5 Healthy Eating Tips to Stop Feeling Tired and Sleepy After Eating

Do you get tired and sleepy after eating?

Like you eat and then you can’t do anything and just want to take a nap.

You feel like that for an hour and two and then you’re hungry again and then you need to eat again because you lack energy to do anything.

Eating should be an energizing event.

It should replenish you and you should feel light and ready to take on whatever challenge you wanted to tackle.

Today, I will show you simple changes you can implement so that you can feel replenished, light and energized after your meals.

This change will drastically enhance your energy levels during the day and even improve your sleep quality. Your sleep will naturally be reduced by one hour if you implement these simple changes.

(I’ve successfully cut 3 hours of sleep NATURALLY with these changes and a few other things but that’s a topic for another time.)

Let’s get started.

ULTIMATE TIP 1: DON’T OVEREAT

The state of perfect digestive system is when you don’t feel pressure in your stomach and you’re well digested after one, maximum two hours of eating.

If you feel that your stomach is heavier and bigger after your meal, it means you ate too much and you will pay the price.

Digestion takes a shitload of energy.

From the moment you put food into your mouth, your brain starts analyzing and preparing the food for digestion. It takes a lot of energy to complete the whole process of digestion starting with the break up of the food, chemical digestion the food, distribution and absorption of the nutrients.

The unhealthy excess of processed ingredients and foods in the modern world makes the digestive process even more difficult.

But you’re making it even worse by OVEREATING.

Much of the excess food that you ate won’t be absorbed in the body, so you’re just wasting precious energy in digesting something which won’t be even used.

The solution is to eat just until you feel the very first signs of satiety or better just before the first signs of satiety.

You might feel hungry for 5 to 10 minutes after this because you’re eating less than your usual amount, but the feeling of hunger will pass after your brain receives the signal (it takes about 20-30 minutes after you have started eating to feel satiety – this is why people who’re trying to gain weight eat a lot during the 30 minutes before they start feeling full)

After you endure this short phase, you’ll will feel light and energized because you have eaten just the right amount.

This is how you should feel after every meal. No more fatigue and performance drops after meals.

ULTIMATE TIP 2: CHEW MORE

Did you know that your brain analyzes the food in your mouth through saliva and it processes the data to prepare specific enzymes in the stomach and small intestine to digest the food?

And not only that, your saliva starts digesting fats and starches through enzymes in your mouth.

The more you chew, the more the food will mechanically be broken down into smaller particles so that all the nutrients will be more easily digested and absorbed in the body.

Unfortunately most people today skip this important part of digestion and they wonder why they have difficulties with digestion.

How much should you chew? Chew anywhere between 70-150 times depending on the type of food so that the food is in soft and almost liquid form.

You will spend a bit more time in chewing but in return you will decrease the energy wasted in difficult digestion and increase the amount of food and hence nutrients absorbed.

With the combined benefits of both, you will be able to eat less because you’re wasting less energy on digestion and absorbing more nutrients.

If you want to want to eat less, it’s crucial that you chew more.

Even by just combining these two tips, your daily energy levels will drastically improve and you will feel much less tired and sleepy after eating.

But there’s even more.

ULTIMATE TIP 3: EAT ONLY WHEN TRULY HUNGRY

Your body starts producing digestive enzymes when you’re hungry. This is why it’s much easier to digest food when you eat in a hungry state.

The thing is that many people confuse thirst or just plain fatigue with hunger.

What happens when you eat when you’re just thirsty or tired?

You’ve learned how difficult it is to digest food in normal circumstances. Imagine you have to do all that when you’re not even hungry and your body doesn’t even need or want food.

The tragic thing is that most people are like this. They eat oftentimes just because they’re tired, and then they get even more tired because of the unnecessary digestive process.

Instead of food, what you need is just a cup of water or a few minutes of rest.

Not all rest is equal though. You have to completely rest your body and especially your brain for a few minutes. Here’s how you should do it:

You sit down in a quiet place, relax your body and try to stop the thoughts. It’s almost like meditation but much easier because you’re not trying to enter a mindful state. You’re just trying to rest your body and brain.

If you can’t stop your thoughts, try this simple tactic: Repeat these words in your mind “Stop thoughts… stop thoughts… stop thoughts… stop thoughts…”

You have to exclude almost all sounds because your brain can’t rest if it has to keep processing stuff. It’s same for other sensations. So try to find a quiet and private place where you can fully rest your brain for at least 5 minutes.

It will get easier with time.

I’ve learned this rest practice technique from a famous doctor in Korea and I’ve been implementing it every day since.

Most modern people are mentally fatigued instead of being physically fatigued.

Mental strain happens all the time, through work, through thousands of thoughts we have during the day and especially because of the technology.

That movie you’ve watched because you wanted some rest made you even more tired because of all the sensory processing of visuals, sounds and emotional and mental investment.

To truly get some rest, you need to completely rest your brain and keep it from any processing of sensations and thoughts.

After you do this rest practice for 5 minutes, you will feel rested and you will be able to check whether you’re really hungry or not.

ULTIMATE TIP 4: DON’T EAT TOO LATE

The reason why you shouldn’t eat too late is because you have to be well digested before sleep.

This one trick is easily the best way to improve your sleep quality and make you fall asleep faster.

The function of sleep is not for digestion but for other functions such as cleansing of toxins, regeneration of bodily parts and calibration of energies.

Sleep is the most important aspect of maintaining good health.

But if you go to sleep without finishing the digestive process, neither will your food get properly digested and neither will you engage in the sleep’s original important functions.

Sleep won’t be replenishing and you will wake up tired.

To avoid this mistake, make sure that your last meal of the day starts at least 4 hours before your sleep time.

The longer you’re in the digested state after dinner, the easier you will fall asleep. This is because in the digested state your body lowers insulin levels and instead produces more melatonin (1) which is the hormone that tells your body it’s time to sleep.

ULTIMATE TIP 5: EAT JOYFULLY

We spend a big part of our days and lives eating. We must cherish and appreciate this activity even if it’s for the sake of enhancing our well being.

But I’m sure you want more reason than that.

Do you know about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system?

Sympathetic nervous system is the fight or flight state where your body is tense, stressed and in preparation for either fight or flight.

Any kind of stress or false alarm triggers this state and many people are living in this state almost all the time.

This is why it’s important to master mindfulness so that you can maintain the parasympathetic nervous system.

In the parasympathetic nervous system (2), your body engages in relaxing and regenerative activities including enhanced digestion and saliva secretion.

You might follow through other steps, but if you’re not in a relaxed state during your meal, then you will have trouble with digestion.

Eating when you’re hungry (instead of when you’re just tired) helps to appreciate the food more.

Try to keep a joyful state and cherish the food in front of you.

Think of all the people who have died of hunger and be grateful that you can eat peacefully.

If you’re eating with other people, appreciate their company and try to keep a joyful atmosphere.

Your body will more easily accept and absorb the food if you’re eating in a joyful state.

THAT’S IT

Here’s a round-up of all the tips:

1. Don’t overeat
2. Chew well
3. Eat only when truly hungry
4. Don’t eat late
5. Eat joyfully

Just implementing these tips will drastically improve your energy levels during the day and also improve your sleep quality A LOT.

They might seem common sense and pretty basic, but trust me they’re not and it took me almost a year of research, testing and implementation to really find the changes that actually work.

You will be amazed how differently you will feel even after just one or two days of implementing these tips.

Start with the implementation on your next meal to avoid feeling tired and sleepy after meals!

And make sure to let us know how you feel! 🙂