for the survey
: instrument that indicates that
: those how love office supply
: stores are sugar sensitive. Me,
: I'm thinking it's the Avon catalog
: with all the different color
: swatches is an indication as well.

: Ok, so how does an active exerciser
: factor in the correct portions.
: But let me digress for just a
: minute.

: I came back to the materials because
: I'm not sleeping well at night,
: and I deduced that it might be an
: issue with low protein levels, or,
: heaven forbid, the wrong type of
: protein. I made the decision to
: add back in cow milk yogurt and
: cheese to the vegan plan and see
: where that takes me. I felt good
: at the vegan level and then, not
: so much. Part of the inability to
: sleep lies in the fact that the
: dog is injured, and my hip-flexor
: and adductor are also inflamed, so
: I'm actually NOT getting enough
: exercise because walking is
: meditation time. Ugh. I did the
: homework, and there is some
: support for the notion that vegans
: get enough tryptophan, but I
: wonder if there is an uptake
: mechanism that varies---one that
: I've yet to find anyhow.

: Anyhow, if I work this intuitively,
: then I'd say I have to fill in
: with snacks that provide protein
: and carbs. And I'd guess that if
: my regular meals are totally out
: to about 1500, and I'd need about
: an additional two portions of
: protein and a lighter supply of
: carbs. My guess doesn't include
: the potato. I have gone through
: the process, albeit
: obsessive-compulsive, of sorting
: out that I burn 2100 calories each
: day. It's that intellectual
: curiosity (Ph.D. Style) combined
: with the need to control some
: aspect of my life.

: Ok, Rambling is done, back to the
: food exercise factor!

: Thanks,
: Linda--