Post-lunch crash

[Arese]

Right. It's doing my head in now.

Pretty much every day I feel drowsy within 30 minutes of eating my lunch. I have, pretty much, the same thing for lunch every day at work:

80g of Wholegrain Rice (90kcal, 18g Carbs, 2.5g protein)
1 x plain chicken breast (~200kcal, 0g carbs, ~70g protein)
~100g of mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, peas etc)

I ate this at 12:15 today, and right now I feel like I could go to sleep. My eyes are heavy, my head feels muzzy, and I can't be bothered talking. It's the same every day and it's pissing me off.

In the mornings I have a small portion of Scotts Oats with Semi-Skimmed milk and I'm fine all morning.

What the frig is going on?

[Sticks.]

I think it's the blood going to your stomach to help process your food which causes lower pressure and drowsiness. Have a cup of coffee.

[Fume troll]

Do you sleep enough? It may not be the food so much as a habit now, where the food triggers drowsiness. Try going for a walk for 10 mins.

Cheers,

FT.

[southendpier]

I get this too. Go for a walk have some water. All to do with blood sugars I think.

Eat less at lunch healthy snack at 10:30 and 3pm.

You may just be tired do you get much sleep

[Arese]

Thanks for the prompt replies!

Just to clarify, I have a protein shake at 10:30 and again at 15:00 so my metabolism should be running all day.

I usually get between 7-8 hours sleep a night, though I'm in a habit of having a late night cuppa at the moment which means I'm up for a wazz at about 2am

I think tomorrow I'll cut the rice down to 40g and see what happens.

I'm sure it's something to do with blood sugar. I've had tests at the docs for diabetes and all that and it's all good.

I'm going to grab a coffee now before I have a meeting that I have to chair at 2pm

I'll let you know if I bored everyone to death or if the coffee worked!

[E31Shrew]

Happens to me too. I have just got to the stage where I skip lunch

[Fume troll]

I have read that white starchy type foods promote more of a crash. Brown rice maybe?

Cheers,

FT.

[Arese]

Fume troll said:

I have read that white starchy type foods promote more of a crash. Brown rice maybe?

Cheers,

FT.

That's exactly why I have brown rice, as I believe it's less 'starchy' than white rice. Maybe I'm talking crap though.

I've got a 'skinny' latte with an extra shot now to try and sort me out. Tomorrow I'll either skip rice altogether or halve the portion.

[thegman]

just eat less in one sitting. i have found that the carbs make it worse, but the volume of food seems to be the biggest factor.

[Arese]

thegman said:

just eat less in one sitting. i have found that the carbs make it worse, but the volume of food seems to be the biggest factor.

Yeah, I could manage on half the rice no problem. Then a shake and maybe a banana in the afternoon.

[Fume troll]

Arese said:

Fume troll said:

I have read that white starchy type foods promote more of a crash. Brown rice maybe?

Cheers,

FT.

That's exactly why I have brown rice, as I believe it's less 'starchy' than white rice. Maybe I'm talking crap though.

I've got a 'skinny' latte with an extra shot now to try and sort me out. Tomorrow I'll either skip rice altogether or halve the portion.

Oh yeah, missed the "wholegrain" bit!

Coffee's not a long term solution, your body just gets used to it and demands more. You might find a bit of exercise makes a big difference.

Cheers,

FT.

[Arese]

Fume troll said:

Arese said:

Fume troll said:

I have read that white starchy type foods promote more of a crash. Brown rice maybe?

Cheers,

FT.

That's exactly why I have brown rice, as I believe it's less 'starchy' than white rice. Maybe I'm talking crap though.

I've got a 'skinny' latte with an extra shot now to try and sort me out. Tomorrow I'll either skip rice altogether or halve the portion.

Oh yeah, missed the "wholegrain" bit!

Coffee's not a long term solution, your body just gets used to it and demands more. You might find a bit of exercise makes a big difference.

Cheers,

FT.

I'm currently doing mixed low weight/high reps sessions in the gym on Mon/Wed/Fri and cardio on Tue/Thu/Sat. My body is aching every day, I can't take any more exercise!

Interestingly, I don't have any carbs with my evening meal and don't suffer any great crash after that meal.

[Fume troll]

Arese said:

Fume troll said:

Arese said:

Fume troll said:

I have read that white starchy type foods promote more of a crash. Brown rice maybe?

Cheers,

FT.

That's exactly why I have brown rice, as I believe it's less 'starchy' than white rice. Maybe I'm talking crap though.

I've got a 'skinny' latte with an extra shot now to try and sort me out. Tomorrow I'll either skip rice altogether or halve the portion.

Oh yeah, missed the "wholegrain" bit!

Coffee's not a long term solution, your body just gets used to it and demands more. You might find a bit of exercise makes a big difference.

Cheers,

FT.

I'm currently doing mixed low weight/high reps sessions in the gym on Mon/Wed/Fri and cardio on Tue/Thu/Sat. My body is aching every day, I can't take any more exercise!

Interestingly, I don't have any carbs with my evening meal and don't suffer any great crash after that meal.

That wasn't meant to imply a general lack of exercise, more that raising your heart rate briefly through the day might offset the crash.

Cheers,

FT.

[Arese]

Fume troll said:

Arese said:

Fume troll said:

Arese said:

Fume troll said:

I have read that white starchy type foods promote more of a crash. Brown rice maybe?

Cheers,

FT.

That's exactly why I have brown rice, as I believe it's less 'starchy' than white rice. Maybe I'm talking crap though.

I've got a 'skinny' latte with an extra shot now to try and sort me out. Tomorrow I'll either skip rice altogether or halve the portion.

Oh yeah, missed the "wholegrain" bit!

Coffee's not a long term solution, your body just gets used to it and demands more. You might find a bit of exercise makes a big difference.

Cheers,

FT.

I'm currently doing mixed low weight/high reps sessions in the gym on Mon/Wed/Fri and cardio on Tue/Thu/Sat. My body is aching every day, I can't take any more exercise!

Interestingly, I don't have any carbs with my evening meal and don't suffer any great crash after that meal.

That wasn't meant to imply a general lack of exercise, more that raising your heart rate briefly through the day might offset the crash.

Cheers,

FT.

Ah right, thought you were calling me a fat . I didn't realise we'd met.

[Arese]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Going to go with the half portion of rice tomorrow. Doubly difficult when Friday is Fish and Chips day in the work canteen.

[ShadownINja]

Scatter some drawing pins on the desk in front of you. The fear of pain will keep you awake.

[Mrs Trackside]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Same here. I cut out all bread, potatoes, pasta and white rice a month ago and feel so much better for it (and lost half a stone into the bargain!) I still eat brown rice as it doesn't cause the slump like the others, but only have a very small portion (about a handful of one of my small lady hands of COOKED rice).

I find bread makes me want to go to sleep within about 20 minutes of eating it.

It may be a case of experimenting to see if there's any carbs you can eat, (or try smaller portion sizes) without causing you to fall asleep, but try cutting out bread, potatoes, pasta and rice for a week and then slowly reintroducing them one at a time to see if they are what's causing the problem.

[Muzzer]

Arese said:

Just to clarify, I have a protein shake at 10:30 and again at 15:00 so my metabolism should be running all day.

How long have you been on these?

FWIW, several fellow gym 'colleagues' have chosen to come off these shakes due to feeling tired, muggy, lethargic in the afternoons.

[Tumbler]

How much water are you drinking?

[Simon Brooks]

Sounds like a serious lack of essential fats and carbs found only in McDonalds