Post-Meal Fatigue: Causes and Tips

This week Baylee is chatting about post meal fatigue - what an cause it and some practical tips to help reduce it so that you feel good after your meals and energized throughout the day.

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Featured Mocktails: 

Olipop

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Transcript

0:22

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey, and I am doing a solo episode this week. So summer is summering, and we're actually gonna do two solo episodes in a row. So next week Brianna will be on, and then we should be back to regular programming. But I am doing a Peaches and Cream Ollipop. It's not super peachy, but I do like it, something different Yeah, it's pretty good. I am going to talk about, 'cause I did get this question this week, so I was like, "You know what? We're gonna discuss this on the podcast." So I want to explain why you might feel tired after a meal, and what we're gonna do to help that. Digestion naturally requires energy, but if you constantly feel like you're tired, like you need a nap, it's often a clue that something about the meal or your metabolism is kinda creating a larger energy dip there. So there could be a couple different reasonings as to why this may happening- may be happening. I would say overall you shouldn't necessarily feel tired due to a meal. So if you are, here are some explanations for you. Number one, it could be a blood sugar spike and then the crash. This is the most common thing I see, and it's the biggest cause of that post-meal fatigue feeling. When you eat a meal that's high in refined carbs or sugar, or just low in protein, fiber, or fat, your blood sugar will rise quickly. The pancreas increases... well, releases insulin to move glucose into your cells, and that blood sugar can fall rapidly, kinda creating a crashing feeling. So even if your blood sugar doesn't technically become hypoglycemic, that rapid change is what can make you feel sleepy, foggy, just like you d- you're just out of it, and then you're typically hungry again within a few hours. I notice this a lot with pizzas or an Olive Garden meal where it probably has some fat and protein with it, but it's just very refined carbs that are being digested quickly. You feel super full, then you feel like you need a nap, and then an hour or two later you're like, "Meh, I could eat again." So signs that this is why you're feeling tired is if you feel great for 30 to 60 minutes after eating, and then suddenly it's "I need a coffee. I need a nap," or you crave something sweet shortly after. So what helps here is making sure you're eating enough protein at meals. Probably for most adults getting at least 40 grams. You want to include healthy fats- Again, I would say between 10 to 20 is a good general range. You want to have fiber-rich veggies, doing high-fiber carbs instead of refined carbs like white breads, white flours. And it can also help to eat carbohydrates after you eat your protein and veggies rather than doing the carb first. This can slow your glucose absorption and reduce that size of your blood sugar spike. So there's one thing that could be going on. The second thing is your body is directing blood towards digestion. Digestion is it takes energy, so after eating, your body increases blood flow to the stomach and intestines to release digestive enzymes, produce stomach acid, absorb nutrients, and move food throughout your digestive tract. This is completely normal. Larger meals are gonna require even more work, which can make you feel sluggish. What helps is to eat until comfortably satisfied instead of when you're, like, overly full. Try eating at a slower rate so that way your body can pick up what your brain picks up when you're actually full. And if large lunches always make you sleepy, do smaller meals spread throughout the day. A lot of times if we're overeating at one meal, it's 'cause we're undereating at a different meal. So being, like, thinking about is your meal too large? Even healthy foods can make you feel tired if you just simply eat too much at once. Pause halfway through your meal, assess your hunger, save leftovers. You don't have to always finish everything. The next thing I would say is your meal could be lacking protein. Protein helps stabilize your blood sugar and promotes satiety. Meals that are mostly carbohydrates digest more quickly, often leading to greater blood sugar fluctuations. So a less balanced meal like a bagel would cause you to have quick ups and downs. And then even pairing a juice with it even, a very healthy green juice or something, you're mainly just getting carbs. More balanced meal is gonna look like eggs, Greek yogurt, whole grain bagel, and maybe some fruit. So it's gonna be more likely to provide that sustained energy. The next thing is dehydration. This is one we know we need to drink water, but we're not always good about it, and we don't realize the importance. Even a 1 to 2% dehydration can give us some side effects, especially right now. I'm in Missouri. It is very hot, and a lot of people are dehydrated. Many people are mildly dehydrated before they eat. So dehydration can kind of worsen fatigue, and headaches, and brain fog, and that sluggish feeling. So sometimes what feels like a food coma may actually be dehydration. So you wanna make sure you're drinking water throughout the day, not just waiting until you're thirsty. Drink it all throughout the day. Don't try and overload yourself at night. You It actually is more beneficial to drink throughout the day rather than large amounts at once. And then most people probably are gonna do best with an electrolyte combined with it, so that way you're actually pulling water into your cells and being properly hydrated. It's not just running through you The other thing, there may be, they may, there may be certain foods that trigger sleepiness. Some meals just naturally encourage relaxation. So something you might have heard a lot about is turkey, thinking of like Thanksgiving. So people often blame turkey because it has tryptophan. But I would say a turkey itself isn't just like uniquely sleep-inducing. Most protein-rich foods actually contain tryptophan. The drowsiness after a holiday meal is probably more likely due to the overall size of the meal, the mix of carbs and fat and alcohol, and then you just have the turkey as the bonus with the extra tryptophan. So it may not just be the turkey, it's the additional carbs that we're doing on top of it. But large amounts of refined carbs, alcohol, fried foods, very high-fat meals low in protein can all kind of trigger that sleepiness. The next thing insulin resistance. So if someone has insulin resistance or prediabetes, their bo- their body often has to produce more insulin after eating. So this can lead to bigger blood sugar swings, sluggishness, increased hunger, brain fog. Other things that would clue me into some insulin resistance is constant craving for sweets, energy crashes, a difficult time losing weight, and then obviously having an elevated fasting insulin. So improving insulin sensitivity through consistent regular exercise, adequate protein, fiber intake, sleep, weight management can all help reduce symptoms that are related to insulin resistance. Poor sleep. So sometimes the meal isn't the problem. If you're already sleep-deprived, eating activates your parasympathetic nervous system, your rest and digest. So making existing fatigue kind of more noticeable. The food simply unmask how tired you really are. This it wasn't something I would say that's super common. But, if we're having poor sleep and then we're like eating, it makes sense that we're using up energy and it's like, "Oh, we're a little tired." Next thing, food sensitivity or digestive issues. So some people consistently feel fatigue after eating because of an intolerance or digestive disorders or just chronic inflammation. Typically, you're also gonna have bloating, gas, diarrhea, abdominal pain that goes along with it. So if fatigue occurs after like nearly every meal, especially with digestive systems, it's worth maybe doing like a GI map or an elimination diet to see if there's something specifically triggering you. Overall, I think if you're someone who's just feels that afternoon crash-type feeling Aim to build meals with about that 40 grams of protein. Fiber is a big thing. Many people are under eating fiber, under eating fruits and veggies. Make sure you're getting at least three servings of veggies, at least two servings of fruit, and then high-fiber starchy carbs. If you do white pasta, switch to a chickpea or a whole grain pasta. If you do white bread, switch to a whole grain bread. If you do like a granola bar with more added sugars in the morning, swap to some eggs or something like that. So be smart with your carbohydrates. After eating, it does help to take a 10 to 15-minute walk. Even light movement can improve glucose disposal and reduce post-meal blood sugar spikes. You want to avoid consistently eating to the point that you feel stuffed. If you drink caffeine, avoid relying on it to fix your blood sugar crash. Instead, look at the composition of the meal that you recently had. However, If you feel overwhelmingly tired after most meals, especially if combined with dizziness or shakiness, weight changes, digestive symptoms, it's worth talking to a healthcare professional, dietician, or even your doctor, whoever you wanna talk to and maybe even start with lab work. Fasting glucose, fasting insulin, an A1C, an iron panel, B12, a full thyroid panel just to see if there's anything else, like, going on. Or even just making sure, is your intake adequate? Are your meals balanced? And that can make a big difference. Post-meal fatigue is usually a result of several factors working together rather than one single cause. But the biggest contributors are gonna be the rapid blood sugar changes, the large meals, the inadequate protein and fiber, dehydration, and underlying insulin resistance. Building balanced meals, eating appropriate portions, staying hydrated, and taking a short walk after eating are simple strategies that can help you just maintain that steadier energy all throughout the day. I hope this was helpful to answer some questions that you may have about, like, why am I always tired after meals or tired throughout the day, and gave you some practical tips as to some things you can adjust. And Brianna will be back next week with a brand-new episode. Bye, everyone.