The KInd Life Community Forum

Hi Lisa!

I resolved the same problem.

I've been vegan for two years. Until recently, things were going fine, i ate usual vegan food and felt fantastic. Not long ago, when started to sleep five hours a day because of new job, i started to get tired quickly and wanted to sleep all the time.

Since have no way to change this routine, i decided to change my diet a little. I made it 'yogic', but without milk products. All was changed!

You know, according to yoga, there are three types of foods - tamasic, rajasic and sattvic ones. Tamasic foods lower the energy and cause laziness. Rajasic ones create heaviness and restlessness in the mind. Foods of sattva increase your physical and mental vitality making it easier to experience clarity, lightness and peace of mind.

The main principle of my vegan yogic diet is to eat sattvic 'big food' (beans, grains, vegetables) one time a day and refresh myself with fruits, juice and herbal tea at other times without restrictions . All foods should be as fresh and raw and low fat as possible.

So i recommend you to avoid tamasic and rajasic foods. Many articles online can help you, e.g. http://www.yogapoint.com/articles/yoga_diet.htm.

I also advise you to move more if it's not so (there is no word about your physical activity in your message :)). Thus your body will generate more endorphins, being our natural antidepressants.

And yes, your antidepressants are a factor. You know antidepressants are v. strong drugs that are bad for human brain and can cause such conditions as sleepiness or hyperactivity. Are they really necessary?

Lisa, thank you for your interest!

Here are the details :). Yeah, I have the big meal only once - it's lunch. It can consist of pasta/buckwheat/rice/beans with raw vegetables, vegetable ragout, vegan sushi, hummus sandwiches etc. This food is sattvic as much as possible.

I also pay special attention to fat in my food. I did read a book named 'Breaking the Food Seduction' by Neal Barnard, M.D. Are you aware of it? It's cool and propogandizes veganism. According to this book, high-fat food makes us hungry cos it disbalances production of leptin, the hunger hormone. Since have only lunch, it's super important to me not to be hungry like a wolf in the morning and evening :).

Indeed, my other meals are only made up of fruit, sugar free juice, or mate or rooibos tea. Fruits are a real fuel for our brain, they are sattvic thus refresh greatly! They also include a lot of cellulose so give us satiety. Mate gives energy, rooibos is a tremendous antidepressant, can heal a headache and so on.

I myself was amazed that i could eat only once, move very much and feel full of energy and joy in such an overpopulated city like Moscow, Russia, where am living. Indeed, we don't know where our limits are, and if they exist at all!

As for extra motion, quick warm up in the morning can help with depressive disorder and lethargy, i suppose. I mean smth like Sun Salutation from Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga - 5 times for the A form, 5 times for the B one. It takes only 20 minutes and activates a lot!

Just relax, stay with your breath all the time and all will be perfectly fine :). You know that, right?

After all, you do your best to save our planet alive being a vegan. That's enough for happiness in my opinion :).

Hi Lisa, it looks like a lot of your meals are based on processed wheat (bagels, bread, pasta). Maybe you could try varying your grains? I find myself very sluggish when I eat lots of wheaty things.

Danielle x

Thank you all for your comments!

I'm definitely going to try to implement all of your suggestions... Less fat, more grains, more iron! I just wish there weren't so many variables!

Alexandra: thank you for the book recommendation! I will look it up!

imblissful: I do have hypothyroidism - I hadn't considered that as a possible factor... I don't know about vitamin deficiencies. I'm rather lax about my hypothyroid meds. It frustrates me to have to rely on so many pills, so sometimes I skip the ones that don't seem necessary - I will regulate this and see what happens!