Red Meat And Bad Sleep - Iron Overload?

[julcreutz]

I've been carnivore for over 9 months and just recently been introducing plant foods and carbs back into my diet. Feeling much better, and morning wood is happening again.

I've always noticed that I couldn't fall asleep when I ate a lot of muscle meat in a day. I just found out by experimentation that this doesn't occur with fish.

Is the excess iron causing the sleeping issues? Besides falling asleep I have no sleeping issues (no waking up to pee, no waking up in general). I also notice that I don't feel well rested on the days I eat a lot of red meat.

So trouble falling asleep + not feeling well rested.

I don't think it's the amino acid profile, as fish is similiar right?

 

[Goobz]

Could well be the iron. I notice something similar. And it doesn't seem to matter if I add extra gelatin (to help with the amino acid profile) or not, it still happens.

 

[lvysaur]

Europeans and particularly Northwest Europeans have high rates of iron overload.

This makes sense in the context of an evolutionary dairy diet--calcium inhibits iron absorption, so people evolve naturally high iron levels to compensate.

Note that the cline of iron overload exactly matches that of lactose tolerance--both are highest in the northwest of Europe, lower in the east.

 

[Pdohlen]

I've read you can get rid of up to 1 mg of iron from the body per 1hr of sweating. So maybe try some excercise or a sauna and see if makes a difference.

 

[dreamcatcher]

If you don't consume enough calcium and your phosphate intake higher than your calcium intake, that would most probably cause insomnia. It did for me! The ideal ratio of calcium to phosphate is 1:1 which you can check on cronometer by looking at the intake in grams, not the %.
So on a day to day basis, I make sure to consume enough dairy (and honey or fruits) to balance the phosphate out. For me, muscle meat without enough milk and fruits on the same day would interfere with my sleep.

 

[Josh]

@julcreutz Man all your posts are the exact same things i suffer with..

-First the sebacous filaments in the skin.
-I get the cold hands and feet in the mornings.
-And yes i have never been carnivore but i used to eat red meat every single day until i had a iron blood test and had ferritin of 260 and iron saturation of 52% .. Immediately donated blood and i think my sleep improved! i actually did a gene test and i have the h63d gene for hemochromotosis.

 

[Josh]

Honestly best thing to do is get an a full iron studies blood test showing: Iron saturation, Ferritin, serum iron and transferrin levels... and then when you know the results go from there with blood donations.

Most people should be donating blood if they eat a lot of red meat but just in case i'd try and get a iron blood test first and even better but not necessary a gene test to see if you have any hemochromotisis gene (You can request from Docs, i don't know where you are) or get it from 23andme which is where i got my gene test from!

 

[julcreutz]

@Josh Haha yeah, glad I'm not carnivore anymore lol.

I actually got to fix the skin flaking! Reducing my fat intake and upping fish seemed to help a lot. It's not fully gone, but waaay less than before.
Maybe I'll try donating blood! Nice to hear that it helped you. Blood tests in Germany are really expensive, so that's not really an option for me

 

[Sulcuscentralis]

@julcreutz Man all your posts are the exact same things i suffer with..

-First the sebacous filaments in the skin.
-I get the cold hands and feet in the mornings.
-And yes i have never been carnivore but i used to eat red meat every single day until i had a iron blood test and had ferritin of 260 and iron saturation of 52% .. Immediately donated blood and i think my sleep improved! i actually did a gene test and i have the h63d gene for hemochromotosis.

Same here. Few days after blood donation I felt more calm and could go without food for longer. Sleep improved also. Have to confirm it with blood panels though.

 

[SonOfEurope]

I've read you can get rid of up to 1 mg of iron from the body per 1hr of sweating. So maybe try some excercise or a sauna and see if makes a difference.

That sounds extraordinary,

Would you by any chance show me where you read it?

 

[Peater]

Thiamine (TTFD and/or benfo) makes my armpits stink in the morning, which I read somewhere was due to iron excretion.

I noticed the lower lids of my eyes were more pink than red too, when I was taking a high dose.

Only anecdotal, sorry.

 

[reality]

if you’re eating a lot of beef it could be histamine issues