So I cheated on my keto diet and decided to have an MSG rich meal at a Chinese restaurant. I couldn’t sleep not even a minute.
For those with insomnia I would try and stay away from Glutamate as it seems to be very stimulating. I couldn’t shut off my brain.
Can you remember what you actually ate?
It was chicken fried rice (carrot, peas, egg, chicken) that probably had soy sauce and soybean oil. Also sweet short ribs and I used that sweet sauce all over the rice. Delicious lol
I don’t think any of those things are on my avoid list but Soy is the one that has caused problems for people here.
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had such a bad time after this meal, hopefully you’ll quickly be feeling better.
Did the insomnia resolve after that food cleared out of your system? My experience is that there is a sweet spot for glutamate. If I eat a giant steak at 6pm… I get better sleep.(I have severe insomnia and have to take meds every night) I once took a supplement which lowers glutamate (Benezine?) and after several weeks it made me feel totally out of whack… but after I stopped taking it… I think my insomnia improved… almost like I re-calibrated my glutamate sensitivity or something. This is all speculation btw.
A greasy meal is hard to digest. That’s probably why. Not to mention the salt content and potential dehydration.
I just updated my post.
Soy is likely the culprit in that meal.
I’ll let you know tonight but I feel like I will be able to sleep
thats the most absurd thing ive ever heard
id like to clarify im not insulting you. its just that in my 25 years of lifei didnt ever once think id read that
I read that people eat poo pills. I didn’t think I would ever read a thread about that lol
Yup, you’re not alone here. Chinese food has worsened my insomnia before. As already said, it depends on how much soy and vegetable oils you ate and you’re bound to eat a lot of grease when eating out.
I think the short ribs would be your biggest culprit here seeing as it’s fried in most likely recycled soybean oil then slathered with more oil and soy sauce. The fried rice adding insult to the injury. This is all pertaining to the 5ar inhibition of soy and soy/vegetable oils.
Chinese food has MSG in it which is mono sodium glutamate. I’m pretty positive Glutamate is an excitatory nuerotransmitter
Or just the sheer quantity of salt and fat.
It’s a factor, sure. I’ve had greasy meals consisting mostly of animal fats/full fat yogurt before without affecting my sleep though.
Finasteride inhibits GABA action and seems to increase glutamate so this makes sense. Let us know if you feel weirdly calmer in a few days
Took magnesium, niacin, taurine and my probiotic before bed and had no problem sleeping or staying asleep.
Looks like you got lucky.
Isn’t taurine something for energy?
You might be thinking tyrosine. Tyrosine will ramp up dopamine and thyroid so I wouldn’t take that at night.
Taurine lowers noradrenaline so it can help with nocturnal erections. Noradrenaline inhibits erections. It also repairs the penis from fibrosis.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1743609516003180