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Wakeup Diet™ FAQ, Part 1 |
General Questions
QUESTION. If I went on the Wakeup Diet, what would a day's menu look like?
ANSWER. Below is a table with a typical menu.
| Breakfast | Lunch | Snack 1 | Snack 2 | Dinner |
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Go easy on breakfast portions. Cereal is a starch. Even when you're wide awake, it can cause trouble. If you eat oatmeal, only use "old-fashioned style" oats. Never eat the "flavored," "sweetened" or "instant" type. If you like fruit in your cereal, add it. Never eat the type of cereal that comes with fruit. Such cereal always includes extra sugar or corn sweetener. These ingredients dramatically increase fatigue. The portion size is very important.
Snack 3. Besides Snack 1 and Snack 2, the diet allows for an occasional Snack 3. "Occasional" means as the need arises, but not every day. Snack 3 occurs around the second coffee break. You may drink one can of Pritikin® fat-free, chicken or vegetable broth. This is a very light snack (10 calories), and it should exact a minimal cost in alertness. Yet the liquid is very filling. You need not heat the soup. |
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Snack 3 tells you how you're doing. If you need this snack daily, then probably something is wrong with your diet or exercise profile. For example, you're exerting yourself physically, calling for more food. Or you've fallen off the wagon and you're eating caffeinated beverages, sweets or extra carbohydrates. These foods stimulate the appetite. Unfortunately, they also produce peaks and valleys in your metabolism. Peaks and valleys are actually phasal anomalies, that is, small "jet lags." In the valleys, you'll become hungry and tired. For narcolepsy and cataplexy sufferers, their symptoms will rebound. That stands to reason, because snacks irritate these conditions.
The problem with snacking. Weight gain isn't the only problem with snacking. Since the Wakeup Diet™ isn't a weight-loss diet, we have another concern: As snack manufacturers know, most people attempt to relieve depressions with repeated snacking. That is, snacking leads to depression. Depression then leads to more snacking. Good for the manufacturers. They've assured repeat business. But not good for you, your alertness or your performance. Why? Because you're hurting yourself. Further snacks only increase the depth of the next valley. The body's insulin reaction guarantees this result.
QUESTION. What are the dayparts to which you refer?
ANSWER. Dayparts refer to certain event-determined sections of a 24-hour day. Of course, dayparts vary slightly between different groups of individuals. We don't expect a night worker to adopt a daytime work plan. Also, some people spend more time commuting than others do. Anyway, as a general guideline, here's a typical plan...
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Early morning
05:30 AM, Morning exercise 06:30 AM, Breakfast Time 08:00 AM, Morning Drive Morning 09:00 AM, Early Morning 10:30 AM, Late Morning |
Noon
12:00 PM, Lunchtime Afternoon 12:15 PM, Early Afternoon 03:00 PM, Late Afternoon Evening 05:15 PM, Evening Drive 06:15 PM, Evening Snack 06:45 PM, Early Evening Exercise 07:45 PM, Exercise Snack Break |
Night
08:00 PM, Late Evening Exercise 09:00 PM, Shower & Change 09:15 PM, Dinnertime 10:15 PM, Late Night (Nap time) |
QUESTION. On the Wakeup Diet, what are the energy foods?
ANSWER. There are none. This is a diet for stability, and not for peaks and valleys. If you need a diet that indulges you with sugary "rewards," this is the wrong plan for you.
QUESTION. For what type person did you design the Wakeup Diet?
ANSWER. I designed the diet for the average office worker or professional. This person works at a desk, and occasionally attends meetings. At these meetings, he or she would sometimes, but not always make presentations or reports.
Laborers could go on a similar diet, but they'd need to supplement the calories. Also, there's a limit to how much exercise you can handle before fatigue naturally sets in. I haven't tested this limit, or how much it varies between individuals.
On the other hand, office work is pretty sedentary and routine.
A few office types would need more calories, too. For example...
- People who have much human contact.
- Those who often travel.
- Those who frequently manage presentations.
These types of people will likely encounter many phase shifts. Setting a predictable and repeatable personal schedule will be very difficult or impossible. Yet regular diet and exercise is still important. Otherwise phase shifts will seriously hamper aggressiveness, productivity and creativity.
QUESTION. I'm just sleep-deprived. Will the Wakeup Diet help me?
ANSWER. Yes!
QUESTION. Would someone on the Wakeup Diet need to take a prescription stimulant?
ANSWER. No. Our program is very strict. Stimulants are off the diet. The diet even forbids coffee and any drink with caffeine. (With or without caffeine, soda pop is off the diet. So is tobacco.) Again, the Wakeup Diet is a plan for stability, and not for peaks and valleys. If you require pharmaceutical highs, you've violated the stability principle.
With our program, users of stimulants might experience some improvement in symptoms. In general, this is a healthy program. It encourages regular work, living and sleep habits. For most people, these regular habits should help.
Before you change your medicine and your routine, please check with your caregiver.
QUESTION. On the Wakeup Diet™, could I work?
ANSWER. Yes. As long as you keep on the plan, work isn't a significant problem. The diet and exercise program lends consistency to your life. The program both builds and stabilizes your body clock. Keeping regular habits helps to make you perform dependably at work and at home. By the way, the program doesn't change when you're on your own time. Otherwise, a weekend offset would tend to throw off the weekday schedule.
Office work. I planned the diet for office workers with desk jobs. During the day, unless you go for a lunchtime walk, you burn very few calories. For this reason, you can eat a light lunch and not get hungry later. Because the diet tightly restricts calories during the day, you might have some trouble with labor-intense work. For a vigorous worker, I'd adjust the diet.
QUESTION. How long will the Wakeup Diet™ take to have a noticeable effect?
ANSWER. Depending on a person's general health, results may differ. For example, sleep debt and which medications a person previously used might play a role. Some people might notice an improvement after one full night of sleep. People with extreme sleep debts might notice gradual improvements over several days on the diet. Other people must slightly reduce or adjust diet portions for best alertness and best sleep.
♦ WARNING. Don't follow this diet casually or selectively. Those who “fall off the wagon” or try to follow intermittently will suffer increased attacks. Attempts to “rearrange” day plans, meals, or the exercise schedule will likely worsen symptoms.
QUESTION. Would the Wakeup Diet help someone with Restless Legs Syndrome?
ANSWER. I don't know. I didn't design the Wakeup Diet™ for Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). I don't know exactly what effect that the diet might have on RLS. I suspect that the Wakeup Diet would tend to lessen phase problems such as daytime drowsiness. RLS sufferers sometimes benefit from exercise before bedtime. During every evening, the Wakeup Diet requires rigorous exercise, such as a treadmill workout. This exercise period might help. If anyone knows from personal experience, please drop an email to our webmaster.
QUESTION. You say that the Wakeup Diet doesn't cure narcolepsy. Then what does the diet do?
ANSWER. The diet does two things. First, it removes irritations to narcolepsy and other phasal disorders. If you have a problem, you should avoid irritating it, because you'll make it worse. The Wakeup Diet program eliminates as many irritations as possible. Second, the Wakeup Diet moves you back into phase with everyone else. Then your circadian dayparts match the dayparts of local real time.
Of course, you're more than your circadian clock. Underneath the circadian layer, you'll still have narcolepsy (or your other original disorder). This disorder will affect your energy level and make you susceptible to future phasal problems. That's why you must consciously regulate. But given your personal limits, your body and mind will operate at their maximum efficiency.
We're dealing with flesh and blood, not the supernatural. The diet can make you better. But no diet can make you better than you can be. Incidentally, the same constraint applies to the pharmaceutical route.
QUESTION. Contrast the traditional narcolepsy treatment with the Wakeup Diet.
ANSWER. In brief, the traditional treatment attempts to fight irritations to the disease by producing new irritations. For the patient, these new irritations necessarily exact a physical cost. Besides side effects, the traditional treatment draws down the patient's resources. In contrast, the Wakeup Diet is more like a tuneup. The Wakeup Diet doesn't fight the disease, because the disease is the body. Instead, working within the body's limits, the Wakeup Diet removes irritations. The Wakeup Diet restores the circadian clock. As a healthy program, the Wakeup Diet builds up the resources. As the body improves, it can better cope with the disease. Productivity increases. Quality of life increases. The individual prospers.
- Fact: Narcolepsy results from the body fighting itself.
- Fact: The traditional treatment is again the body fighting itself.
Here are more details...
Traditional treatment. With narcolepsy, caregivers try to correct phasal problems such as excessive daytime sleepiness and poor sleep quality. For wakefulness, the traditional treatment is stimulants. For better sleep, the traditional treatment is sedatives, tranquilizers or hypnotics. Note well...
- Like the Wakeup Diet, the drug regimen doesn't cure narcolepsy. In fact, drug treatments tax the body.
- The drug treatment doesn't work for everybody, and works better for some than others. All users experience some level of unwanted side effects. Those side effects will likely increase. They may become stronger than the desired effect.
In the Wakeup Diet, a strength workout provides wakefulness. A daytime, high-protein, low-calorie diet sustains wakefulness and suppresses the appetite. An aerobic workout, plus a hot shower, plus a meal with starches assists in producing better sleep. Note well...
- The Wakeup Diet achieves parallel results without the considerable expense or physical risks of drug treatment. The exercises build up the body.
- The Wakeup Diet will work better for some users than for others. Yet for most people, this is a healthy diet. Unlike the drug treatment, the Wakeup Diet supports good health.