Good day to you Foodies out there!
So many people are feeling tired and sleepy after eating. Why is this and what can you do to enliven your system so sleepiness and fatigue will not be such an issue for you?
If you eat when you are exhausted from a long day at work your body has very little energy left to digest the food you put in it. In fact it will use up the very last bit of energy you have left in the digestion process, so it will send you to sleep quickly to compensate for this. If it is night time then you can just go to sleep for the night and think that is ok anyway but in the day time this would be less desirable after eating.
If you eat your food too quickly and don’t chew it sufficiently the digestive process is put under a great deal of stress. People suffer bad indigestion, stomach pains, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome to name a few and much could be avoided by slowing down your eating, chewing more and being conscious of your food while doing so. The first part of the digestive process happens in your mouth, as the food reacts with the saliva your mouth produces.
If you eat so quickly and chew too little the food reaches your stomach in the wrong chemical state and straight away you will start feeling discomfort as it struggles to digest.
One mistake people make is to snack on foods throughout the day every time a slight feeling of emptiness arises, mistaking it for hunger. Every time you put food into yourself your body must digest it and this takes an amount of energy in itself.
Rather than snacking, it is okay to allow your stomach to be empty for a few hours. Did you know that your brain and body work at their best when your stomach is empty? So it is okay for an hour or so to be empty. Your body can heal and detox itself during this time. If the body is constantly processing food it is stealing energy it needs for other body functions.
When you do eat, it is most important to approach your food with a great deal of gratitude. Consciousness is extremely relevant to your health and how the food you eat behaves inside of you, so HOW you eat is as important as what you eat.
The body is a very complex piece of machinery . If you are not physically exhausted from hours of work yet experience fatigue and sleepiness after eating, it suggests that your body is struggling with the food you have given it. It doesn’t matter how good you think it tastes, if your body struggles to process it, then it is not good food for your system.
I taught myself what to eat and what not to eat by noticing how my body responds to what I put into it. We are all different in this respect to some extent so you must see for yourself what works for you and what hinders you. The most important thing is to be conscious of what you put in there and how your body responds.
I stopped eating meat when I realised that after eating meat - and red meat particularly I would have a great heaviness in my stomach that caused discomfort and lethargy in me.
I also found that if I ate mostly raw foods that my energy levels were not impeded in any way. So I make sure that at least 60-70 % of my diet is raw fruit and vegetables.
The most easily digested food for the body is fruit and thus it gives you the most energy. Because it is fast to digest you will find your stomach feeling empty quite soon after eating even a big plate of fruits. But this EMPTY feeling is ok and your body functions fine with energy still.
If you get to the point that you are running out of energy then it is HUNGER not EMPTINESS your body is experiencing and you need to feed your machine again.
Don’t fill up the machine until HUNGER arises. You can learn how to deal with an EMPTY feeling if you consciously understand that this feeling should not be fed and is actually good for your system. You can always drink a glass of water if you find the EMPTINESS uncomfortable. Learn to focus on your body energy levels, not your stomach fullness levels.
Eat food when HUNGRY. Not when EMPTY
Be grateful for your food, and chew properly before swallowing.
Eat consciously and study how you feel after eating different types of food.
Eat fruit and vegetables for meals if you need to remain energetic afterwards.
A physically exhausted body will always sleep after a heavy meal as it takes the last of your depleted energy to digest the food.