If you often find yourself feeling tired after eating, you are not alone. There are several reasons why this may be happening.

The two most common reasons for tiredness after eating are food allergies and eating foods that contain certain substances that increase fatigue.

The first question to ask yourself when you are trying to determine why you feel tired after eating is does it always occur after a certain meal? Are you tired after every meal? What kinds of foods do you typically eat, and which ones have you just eaten when you feel extreme tiredness after eating?

Food Allergies

A classic symptom of food allergies is feeling tired after eating a food you are allergic too. Common food allergies include gluten (the protein in wheat), dairy products and tree nuts, but sensitivity to any food can cause fatigue.

That’s because when you are allergic to a food – or any substance for that matter – your body creates antibodies to fight the “intruder.” This requires energy, which makes you tired.

If you suspect that you have a food allergy that is making you tired after eating, try an elimination diet. Stop eating the food you suspect for a week and see if you have more energy.

If you’re not sure which food or foods you’re allergic to, you will need to experiment by eliminating a different food each week. Or you can try limiting what you eat and slowly reintroducing foods back into your diet until you find the one that is causing that tiredness after eating.

Sugar Highs and Lows

While you may not be allergic to sugar, eating too much of it can cause tiredness after eating. Sugar is a refined carbohydrate that sends your blood sugar level way up as soon as you eat it.

While this will provide you with a burst of energy, the energy from sugar does not last long, and you will feel tired as soon as your body uses up the energy.

You can reduce the likelihood of feeling tired after eating by switching from refined (white) sugar and flour products to whole grains and high-fiber foods like fruits and vegetables, which take a longer time to digest.

Blood Sugar Levels and Tiredness after Eating

If you are diabetic, you probably already know that eating sugars and starches will cause you to feel tired after eating. However, many people have diabetes or pre-diabetes and do not know it.

If you feel extreme tiredness after eating, you might want to ask your doctor to test your blood glucose levels.

You might also experience extreme tiredness after eating if you are prone to hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.

While this sounds like the opposite of diabetes, it actually has the same effect when it comes to feeling sluggish after eating a meal that is high in sugars and refined starches.

That’s because sugars and starches cause insulin levels to rise, and high insulin levels cause you to feel tired.

In addition, starches trigger the production of serotonin, which is intended to relax the body. Too much serotonin can also cause you to feel tired after eating.

The Tryptophan Connection

Certain foods contain an amino acid known as tryptophan that is often to blame for tiredness after eating. Tryptophan is found in turkey, dairy products and soy protein.

The body uses tryptophan to manufacturer serotonin and melatonin, which are both neurotransmitters that have a calming effect.

However, this only happens when carbohydrates are eaten along with tryptophan. The carbohydrates cause the pancreas to release insulin and also cause other amino acids to leave the bloodstream and enter muscles cells.

This leaves tryptophan on its own in the bloodstream, so to speak. As a result, you will feel tired.

Fatty Foods can Make you Sluggish

If you eat a high-fat meal, you will feel tired after eating because fat is harder for the body to digest than carbohydrates and protein.

When you eat a lot of fat, your digestive system becomes sluggish, and your body sends more blood to your digestive organs so that the job of digesting your food can be done.

The result is a decrease in blood flow to other parts of your body, which leaves you with a feeling of fatigue. The same effect will occur if you overeat in general, even if the meal is not high in fat.

Too much food means your digestive system has to worker harder than it should and, again, you will feel tired after eating.

Alcohol

While you may not think of drinking alcohol in relation to feeling tired after eating, if you have a few beers or a glass of wine with a meal, it may be the alcohol that is making you tired.

Alcohol is a depressant, and it may also make you eat more, which will cause your digestive system to work extra.

Eating for Energy

If you find that you are often tired after eating, you need to develop a diet plan that will energize you rather than make you tired.

You can find tips on how to do this plus a wealth of other information on overcoming tiredness in the ebook “End Tiredness Program”.

The feeling of constant tiredness can sneak up on you. In fact, you may be in a state of extreme tiredness before you realize that you have a serious situation. If you do not resolve the problem, it can quickly become a dangerous issue.

You may have always felt that you are a driven person who gets things done. You may have convinced yourself a long time ago that tiredness was a trade off for accomplishments. However, at some point, it will not matter how much you get done because you will be too exhausted to enjoy your accomplishments.

Furthermore, you will no longer have the energy to relax and take pleasure in your recreational time spent with friends and family. This can cause depression and even greater fatigue, making each day seem like more of an uphill battle than the day before.

While tiredness can severely impact your quality of life, it is the causes of extreme tiredness that are most concerning. The most common causes of tiredness are related to sleep. This can include not getting enough sleep, not getting the right kind of sleep, and not getting consistent sleep.

Sleep issues are always the first problem you should suspect if you are tired. However, if you are finding that you are always extremely tired this may also be a sign of a severe medical condition.

ADRENAL BURN OUT

Adrenaline is your body’s own natural energy boosting chemical. When you feel excited, stressed, in danger, or even joy it triggers your adrenal gland to release adrenaline into your system. This gives you the surge of energy you will need to function at a higher pace during this time. This surge of energy can take a toll on your body, so your adrenal gland also releases cortisol with the adrenaline.

A molecular model of the hormone Hydrocortisone or Cortisol

Cortisol helps your body repair and renew by increasing sugar levels, blood pressure, growth hormones. Once the adrenaline is no longer needed and your body has recovered, your adrenal gland releases DHEA. This normalizes your body from the affects of the cortisol, enabling your body to function as usual.

As you can imagine, this is a complicated process that can only work if your adrenal gland is functioning properly. Normally, your body only needs adrenaline every now and then. This gives your adrenal gland plenty of time to repair itself from the strain of releasing adrenaline.

Sometimes, people demand too much of their adrenal gland. Many times, these are the people you consider “driven” or “perfectionists”. However, it can be people who are forced to be in stressful or exciting situations continuously.

In many cases, people have often worked past the point of exhaustion and ignored opportunities for relaxation. No matter the reason, these people’s bodies demand more adrenaline more often. This constant strain can lead to many health problems, including a condition called adrenal burn out.

Adrenal burnout is one of the worst extreme tiredness causes because it leaves your body without the ability to make energy. Not only will you not have adrenaline when you need it, but you will not be able to convert your food to energy in order to perform normal body functions.

In addition to a total lack of energy, adrenal burnout can cause depression, body aches, excessive thirst, and heart problems.

Furthermore, the long term need for adrenalin that led to the adrenal burn out causes large quantities of cortisol to be released into your system without DHEA to counteract it. This can cause weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other health problems that can lead to further fatigue.

Adrenal burnout is a very critical concern and can be what causes tiredness to be very extreme and possibly dangerous.

MALNUTRITION

Feeling tiredness after eating can be very common when you do not eat the right kind of food. Eating too many carbohydrates, more than 15 total grams, in your meal can make you feel lethargic for several hours.

Not eating enough protein does not give your body the energy boost it needs to feel awake and alert. Sugary foods can spike your energy followed by a quick and severe crash.

Sometimes it may even be your eating habits that make you feel tired after your meal. If you eat very large portions, it can be difficult for your body to digest it all. This naturally slows down the digestive process and you are not able to receive energy from food as quickly as normal.

If you skip meals or eat starved portions, it can cause your body to begin storing energy. In this case, your body will not release the energy you need to feel awake.

People with good diet habits will typically only feel this tiredness on the rare occasion that they eat a low quality meal. People who are very active, overly stressed, or always “on the go” tend to not eat right and have bad eating habits. Furthermore, they are more likely to do this for many months or even years at a time.

Unfortunately, when you consume a poor diet over a long period you starve your body of the nutrients it needs to function and this can cause chronic, extreme tiredness. A poor diet leads to malnutrition which can result in many severe medical conditions that will zap your energy.

A very common malnutrition based condition that causes severe tiredness is anemia. Put simply, anemia is a lack of iron in your blood which causes a reduction in red blood cells.

Red Blood Cells

Red blood cells carry oxygen and the other vital nutrients your body needs to thrive.

When you have a low red blood cell count and not enough oxygen in your blood, your body is not able to distribute energy and nutrients appropriately.

The energy you need to stay alert is simply not available.

Your muscles will become weaker and weaker, increasing the feeling of fatigue.

A major problem with anemia is that your heart compensates for the lack of red blood cells by increasing output. Your heart must work harder and this can lead to heart failure and other organ problems.

Malnutrition leads to other serious problems that are concerning tiredness causes. People with poor diets are more prone to diabetes. When the blood sugar does not remain constant it can dip and give you that “crashed” feeling.

Diabetics often complain of feeling constantly lethargic, especially when they are not eating right. Malnutrition also deprives your body of vital nutrients needed to keep your organs functioning properly.

For example, when you do not get enough vitamins and minerals in your diet it can cause your thyroid function to become sluggish, resulting in a state of hypothyroidism.

Hypothyroidism can cause severe tiredness that is very difficult to overcome without correcting the thyroid function. There are many other medical conditions which cause extreme tiredness and are the result of malnutrition.

The best way to make sure your tiredness is not caused by malnutrition is to begin regularly eating well balanced meals every day.

NEXT STEPS

As stated in the beginning of this article, tiredness can be caused by very simple things like a lack of adequate sleep. It can be caused by your daily lifestyle, such as not relaxing enough or not getting enough time outside.

In these situations, you can typically study your lifestyle and identify the cause of your fatigue. However, if you have addressed these issues and you are still feeling extremely tired then it may be time to examine your health.

The e-book End Tiredness Program can help you understand more about the many things that cause severe fatigue and how to overcome them. It will help you identify issues you may have with sleeping and lifestyle that are tiredness causes.

More importantly, the End Tiredness Program will teach you techniques and give you advice on improving your overall health to overcome extreme tiredness. You will learn relaxation, organization, and anti stress techniques to help prevent adrenal burnout. You will also learn eating and nutrition tips to help prevent malnutrition related fatigue.

This kind of severe tiredness can very easily be a symptom of a deeper, more troubling health problem. These health problems can cause greater complications as they progress and can even be fatal.

Your excessive fatigue may be your body’s way of sending you a warning that you are in peril. If you want to start feeling alert and wakeful, it is time to make sure your body is as healthy as possible.