Have you ever experienced the infamous “food coma”. Most of us have. This is the feeling of fatigue and the need for a nap after a big meal. Or have you ever had weakness or “the shakes” after forgetting to eat, which promptly goes away after eating? Truth be told, both of these experiences are not normal and are in fact an indicator of less than optimal health.
Large changes in energy after eating is a sign of poor blood sugar stability. Blood sugar stability is a crucial aspect of health. It affects everything from your risk of developing Type II Diabetes to the promotion of inflammation and auto-immune disorders within your body. The bottom line is that any drastic change in your energy, whether it be fatigue or increased energy, is not healthy. You want to work toward steady, constant energy levels throughout the day instead of experiencing that post-lunch, 3 o’clock crash.
Here are some key things to look for when monitoring your blood sugar stability:
Fatigue after meals
Sugar cravings after meals
Difficulty falling asleep
Or
Energy after meals
Sugar cravings before meals
Inability to stay asleep
Crash and crave sweets between 3-5pm
So how do you attain this nice, steady energy? As always, it starts with the basics. Eat every few hours. Focus on meals and snacks that increase your fiber and protein intake and decrease your sugar and starch intake. Good snacks include nuts, seeds and veggies. Avoid going more than 12 hours without eating. This may mean that you may need to eat dinner a little later to shorten the fast between dinner and breakfast. Also start exercising. Any exercise that you look forward to doing and enjoy is beneficial. If this does not calm your symptoms down, you may need to see a professional at AWC who can prescribe a supplement to modulate the systems responsible for blood sugar stability.
Healing Tip of the Week
Always have a healthy snack at the ready in your purse or glove compartment. Getting hungry and being far from home can lead to unhealthy eating, such as fast food or gas station snacks. Having a bag of nuts or a healthy bar can help you stop your hunger just long enough to get you home to a healthy meal.
Most people will say they’re healthy, because they don’t have any “dis-ease” limiting their daily lives. Does this mean we should sit back and wait for disease to happen? No way! Take a moment and ask yourself the following questions:
What level of health do you really desire?
You may be feeling OK, but are you waking up full of energy and maintaining any amount of that energy as you work through your day? If your answer is no, but it sounds like a pretty good way to feel, then raise your standard of health to include a sense of quality of life. This means you not only pass all of the tests on your physical exams, but you also have enough vitality and energy throughout the day. It means your emotions, or spirit, are lifted and stable, which you can use to live in a meaningful and rich way.
How do we get to that point if we’re not already there?
Only YOU can achieve health for yourself. No one can do it for you. There is so much we can do to increase our quality of health and life. Eating well, exercising regularly and getting enough rest are the basics to having good health. To increase your health to a higher level, do whatever helps to keep the vast majority of the trillions of cells in your body working properly. Oriental medicine is one great way of working with the energy systems and treating on that cellular level. Everything from reproduction to infections to repairing broken bones happens on a cellular level. Chiropractic treatments, meditation/prayer and all forms of massage can also help keep us in tip-top shape. That’s one reason the Advanced Wellness Center has a variety of treatment options. When you’re ready to include overall quality of life and vitality in your definition of good health, we’re here to support you in your growth!
Healing Tip of the Week
Spend some time answering the following questions for yourself: What is my definition of good health? Am I feeling as good as I want to? If not, what do I need to add or subtract from my health regimen to achieve my desired level of health?
Want to eat a more nutritious meal? Do you have digestive issues, or do you take digestive enzymes? We spend a great deal of money on health food, supplements and expensive produce. These can have a tremendous impact on our health; however, it’s easy to overlook some of the most basic, yet effective, ways of extracting more vital nutrients from our food. Case in point: chewing, or mastication.
If food is not properly chewed, much can go to waste, passing through the system as a fermenting, decaying mass, including those precious vitamins and minerals that we need to stay healthy. This is especially important for raw fruits and vegetables. Nutrient portions in these foods have indigestible cellulose membranes surrounding them that must be broken down by the teeth before they can be digested. Furthermore, taking the time to chew tends to slow down the dining process, resulting in smaller portions needed to appease your hunger.
Hatha Yoga practitioners have been in tune with the importance of chewing for a long time. They believe that food has prana, a vital energy force, and that by chewing properly, prana is liberated from the food and travels through the nerves of the mouth and tongue into the nervous system, giving you energy.
So how do you know when you’ve chewed your food enough? Chew it until there is no taste left. Allow the food to gradually melt away in your mouth until you realize that it is all gone. By doing this, you will improve your gastrointestinal health, give precious nutrients to your body and, best of all, increase the enjoyment of your food.
I am always amazed by how the body can combine several functions into one while making it an enjoyable experience for us. As a wise yogi once said, “Mastication is a most pleasant process, and so it is in the case of the lower animals and the children of the human race. The animal chews and munches his food with the greatest relish, and the child sucks, chews and holds in the mouth the food much longer than does the adult.” What other mundane processes do we take for granted that may be playing much larger roles in our bodies?
Healing Tip of the Week
Try eating an apple in the way described above. You’ll be surprised at the feeling of having eaten a fair-sized meal and the sensation of increased strength.
