Are Carbohydrates Making You Tired?

Have you noticed fatigue or brain fog shortly after eating? An intolerance to certain carbohydrates may be contributing to your symptoms!

Nearly half of the food a typical North American eats comes from carbohydrates. (1) This includes both refined and unrefined carbohydrates.

Unrefined carbohydrates are eaten in their natural form and include:

• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Legumes
• Whole grains

Refined carbohydrates have been processed in some way and include:

• All forms of sugar
• Fruit juices
• Flours, whether they contains gluten or not

While you likely know you should eat more food from the first group, it’s safe to say that for most of us, our carbohydrates have been refined.

Contrast that with your paleolithic ancestors who got about 30% of their calories by eating unrefined carbohydrates.

Could this increase in carbohydrate consumption be causing fatigue?

For those of you unsure what I mean by the typical North American getting half of their calories from carbohydrates, imagine your daily food intake consists of 1700 calories total. Of this, 50% or 850 calories per day come from carbohydrate sources.

Is this too high?

Well, it depends…

Carbohydrates make up less than 5% of calories in traditional Inuit cultures that depend on hunting for survival. However the Kitavan tribe in the South Pacific has ready access to fresh fruits and vegetables, so nearly 70% of their calories come from carbohydrates. (2)

With such vast variations in carbohydrate intake, where do you fit in the spectrum?

Why diets cause fatigue

You are a unique snowflake. Your friend who completely stopped eating carbs while following the ketogenic diet may have amazing amounts of energy – but it may make you exhausted and nauseous. And the high carb diet that gives people the energy to CrossFit five times a week may make others so tired they can barely function.

Diets cause fatigue because they don’t consider you as a unique individual. The only thing diets consider is calories in vs calories out. Diets offer templates – general guidelines to follow. However we need to be cautious to avoid getting trapped in the rules of a particular plan. A proper diet is about far more than calories. It’s about individualized nutrition.

Outside of a high carb or low carb diet is a nutrition plan that is just right for you. This plan will allow you to comfortably achieve your wellness goals and reach your optimum energy levels. However, to develop this nutrition plan you’ll need to do some searching to discover your ideal carbohydrate intake. In this post, I’ll show you how.

Who is this for?

The first step I take to help people overcome fatigue is identifying their ideal, personalized nutrition plan. This plan is unique to the individual, however the general rule with every plan I create is to eat real food. If the food comes in a bag or a box, avoid it. The majority of your groceries should be obtained from the outside perimeter of the grocery store. For the most part, the aisles are home to refined, processed, and packaged foods. For more information on healthy grocery shopping, please see this post.

When creating a personalized nutrition plan, I ensure all of my patients are eating gluten-free and paleo-ish. If you’re not familiar with either of these principles, I go into more detail on the importance of going gluten-free here and why you should move to a more paleo diet here. These diets will help you identify your hidden food sensitivities. If you’re new to the gluten-free and paleo world, I recommend working with a knowledgeable Functional Medicine practitioner who will be able to help.

After removing the foods you’re sensitive to you may find you have already eliminated fatigue. Great news!

However, for others, fatigue persists. Carbohydrate tracking is ideal for those who have symptoms even after changing their diet.

Carbohydrate intake and fatigue

In an incredible study, researchers continuously monitored blood sugar levels in more than 800 participants. Between the participants, more than 46,000 meals were tested to see the effect on each individual’s blood sugar. Through this study, researchers found that the blood sugar reading between individuals varied widely – even if they ate the exact same meal! (3)

In the book Wired To Eat, Robb Wolf cites a study where one participant had a dramatic increase in blood sugar after eating a banana. Yet when this same participant ate a cookie, his blood sugar readings remained stable. The blood sugar readings in another participant were the exact opposite – low blood sugar readings after eating a banana and high blood sugar readings after eating a cookie.

Common knowledge would lead us to believe that bananas are good and cookies are bad. But in this example, bananas would actually contribute more to this individual’s weight gain and fatigue levels than cookies. In theory, this individual could be quite healthy if he avoided bananas and ate cookies (in moderation, of course). I know this is an extreme example but it illustrates my point: a personalized approach to nutrition needs to be put in place.

Have you ever been hangry (hungry + angry) before?

This comes from a rapid drop in blood sugar levels. This phenomenon is called rebound hypoglycemia. This drop in blood sugar usually happens after you’ve eaten something that caused a big spike in your blood sugar levels. Large fluctuations in blood sugar are likely to make you very tired. Insulin (the blood sugar hormone) also has a close relationship with cortisol (the stress hormone). Unstable blood sugar readings could be the main contributor to your exhaustion. For more information on blood sugar’s effect on fatigue, check out this blog post.

The best way to figure out your ideal carbohydrate intake is through monitoring your blood sugar. This way, you’ll identify the type and quantity of foods that contribute to fatigue, stomach pain, and other unwanted symptoms.  I’ll tell you how to do this below.

How to track your carbohydrates to alleviate fatigue

In order to perform this test, you will need to obtain a blood glucose monitor. This is the same device that diabetics use and can be purchased at a pharmacy without a prescription. I recommend the freestyle lite glucometer, though any glucometer will do the job. Next, you’ll need an app to track your meals and blood sugar readings. Something like My Fitness Pal  works perfectly.

Testing will need to be done at breakfast. The first meal of the day allows you to start with a clean slate. You will need to be consistent with your coffee or water intake too – if you’re going to drink coffee before or after performing the test, you’ll need to drink the same type and amount of coffee each day in order to keep the variables consistent. Please keep your coffee black with no milk or sugar as they will influence your readings. Keep water intake consistent as well.

Step 1:

Eat 50g of carbohydrates of the food you want to test. This is the number of carbohydrates found in the given food, not the weight of the food itself. According to My Fitness Pal, two slices of toast with butter contains 56g of carbohydrates – so you would need to eat less than two slices.

This is your breakfast. On testing days, do not eat any other food until you’re finished testing.

Step 2:

Wait two hours. Then, check your blood sugar with your glucometer.

You’d like to see your blood sugar readings somewhere between 5.0 mmol/L (90 mg/dl) and 6.3 mmol/L (115 mg/dl).

If your reading is higher than the above-recommended range, retest your blood sugar the next day. This time, use 25g of the same carbohydrate (half the amount). If your blood sugar still remains high, you should avoid this particular food as it creates an imbalance in your blood sugar.

I recommend comparing the blood sugar reading with how you feel after eating the food in question. Often, foods that exert a large effect on our blood sugar will also make us feel off – tired, bloated, foggy. But that’s not always the case. So pay close attention to joint pain, itchy skin, irritability or any other unusual symptoms.

Below, I’ll give you a list of the carbohydrates and the quantity you’ll need to consume of each. Please note that the quantity recommendations are cooked weights. I recommend starting with the foods you suspect are causing symptoms.

• White rice (1.14 cups or 180g) and brown rice (1.03 cups, 210g) – ensure you test these separately
• Oats (2.1 cups or 485g)
• Quinoa (1.47 cups or 275g)
• Gluten-free bread (or regular bread if you’re not on team gluten-free) (3.5 pieces or 120g)
• Lentils (2.18 cups or 430g)
• Beans (test different types of beans on different days)
• White potatoes (2 cups or 250g)
• Sweet potatoes (1.45 cups or 290g)
• Squash (test different types)
• Beets (3.7 cups or 630g)
• Fruits (bananas, apple, mango, berries, melons)

Ok, there it is, your next step towards regaining your energy – personalizing your nutrition plan.

Now, I want to hear from you!

What foods make you feel tired?

Looking for more information? Check out our other blog posts about gluten.