Wonder Bread Made Me Sleepy
When I was high school I loved Wonder Bread. This had to be some of the softest and best tasting bread I had ever eaten…
I had a daily little routine when I got home from school that revolved around my favorite bread. I would eat 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, drink a glass of grape juice, and sleep for about 2 hours.
What was really odd was that I wasn’t particularly tired when I got home. I was only in high school, how stressful could that be.
It wasn’t until I was in college listening to a lecture in biology class that I figured out what was going on.
Turns out that I was literally eating myself to sleep.
What I learned that day was that there are 2 types of carbohydrates: simple carbs (sugar, cakes, white bread, fruit juice) and complex carbs (vegetables, fruit, brown rice, beans).
The characteristic that drastically makes the 2 different is their effect on your blood sugar level. Simple carbs are digested quickly in your body and gives you an instant spike in your blood sugar level. Complex carbs are digested slowly and gradually raise your blood sugar level.
In my case my blood sugar level was instantly sent higher than the empire state building. Just think, four pieces of white bread, peanut butter with sugar added, jelly with lots of sugar added, and a big glass of grape juice.
Well anyway your body likes your blood sugar level to say within a certain range and when it starts creeping over that range it signals insulin to come to the rescue.
Insulin works to bring your blood sugar back down to normal.
My afternoon snack sent my levels so high that large amounts of insulin were released and brought my blood sugar down a lot lower than they were when I first arrived home causing me to become very sleepy.
A better choice for an afternoon snack would have been to eat an apple and some peanuts (complex carbs combined with protein), and maybe I would have gotten more homework done.
Tony specializes in using combat conditioning exercises to help you improve your strength, flexibility, and endurance. You can find more tips at www.MyrmidonsFitness.com
