Carbs and sleepiness

harvester of sorrow

As the title suggests,I often feel tired after eating carbs,for example when I get up in the morning and have a bowl of porridge for breakfast,I feel like going back to bed again after....just really sluggish and lethargic.
Lately I've been cutting out carbs first thing for breakfast and just a protein shake and peanut butter,and don't feel half as sluggish.

So would one be better off consuming carbs after working out(carb back loading)and also do the above symptoms suggest insulin sensitivity?
Anyone else feel the same after consuming carbs?

Gummy Panda

harvester of sorrow wrote: »

As the title suggests,I often feel tired after eating carbs,for example when I get up in the morning and have a bowl of porridge for breakfast,I feel like going back to bed again after....just really sluggish and lethargic.
Lately I've been cutting out carbs first thing for breakfast and just a protein shake and peanut butter,and don't feel half as sluggish.

So would one be better off consuming carbs after working out(carb back loading)and also do the above symptoms suggest insulin sensitivity?
Anyone else feel the same after consuming carbs?

Its not uncommon. I know guys who stick to pro/fat for most of there meals, train then carb back load. They find the carbs helps them sleep at night.

jive

I feel lethargic when I eat too many carbs in a sitting. I eat a small amount of carbs now as I don't particularly enjoy a diet solely based on fats and proteins, it gets boring fairly quickly IMO although many others will argue otherwise.

I eat a small amount of carbs with most meals, I find this suits me best. Usually oats, rice and hapes of veg. Occasionally pasta, bread and dark chocolate.

TLDR; eat less carbs, see how you feel.

CaptainAhab

I used to have the same problem - carbs for breakfast and I was hungry an hour later, carbs for lunch and I was falling asleep an hour later.. The problem went when I eliminated starches and sugar from my diet. E.g. try a breakfast of a couple of eggs and cheese, you might find you are not very hungry until two or three in the afternoon, and simply by having a handful of nuts at that time you can hold off until dinner time. That has been my experience.

resistancegav

Having exactly the same problem. Falling asleep an hour after both meals. Also have the added fun of IBS problems. Very embarrassing in work when your nodding off in meetings etc. Was having fruit and bread for breakfast and now im having oats and nuts with a scoop of protein. Also look up FODMAPS to eliminate some of the complex sugars which for me caused a lot of bloating and sleepiness.
I actually had to get tested for diabetes and sleep apnea it got so bad.

crestglan

Isn't carbs important though don't you need them especially if you are working out

petethedrummer

Insulin, large neutral amino acids, and tryptophan

When foods with a high glycemic index are consumed, glucose is absorbed rapidly from the gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream, and in individuals with normal carbohydrate metabolism, insulin levels rise concordantly to drive glucose into the body's tissues and maintain blood glucose levels in the normal range.[3] Insulin stimulates the uptake of valine, leucine, and isoleucine into skeletal muscle, but not uptake of tryptophan. This lowers the ratio of these branched-chain amino acids in the bloodstream relative to tryptophan[4] (an aromatic amino acid), making tryptophan preferentially available to the large neutral amino acid transporter at the blood–brain barrier.[5] Uptake of tryptophan by the brain thus increases. In the brain, tryptophan is converted to serotonin,[6] which is then converted to melatonin. Increased brain serotonin and melatonin levels result in sleepiness.[7]

Postprandial somnolence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postprandial_somnolence