How to Get Out of a Food Coma
Well, you did it. You went and ate yourself to a food coma. Your belly appears to be overstretched and you can barely move your limbs. Without a doubt, the ideal solution is to drift off to tryptophan-induced sleep until this is over. But since the pleasure of a gastronomic eclipse isn’t always an option – your family is pushing for holiday charades, or your friends don’t feel like wearing your limp body all night – What’s Plan B?
You probably already suspect that the answer to this question has to do with the movement of your body. And you hope this is not the only answer.
But first, it might help you find out what’s really going on down there. To find out, we spoke with Dr. Satish Rao, director of the Department of Neurogastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Motility, August University. “This is interesting,” he begins. Food coma is a very American term. It is not used anywhere else in the world. ” Sorry, my fellow Americans. Oh, annoyance. Dr. Rao says three factors contribute to this unique physiological experience.
“First, you steal blood from the rest of your body and funnel it into your intestines to help metabolize food.” He compares this to when you exercise, where the blood in your body is directed to your muscles, heart and lungs to better oxygenate your blood and nourish your muscles. “The opposite happens when your stomach is full,” says Dr. Rao. Blood from other parts of the body, including the brain, travels to the intestines to keep it active.
But lethargy is not only caused by the accumulation of blood. Just like when you exercise and release the systemic hormones endorphin and enkephalin, your gut releases these and other hormones such as somatostatin and YY peptide when you eat a lot. Instead of getting high on the runner, they relax you. “They keep you quiet, and they also slow down stomach motility and emptying, thereby prolonging the feeling of fullness,” says Dr. Rao. Basically, this body is trying to buy more time to digest food. The intestines also produce the local hormone ghrelin, which stimulates hunger. When you eat a lot, your ghrelin levels drop and you lose your tendency to eat more. Combined, the effects of hormones and blood theft are almost like a “do not disturb” sign for your body and its digestive system.
Finally, when we eat too much, it is most often foods that are high in fat and / or sugar. After all, not many of us eat salad too hard. According to Dr. Rao, fat interferes with gastric emptying. “The higher the fat content, the slower the stomach empties,” he says. In fact, a small amount of fat is released into the intestines, where it sends a signal to the stomach to slow down the breakdown process using the YY peptide. This means you will stay full longer and will prevent you from eating more. A temporary imbalance between insulin and blood glucose may also contribute to this effect. It is a protective chain reaction with many moving parts that gives your body time to calibrate and return to rest. Once your food has completely disintegrated and left the stomach, and hormones have returned to their original level and the blood returns to other organs, you can finally get out of the food coma. “All of this takes time,” says Dr. Rao.
So you should just stay away from your body and gently walk into this coma of good food until it’s gone (so to speak), right? Well, you can, but not necessarily. Dr. Rao and two nutritionists recommended the same medication, and yes, this is something you knew about but didn’t want to hear.
“After you’re done eating, take a 15-minute (or longer) walk,” advises Paul Salter, Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Editor at Bodybuilding.com . “Walking after meals increases the time it takes for food to pass through the digestive system and helps lower blood glucose levels because more glucose is absorbed by your hormones.” He also recommends drinking water throughout the day to help improve the functioning of the digestive system.
Moderate exercise will also completely redirect blood supply from the intestines to the muscles, says Hawley Almstedt, nutritionist and professor of health and human services at Loyola Marymount University. And exercise will counteract the hormones that cause sleepiness. “Even a little activity activates the fight-or-flight branch of the nervous system, making us feel more energized in a few minutes,” says Almstedt.
Dr. Rao agrees with the walking strategy for the same reasons. Plus, there are a few other things you can do. Papaya contains enzymes that help break down food and move faster. You can take papaya enzymes in capsules or even eat some of the fruit itself. Hot coffee will also stimulate stomach emptying like tea, albeit to a lesser extent. And chili has the same stimulating effect. So maybe have an espresso with dessert and then take a walk in the fresh air.
So yes, the answer is to do what you least want to do at the moment. It really boils down to what makes you least uncomfortable – feeling a stuffy nose or getting up and taking a walk. Do this step by step. Get on your feet, take your coat, shout to the nearest person to come out with you on the street. Hell, maybe getting to the door will be enough to improve your digestion. Probably not, but once you get to that, you can keep going. You swear you’ll never eat that much again, do you? Of course, keep moving while you tell yourself that.