Carb 'tiredness'

Scamd83

Hi, was suggested I post this here on another forum. The other night I had a bowl of cereal at night and went from wide awake to fast asleep literally within minutes. Being at night this as far from a problem and I am not terribly concerned. It's not the first time this has happened after having oats, pasta, etc and generally I end up feeling drained. But if I eat carbs from a banana I feel fine and when I have random rushes of blood/dizzy spells a banana puts a stop to it pretty instantly. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts/experience with this please?

sammyliftsandeats

The cereal probably caused a big spike in your blood sugar and then came crashing down - causing tiredness. Have you ever been in a 'food coma'?

I find that food comas are worse when eating carbs because of the quick burning energy.

Now I'm not suggesting that the cereal instantly caused this reaction but depending on what else you ate, it could have helped the process along.

You said this happens with oats and pasta as well...well, depending on how processed those foods were, that makes sense.

I always find that when I ate carbs, I would be good to go for a bit and then my energy levels would dip huge time.

Scamd83

I had the cereal with semi-skimmed milk. I've had what would be defined as a 'food coma' before, thing is I've had carbs like oats with peanut butter and whey before as well to answer suggestions of pairing it up with fat and protein but same outcome.

It's a bit annoying when I read up on pre-workout nutrition and it's the usual stuff about slow release carbs and they end up doing the complete opposite of what is claimed. Currently I'm cutting but at some point I'm going to be aiming for strength and mass increase which is going to require a lot of carbs and I'm going to end up sleeping half the day at this rate I fear. At least bananas don't betray me.

Sunny_Bunny_

Try not eating that kind of carbs???

Sabine_Stroehm

Carbohydrates make tryptophan more amped up, or something like that. As a menopausal woman, with sleep woes, every blog I read suggests some carbs at night to help me sleep. It's apparently a "thing". http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20070214/carbs-may-help-you-fall-asleep-faster

Foamroller

I never figured out the cause of carb comas after dinner. Sometimes I also get very cold after overdosing on carbs. Anyone knows how or why this happens?

Another type of carb tiredness for me is when I wanna keep sleeping after waking up. I now wake up with no alarm and jump out of bed. If I feel dog tired. ...I know it's a sign to dial down the frequency and or volume of simple carbs. I remember that feeling all too well from the old days.

nvmomketo

I have mild reactive hypoglycemia, possibly due in part to insulin resistance (prediabetes). My BG would rise after a meal and then finally plummett to below where I started because my body kicked out too much insulin, I'm guessing it made too much insuin because the normal amount wasn't triggering a decrease in BG fast enough.

If you own a blood glucose monitor, it is easy enough to test for this. Take your BG (idealling fasting BG) and then eat a high carb meal (or drink). Retest every 30 minutes for 2 to 3 hours. For me, I start at a normal high number, then my BG goes up to a normal high post meal level by 30-60 minutes, and by 90 minutes my BG is lower than the original (fasted reading) and will fall for another hour or until I eat again.

Eating LCHF has eliminated this, and it's associated symptoms.