In his magazine, “The Good Life,” Dr. Oz’s Rx of the Month
(March ‘17), was, “If you’re feeling signs of sleepiness, pull over and take a
nap – it’ll help.” D’ya know what would help even more? Don’t eat a carb-loaded
lunch!
Dr. Oz’s suggestion is based on the assumption that the
driver in his “Rx of the Month” is sleep-deprived. We’re a “chronically
sleep-deprived nation,” the article says. “Skipping even a few hours of sleep
nearly doubles your risk for an accident,” according to an AAA report cited.
But you know what produces “signs of sleepiness” as much and much more frequently? Answer: A METABOLISM THAT HAS CRASHED BECAUSE OF A LOW BLOOD SUGAR.
If you have a bit of Insulin Resistance, as you likely do if you are a
little overweight, or you have been told you are either pre-diabetic or a Type
2 diabetic, you have a chronically elevated level of
insulin in your blood. In that case, a chronically elevated blood insulin level will block access to
energy from body fat, which access a healthy metabolism would have between
meals. Your blood insulin
level remains elevated because your pancreas continues to make insulin in a vain
attempt to overcome the Insulin Resistance
to the uptake of glucose (energy) from your blood.
Without access to energy from your body fat, your
metabolism will have to slow down to maintain energy balance. Among other things, it will
circulate less blood to the brain and extremities, and you will feel “signs of
sleepiness.” You’ve crashed. And
you will soon be hungry again…and you’ll snack between meals. Yes, it’s a
vicious cycle. By continuing to feed your body by mouth, including carbs on a balanced diet, you deny your
body fuel from body fat that it needs to be “energized.” That means to remain in
energy balance at a higher metabolic rate.
Of course, you do
have an alternative: You can
gain access to your body fat reserves to give your body the energy it needs to
maintain a stable, high metabolic rate: to remain in energy balance
(homeostasis) but at a normal, high
metabolic rate. Your body will not
need to slow down and “crash.” How? Cut back sharply on eating carbs at lunch.
Most people in the U. S. eat their evening meal between 6 and
8pm. Digestion starts almost immediately and is usually complete within an hour
or two. Protein takes longer, up to 4 to 5 hours. Then the body rests (and we
sleep), and while we sleep it runs on “sugar” (glucose from carbs) circulating in
the blood and stored in the liver. When the “sugar” stores are nearly
exhausted, your body, in a mild state of ketosis, naturally breaks down body
fat for energy.
This is a normal process. It is called the overnight fast
before “breakfast.” We all do it. And survive. And we wake up in the morning
feeling refreshed from the rest and the fast! The problem began when we started
eating a breakfast loaded with carbs, starting with fruit juice. Pure sugar
water! Then we ate toast or a muffin or worse, a bagel. Pure “sugar” glucose!
Then we ate cereal or oatmeal. All these foods are carbohydrates! And in 2
hours we’re hungry again.
Suggestion: Try 2 eggs, any style, even hard boiled if you
don’t have time to prepare breakfast. If you do cook, fry them in bacon grease
(enjoy a bacon ‘side’). This “break-fast” is all protein and fat. And no
carbohydrates!
Or, if you’re not hungry when you wake up (like me), just have a cup of coffee. I have mine
with heavy whipping cream (a ‘fat bomb’) and pure powdered stevia (not in convenient
little packets of stevia combined with maltodextrin or dextrose –
other words for sugar). If you do this, you are in effect extending your overnight fast.
You will be surprised at how your energy level, and your blood sugar, will
remain stable all morning long. I’ve been skipping breakfast for many years
now, and I often forget to eat lunch. Or don’t think about it until 2 or 3 or
even 4 in the afternoon. Really!
I think assigning “signs of sleepiness” to sleep
deprivation is a “red herring.” I know that many families have to get up early with
the kids, and/or to get to work. And many have to stay up late as well, and
that sleep deprivation is a problem for some. But “signs of
sleepiness” are much more likely to be attributable to a metabolism that slowed
down because access to its own fat stores for energy was blocked by a
chronically elevated blood insulin associated with pre-diabetes and
type 2 diabetes. But if you are overweight, you either have or are developing Insulin
Resistance. And that
is why you are hungry mid-morning after a carb-loaded breakfast or get tired
after a carb-loaded lunch.
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