What is a good low GI food to fight lethargy?

[Vvitto]

Almost every day in the afternoon for an hour or so I feel so tired that I almost fall asleep.

What is the reason of being tired and how could I fight it? I get 7-8 hours sleep so lack of sleep doesnt seem to be a factor..


Could it be a carb crash? Do I need some low GI carbs?

 

[P-funk]

What rae you currently eating? What do your meals look like and how spaced out are they? What kind of carbs are you ingesting?

 

[Fit Freak]

This probable has something to do with what you're eating for breakfast as well as lunch....could also be related in inadequate amoutns of protein and fat.

We need more info to help.

 

[Robboe]

You may possibly have a vitamin or mineral deficiency.

Get enough sleep, take plenty vits/minerals, avoid high sugar foods and if it still occurs, then maybe you're just burned out a little and could do with a break.

 

[OceanDude]

Originally posted by Vvitto
Almost every day in the afternoon for an hour or so I feel so tired that I almost fall asleep.

What is the reason of being tired and how could I fight it? I get 7-8 hours sleep so lack of sleep doesnt seem to be a factor..


Could it be a carb crash? Do I need some low GI carbs?

Vvitto, I have always suspected that a majority of people don't like to admit that they get tired too - irrespective of how good their diets are and how fit they are. I actually started a poll to sample this specific to weight training intensity (http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19007). In my well read layman???s opinion, there are a billion factors that could come into play: age, fitness level, intensity of training, over training, nutrition, temporary hormonal imbalances, sleep, activity levels, mental/physical/emotional stress, various deficiencies, energy balance and metabolism down regulating, an internal wound or injury, immune system fighting off viral infections, liver/kidney detoxification cycles (and priority of energy utilization being automatically diverted), food allergies, oxygen levels, emotional issues, time of the month, trying to do too much stuff in a single day, life in general etc. etc. ad-nauseam.

I'll admit personally to getting dog-ass-tired at times myself on a particularly intensive weight training day. And it's not likely to be nutrition in my case because I am a born-again-nutrition fanatic coming off years and years of nutritional abuse. In my particular case I have surmised (but not conclusively proven) that these ???tired??? cycles are ???normal??? ???for me??? since I am pushing the envelope (close to over training) and trying to burn a lot of fat fairly fast (sustaining over 2.5 lbs per week in last 5 months) simultaneous with lean tissue gains/preservation and meal timing strategies. In other words I???m really putting a lot of somewhat orthogonal demands/stresses (fat loss, muscle gain, cardio conditioning, aerobic conditioning) on a body that is well past it???s prime (chronologically speaking only). I have been very successful but there is a price to pay in my case ??? at my age I am surmising that the body needs time to replenish its deep energy stores to sustain the grown demand I am requesting of it and the body tries to slow down my metabolism for a short time by urging me to take a 20-30 minute nap now and then. If I elect to I can easily take a short nap to rejuvenate myself (am really hoping I get some GH and more growth from this) or if I just get up and walk around the sensation usually passes. I write this all off to a natural body energy balance mechanism built within the body (being an engineer I oftentimes mentally model things in terms of energy balances with limited resources and time delays). What I am personally hoping is that once I get to my objectives and am able to go into ???maintenance phase??? I???ll be able to reduce my intensity and place less of a demand on my bio-system ??? I am anticipating that this ???cyclic tiredness??? phenomenon will abate when I get there. I???ll let you know in about 6 weeks how it goes.

By the way, I did find that on lower carb diets (less than about 40% of total calories) I tend to get more fatigued than even as I just described. I had an immediate relief from this condition when I upped my essential fats (EFAs) (amazing result really) and or upped carbs (complex ones with only occasional faster carbs post workout). I urge you to look into your EFA???s as a high probability factor in your diet (should be generally about 20%) if this is your scenario. Since I was originally warned that I was approaching a pre-diabetic condition (and hence the motivation to get back in shape) I discovered heuristically that I always got tired when I got to much into super low GI complex carbs. Until I got my fitness levels dramatically improved, I found that I had to rely on the faster carbs (such as a healthy banana or even small doses of pasta/bread) to help ???spike??? my insulin up in my post workout meals to get the energy and micro-nutrients ???pumped??? into my muscle tissue. You might try a limited experiment with this ??? it won???t take much to get the desired effect and should not shuttle into fat if the total meal is under 500 cals or so (400 if woman).

If you feel like this daily, irrespective of what your activity levels are I would suggest that you look into nutrition and minerals as a prime suspect. These are just my own personal opinions largely formed from my own experiences and readings. Good-Luck.

Geeze, I ran way to long again on my post ??? sorry???

 

[DaMayor]

So what's your point?

 

[OceanDude]

Originally posted by DaMayor
So what's your point?

DaMayor, althought the smiley suggests otherwise, I'll assume that your question was not rhetorical. I apologize if I confused you. Hopefully the poster, my intended recipient, will be more able to comprehend the points I made. None the less, for the sake of brevity and simplicity in the matter, here is an executive summary that may or may not be sufficient to help you understand what I said.

Executive Summary:
1: Tiredness is likely more common than admitted among individuals striving for fitness.
2: In the absence of additional information relative to the poster???s inquiry, statistically speaking there is a very high probability it???s not singularly related to diet alone.
2a. Subtle hint to examine some of the listed factors mentioned to see if any might apply.
[editorial note: I forgot to mention another high probability factor : proper hydration levels]
3: Expressed empathy for the poster ??? they are not alone in this condition.
4. Personal examples of factors mentioned by the author (me) that he personally has experienced (i.e. to present some credible evidence of limited insight on the topic).
4a. More additional things to be learned and to follow as the author experiences it.
5. In the absence of additional data, insightful speculation (given current popular trend of mass hysteria/paranoia about carbs and fat in diets ) that if diet related there is a pretty good chance the adverse effects are from too low a carb level or too low a EFA level.
6.In the absence of additional data, insightful high probability suggestion that poster may be at least slightly insulin insensitive (not a bad guess given that about 60% of population are over weight and pre-diabetic) and cautioning to not go too extreme on low GI carbs.
6a Suggestion that the body needs insulin levels sufficiently high at times to get the nutrients and energy into muscle cells and if somewhat insulin insensitive overly low GI may actually make ???fatigue/recovery??? (vice tiredness/sleepiness) a worse condition until resistance training benefits increase insulin sensitivity.
6b. Suggestion for a pragmatic workaround if this condition applies to the poster.
7. Standard disclaimer that author is not an expert nor a physician but is what he personally experienced; (e.g. consider if its applicable to poster???s condition and agrees with insights).

 

[Vvitto]

Well, I gotta admit that my diet has been flaky lately as I tried to bulk up and have eaten a lot of junk food and also sugary treats.

After 7 years of steady training I have stopped training 2 months ago --just hit a wall and lost desire--when my diet has also got screwed up...

My job requires a lot of travel and I am behind the wheel for quite some time as I travel for place to place and I stop to eat chicken sandwiches or salads from fast food restaurants.

As breakfast I have a banana and a bowl of cereal and by lucnh time I have just some junk food. By 2-3 PM I start getting lethargic for one hour or so and I almost fall asleep.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[P-funk]

Junk food, a banana and cereal (probably with milk) and you are asking why you are lethargic. I think you answered your own question......SUGAR.....and lots of it. No balance in those meals at all.

 

[OceanDude]

Vvitto, you can improve metabolism dramatically by just going to a 6 meal a day regime. For the most part, just eat balanced nutrients (about 40% carb 40% protein and 20% essential fat). Take your daily caloric needs and just divide by 6 for each meal (or you can eat a little more in earlier meals and taper the later ones off). If you are wanting to get into a slight caloric deficit to help lose fat calculate roughly 12*scaleweight as total cals for the day (that should produce about a 500 cal deficit ??? as high as you typically want to go). This 6 x meal in and of itself will work wonders for balancing your metabolism. Your big challenge is being on the road all the time. Go buy a bag of small apples and some protein ready to drink shakes or bars and keep in a cooler in the vehicle. Have these as your ???in between meals??? like at 10am, 2 pm and 9pm. Apples are a great low GI food source. When you stop for lunch/dinner etc. its much better to have a packed meal that you know what you are getting but if not just be smart about what you eat. Good Luck.