Hey comicbookmommy! Sorry, I didn't realize that you posted in response until today!
And sorry, this post will be pretty long!
I have been experimenting with my diet as of late, and have found great success in eating a whole foods diet. Low carb is essentially the same concept, in that you cut out the majority of processed foods -- both of these diets are excellent for restoring balance to a tired body.
I would say, the best thing for success is consistency. For months, I ate 1/3 of a dark chocolate (72% cocoa) every night, and consistently lost weight, but almost NEVER cheated on my diet. It's sooo difficult to do, but make changes that you want to make for the rest of your life.
I'm still struggling with some fatigue symptoms, but I no longer consume ANY caffeine, and I feel pretty dang good most of the day.
I'd have to say that cutting out sugar and refined carbohydrates was the only thing that helped me in the beginning. Now, my diet is as follows (i'm trying be strict, but I fall of the wagon because I'm working at a job I hate right now, and I feast sometimes- gotta stop!!)
I have had TREMENDOUS success with this diet (lost 6 pounds in two days after feasting for a couple of days), but I've needed to supplement with extra food at dinner time every other day.
Breakfast : banana, pineapple & kiwi smoothie with chia seeds & ground flax seed (YUM! 323 calories)
Lunch: weight loss soup :-P (
http://www.eatingwell.com/blogs/food...ight_loss_soup), ~ 3 giant spoonfulls with a cup of brown rice mixed in with tamari sauce (432 calories)
Dinner: Juice (one organic apple, LOTS of crazy lettuces, 2 small organic carrots, 1/2 beet, 1/2 lemon) YUM! And I usually have a glass of wine, or Avocado and Tomato slices with 2 over easy eggs. (300-400 calories)
Okay, this is all good and great, but I honestly think that without the supplements my body would resist weight loss 100%.
-At breakfast I take a bunch of adaptogens, and without them I feel like garbage. I get shaky when I need to speak in meetings at work, and I can't handle the stress. These adaptogens allow your body to cope with stress, and I WISH I'd known about them when I started to write my thesis and stopped sleeping. I buy these in extract form- the dropper bottle, and I pour about an ounce of water into a tiny glass, then put all of my adaptogens in, swirl around, and take it like a shot. I then add a little more water, and do this twice to get all of it.
*Ashwaghanda- great for inflammation and the stress response
*Licorice root- blocks reabsorption of cortisol, so your body doesn't keep reproducing more and more, for those with a propensity to stress out, like me.
*Siberian Ginseng (essential to recovering from adrenal fatigue. I forgot why :-P)
I'm also on a very strict budget, so I spend $50 every month (swanson vitamins online) on various extracts and vitamins. So over the months I've gradually built up an arsenal of adrenal fatigue combatants.
-At lunch I take the following supplements: Vitamin C (essential for recovering the adrenal glands, 500-1000mg), Calcium, Magnesium (essential for absorption of calcium), a nulti-vitamin, and vitamin-D.
-Dinner is one of the most important times. I get a lot of vitamins from my juice, and I add potassium and lugol's iodine to the juice. I then supplement further with Thyroid glandular, DHEA, Coenzyme Q10, liquid B-complex(Walmart), and Niacin (B3) (megadoses, start with 50-500mg, work your way up to 1000 mg). Buy Niacin last, as a lot of people don't like Niacin, but I love it! It turns my skin red, it burns a little, I get super hot, and I feel like my system is detoxifying. It's addictive if you like it :P It's not necessary, but I feel like Niacin is necessary for my health.
The other thing is, make sure you don't over-exercise. 45 minutes is probably too much. I don't do more than 20-30 minutes. If you eat whole foods, and allow your body to eliminate toxins with healthy foods, you will be far better off than working out so hard.
It's also a good idea to look into which foods you should buy organically and which are okay to buy conventionally. That's why my smoothies contain 3 fruits that I don't need to buy organic- because my husband likes them too!