Foods to boost energy and help me stay awake.

maepis
maepis Posts: 51
edited September 19 in Food and Nutrition
I don't know if it matters, but I work overnight and with my work schedule and having a child to take care of, I don't get as much sleep as I need so I get really sleepy when I'm at work.

What I am looking for is something that can boost energy levels and\or help me stay awake. I'm not meaning in just a pill form, but maybe a certain food that is really good at this without causing weight gain. I have taken pretty much every over the counter diet pill on the market and was hooked on Hydroxycut until it got pulled from the shelves. I was mainly only taking them because they made me feel awake and alert without any jittery side effects and they sustained me through the night. Now that they are gone, does anyone know of any kind of healthier way of getting that jolt to stay awake? I'm not real crazy about taking pills and figure that this would be a great time to look into a more healthy way of getting what I'm looking for. I drink copious amounts of tea and am fairly certain that I am immune to caffeine. Any suggestions on a good food item that will help me stay awake all night without causing weight gain?

Replies

  • MommaPaz
    MommaPaz Posts: 46 Member
    I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't! But you aren't alone! I also work nights and watch my 9 month old during the day. The lack of sleep certainly wears on you! My problem is snacking during the day trying to stay awake with her.
    I drink a lot of coffee at night, probably not the best solution. If you find something that works, let me know!
  • rocknrolla2009
    rocknrolla2009 Posts: 63 Member
    All I can suggest is choosing foods lower in sugars (Glycemic Index)..they won't cause the crash when your blood sugar plumments. They will also stay with you longer and fuel your body gradually...eat every 3-4 hours.

    And Ya, what MommaPaz says..COFFEE!!!! :)
    :drinker:
  • iftcheiaf
    iftcheiaf Posts: 960 Member
    I average about 5 hours of sleep a day with some naps occasionally, and find that drinking a huge ICE COLD glass of water can really make a difference. The shock to my system definitely wakes up. And better than a cold shower :wink:
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Ahh, hmm, this is a good one.

    There are a lot of factors that go into the psychology of staying awake overnight. Food is one of them, but also the internal mindset that night time is for sleep is another, powerful reason to start to doze at night.

    Let's see, foods that will help you wake up. Well, coffee (even decaf) can help with that, coffee for most has a psychosematic effect of making you wake up, even if the physical properties are missing (caffine).

    What else, Generally, fruits will give you abundant blood sugar without spiking it (which limits the crash that things like candy and other foods with table sugar will cause), and will stick around the system for a while. choose fruits with lots of fructose and low in sucrose like berries, oranges, apples, watermellon, honeydew, cantaloupe.

    here is a good chart of nutrients in fruit:

    http://www.thefruitpages.com/contents.shtml

    generally you'd like to stay under 10 g of sugar per serving. BUT, a good way to decide if fruit is ok is to also look at the fiber. See fiber locks up sugar and makes it take exponentially longer to digest, so generally we say, take the sugar, subtract the fiber, and if the result is under 10, you're safe. Take apples for instance, 12 g of sugar, which is a little high, but also 2.7 g of fiber, so you end up being somewhere around 9.

    NOW take a banana, 20 g of sugar, and only 3 g of fiber, so you're looking at 17 g total, which is a lot for one serving. There's another chart that breaks down the percentage of sugar into fructose and sucrose but I forgot to bookmark it and now I can't find it. But you should be able to google it if you are interested.
  • maepis
    maepis Posts: 51
    Thank you all. I've tried drinking coffee before but it seems to have the opposite effect on me. It makes me a lot sleepier. I'll definately check into the fruits and see if I can find a good combination that will work for me. Thanks again for all your input.
  • ctmom1
    ctmom1 Posts: 189
    I am trying to wean off coffee and have found eating one or two apples a day, when I'm starting to feel sluggish, has helped!

    Mary
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