What type of food should I eat to keep me awake?
I have noticed that I tend to sleep when I eat to my fill. I do not know if this happens with everyone. I know there are drinks like caffeine that can help keep me awake, but I do not like these drinks. I prefer options of food, but I do not know of any. I need help.
Answers ( 2 )
When I was trying to drop weight, I started having apples (for roughage & a little sugar) and nori (for a lo-cal umami complement) for lunch every day. It helped a lot, and I discovered a side benefit: I no longer zonked out in the afternoon seminars & faculty meetings! You need something to fuel the machine for the afternoon, but lunch is a bad time to fill the tank.
Of course, this is a bad strategy if you are trying to GAIN muscle mass. YMMV!
There are a few food-based strategies for staying awake. They can mostly be divided into three approaches:
1. Don't overeat. The bigger your meal or caloric intake at one time, the more likely you will feel tired afterward. When you eat a lot, more of your blood is sent to your digestive system to transport the freshly digested metabolites. This leaves less blood for the rest of the body's use, and can sometimes make you feel tired. So rather than eating a food to wake you up, you can simply try to eat less in order to avoid getting so sleepy after a meal. Rather than eating your fill, eat just until you are no longer hungry. And remember to eat slowly, because there is a lag time between when you eat and when you feel full, so it's easy to overeat if you eat fast.
2. If you feel like you're lacking energy (as opposed to actually being drowsy), a little sugar can help. This is different situation from actually being sleepy, but if you haven't eaten much, then adding a food with sugar can help. However, right after a big meal, this isn't a good strategy. It's more for if you haven't eaten in a while.
3. Since you don't like the drinks that contain caffeine, you can try eating foods that contain caffeine or similar stimulants. And in an extreme case, you could even try a caffeine supplement, which are readily available at most drug stores. In fact, almost all diet aids contain caffeine. It's very important not to do this too often, though, as it's not a particularly good habit to get into, and will also lose effectiveness if you do it a lot. Some foods that contain caffeine are dark chocolate (milk chocolate has far less), some kinds of ice cream and yoghurt, and certain energy bars. There are also many drinks other than the usual ones that still include caffeine, so you may want to look into those as well.