Sleepy After Lunch? Your SIESTA Means You Have...
Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast
Dr. Eric Berg
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2020
⏱️ 5 minutes
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Summary
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In this podcast, we’re going to talk about why you’re sleepy after eating, or you feel like you really need an afternoon nap.
The main reason you feel tired after eating is because of carbohydrates.
There are many countries that take a siesta, such as:
• Mexico
• Italy
• Philippines
• Vietnam
• Certain Mediterranean countries
• Southern Europe
• Spain
Is feeling sleepy after a meal normal? No.
There is actually a name for feeling sleepy after eating. It’s called postprandial somnolence. Basically, this refers to the food coma you get every day. This is a common feature of diabetes. When you have the combination of refined carbohydrates and the volume of calories, this can cause a blood sugar spike and an insulin spike. Both of these can make you tired.
Why does this cause you to be tired after eating? There are several things going on:
• You activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
• You decrease the blood to the brain.
• You decrease the arousal pathways of the brain.
• A high carb diet causes you to absorb certain amino acids but not others like tryptophan, which will be absorbed through the blood-brain barrier. Tryptophan will then directly turn into serotonin and melatonin (the sleep hormone).
If you live in a country where people typically take a siesta, consider trying not to consume carbohydrates with your lunch for one week. At the end of the week, see if this little experiment has helped you feel less sleepy after eating.
Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio:
Dr. Berg, 51 years of age is a chiropractor who specializes in weight loss through nutritional & natural methods. His private practice is located in Alexandria, Virginia. His clients include senior officials in the U.S. government & the Justice Department, ambassadors, medical doctors, high-level executives of prominent corporations, scientists, engineers, professors, and other clients from all walks of life. He is the author of The 7 Principles of Fat Burning.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So if you guys have any questions whatsoever about keto or intermittent fasting, whether you're starting |
| 0:05.3 | keto as a new person or just need to debug your program or you have a question about a product, |
| 0:10.6 | call one of our keto consultants. They'll be able to help you. Call 540-299-1557. That's 540-299-1557. |
| 0:21.6 | Welcome to the Dr. Berg's Healthy Keto and Interminute Fasting Podcast, where Dr. Berg takes you on the journey for the truth about getting healthy and losing healthy weight. So let's talk about that after lunch siesta, where you want to take a nap, |
| 0:48.8 | and why that is due to carbohydrates more than any other reason. Now there are many countries that take a |
| 0:56.1 | siesta. And by the way, siesta comes from the Spanish word meaning nap and the Latin word for sixth hour. |
| 1:03.1 | And that refers to the countdown from dawn, meaning midday. So there are many countries known |
| 1:08.5 | for these siestas. Mexico, certain countries in South America, |
| 1:13.1 | Italy, Philippines, Vietnam, certain Mediterranean countries, Southern Europe, and Spain. And of course, |
| 1:21.0 | in America, we don't really officially say that we have a siesta, but we basically fall asleep in front |
| 1:26.6 | of our computer right after lunch. |
| 1:28.4 | So the question is, is it normal for someone to get tired after eating? |
| 1:32.4 | Now, there's actually a medical term for this. |
| 1:35.3 | Post-pranthial, which means after a meal, somalance. |
| 1:39.9 | And that means food coma. |
| 1:42.5 | And of course, this is a common feature for diabetes. So when you have |
| 1:46.1 | the combination of especially refined carbohydrates and volume of calories together, it can really |
| 1:53.1 | create a blood sugar spike and an insulin spike. Both of these are going to make you tired. |
| 1:59.6 | Now the question is, why would they make you |
| 2:01.2 | tired? There's several mechanisms going on that go beyond the insulin resistance mechanism where you're |
| 2:06.7 | having a lack of fuel go into the cell. All right, number one, you activate something called a parasympathetic |
| 2:13.6 | nervous system. So there's two parts of the autonomic nervous system. You have the sympathetic, |
... |
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