Is it the overconsumption of calories? Or is it that fast food is t very nutritionally dense. Also if I overate healthy food would I still feel bad afterwards?
It’s called alcaline tide. Foods rich on fats and carbs need more gastric acid to be digested, when parietal cells produce gastrc acid, bicarbonate is produced as a byproduct and gets into the bloodstream, this raises blood pH which causes those feelings of slugginesh and sleepynes.
Processing sugar in the body drains vital minerals such as magnesium and potassium that must be replenished along with increased demand for water to process the sugars. Also caffeine and carbonated drinks deplete magnesium and potassium at a faster rate from the body. So have a burger with fries skip the soda and McFlurry. And since you may already be deficient in these minerals to begin with(98% of the population is), the consumption of sugar and soda exacerbates the symptoms.
Keeping your electrolytes up is key to feeling good and energetic.
There are probably a variety of reasons. Eating lots requires energy to digest so it may be that simple. It might be due to the fact they cause spikes in insulin.
Refined carbs spike blood glucose leading to spikes in insulin which leads to low blood glucose levels. So this low level of blood glucose would make you feel sluggish.
Post prandial somulance.
It’s basically TEF. Thermic effect of food. The more calories you eat at any meal the higher this effect is. It’s the same reason everyone wants to take a nap at Thanksgiving.
What makes you feel crap is the Shame from making such a terrible decision…….🤣😅😂
My family gets fast food “ mcdonalds every weekend, I ask to go to subway or tims for their soup!! & ask for extra salt n pepper & its delish!
Ps, I hate how they took salads from McDonalds because of covid!
Saturated fat from oil, too much sodium, a lot of carbohydrate, little fibre.. all that together make you feeling like you shouldn’t have eaten. You do that to your body enough, you put yourself at greater risk for western diseases such as obesity, diabetes, HBP, or high cholesterol.
When you have a large meal it activates your parasympathetic nervous system more than a regular sized meal, an overactive psns leads to drowsiness, tears, high peristalsis (?? English ??), It explains all the food coma symptoms.
It has a fancy name, postprandial somnolence. This is of course in healthy people, sugar, insulin METS as an answer is for sick people(huge amount of people have METS). Who has an impaired metabolic system that can’t correctly respond to ppa glucose/lipids.
With healthy foods, like say you make a huge salad, theoretically it would be possibly to induce according to science. But it’s calorie density is so low in practice it would be extremely hard.
For me? Gluten. Anything bread/breading/pasta/ soy sauce related usually messes with my system. This is due to thyroid issues and an autoimmune disease. I get super exhausted without treatment and remaining gluten free.
That immediate feeling caused by inflammation in our digestive track, and that secondary and long bad feeling caused by that food u confumed taking havoc on anti-oxidants roaming in ur bloodstream due to free radicals and pro-oxidatives come with that food. Its advised to consume meat and fried foods with a lot of plants rich in antioxidants.
Energy it takes to process + all the chemicals added to preserve/make food “taste” yummy. Its truly poison and if you do research on some of the chemicals you would be surprised what the FDA deems as safe, its quite disgusting.
Anecdotally, I have been cutting down on carb consumption and eating clean. I’ve felt great.
This weekend I fell off the wagon somewhat and instantly felt crappy.
I really think an excess of carbs causes the sluggishness.
Could be because of tryptophan. I guess it can make you sleepy because melatonin comes from it, which is a sleep hormone? Can be found in chicken, turkey, cheese, bread and other stuff. So fast food like fried chicken or a cheeseburger contain lots of tryptophan which might make you sluggish/drowsy/sleepy? Milk is also high in tryptophan which is why some people say you should drink a glass of (warm) milk if you have trouble sleeping.
Just a guess, but when you throw a bunch of chemicals, your liver basically gets pissed. It’s way more than just a detox organ, it controls a large portion of your metabolism/hormonal profile.
And the effect of general gut irritation on your brain/nervous system/immune system. They all interact with each other.
EDIT: Yes, I’m talking about specific chemicals. I dont have time to list all of the preservatives, pesticides, fillers, food coloring etc. Jesus.
I think one part of this is the contents of the food(fast food is terrible for you). But another part is the guilt. Emotions have a great effect on the body, for example, anxiety gives you a headache and upset stomach. Guilt, from what I’ve experienced, always gives me a headache, pressure behind the eyes, and just like anxiety, an upset stomach. It’s actually a very interesting concept, but the guilt of eating bad food can have an effect on you, even physically!
I don’t know for sure I can only say what I feel it did for me. I think it was spiking and crashing my blood sugar. So it was two fold: it made me feel crappy with the swings in blood sugar and it led to intense cravings because of the swings. Now that I’m not eating low glycemic index foods I feel much better. I feel overall stable.
I did a super low-fat diet for a while on my doctor’s orders, I was eating around 4-10 g fat total per day. I noticed I really quickly stopped sleeping through the night, and would wake after about 4 hours.
I asked my doctor and he asked if I was tired. I said no, and he said it was fine. He explained processing fat is hard on our bodies.
I generally still eat low fat but not that low anymore and I need much less sleep than I used to.
Its definitely the sugar, greases/fats, n simple carbohydrates. Overconsumption of calories don’t help, of course, but over eating healthy food feels better on the body because you’re actually getting nutrients. But honestly? Really hard to overdo healthy foods, especially in terms of fruits and veggies.
Everybody’s covering sugar, but I don’t see any comments about sodium, so I’ll throw that in the replies, too. I think the main thing it does short term is raise blood pressure, but that’s another pretty big effect on how you feel immediately after eating something like McDonald’s.
Maybe this can help. There are 3 types of food. (1) Fresh fruit & vegetable. (2) Slightly processed, salt + milk = cheese, or stuff you cook with oil.(3) The worst of the lot is Ultra processed food, which basically is designed to give the brain an orgasim, so the brain becomes rewired to never feel satisfied, and craves more food.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/27/what-are-we-feeding-our-kids-review-a-junk-food-expose-that-will-leave-you-feeling-queasy-bbc“The specialists explain the hormonal signals that tell us when we feel full, the brain mechanisms involved in eating and, crucially, how little research has been done into the effects of the very new, profoundly different kinds of food we have started putting into our bodies over the past few decades.
The good doctor goes on a four-week diet that matches that of 20% of the population, containing 80% ultra-processed food”
Van Tulleken’s eyes glaze over with happiness, even as he reads up on the endless research by industrialised-food companies and the precision engineering behind “hyperpalatability”, “mouthfeel” and “bliss points”. Unable to stop eating the deliciousness even when he wants to, he begins to realise that we are all essentially self-feeding foie gras geese at the mercy of big salt/sugar/fat comestible blends.
In essence, it is hard to overeat natural foods for long. With processed stuff, you can do it within six chicken nuggets. Its ability to bypass the gut/brain messaging service is remarkable and still fundamentally unexplained. The brain changes revealed by Van Tulleken’s post-diet MRI – lit up like an addict’s – are significant enough to be published and may yet secure Prof Batterham funding to investigate further.”
It might cause a higher inflammatory response in some people; spikes in levels of c-reactive protein are associated with exactly the combination of fat, salt, sugar and carbs found in virtually any fast food meal.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3833870/#:~:text=Diets%20high%20in%20dietary%20fiber,hypothesized%20to%20elevate%20CRP%20levels.
My guess is it is typically a combination of heavily refined carbohydrates along with foods cooked in rancid seed oils like soy and canola. Those oils can do a number on your digestion and cause all sorts of inflammation throughout your body.
If you were to try and overeat healthy food, like meat, whole leafy green veggies, and tubers, you wouldn’t be able to. You would feel full and stop eating, feel great, and continue on with your day.
If i eat mcdonalds or wtv like that my stomach acids go crazy. That’s how i got a gastritis.
It feels like my insides are burning like hell. Idk why maybe bc its fried food…. Idk but im scared to eat it
Depending what our definitions of “healthy food” are, healthy food isn’t going to be filled with the excess fats, carbs, salts and whatever fillers, preservatives and other additives these fast food restaurants use in their “food.” When eating fast food it’s safe to assume you’re eating the worst sources of cheap, hormone filled, antiobiotic laced meat that has been processed terribly and in gross conditions on top of that. Your body is going to be processing so many extra additives in a McDonald’s burger as opposed to a fresh cut of beef on a non processed bun without Dehydrated preservative filled onions, etc.
The most common reason for sluggishness is postprandial somnolence/fatigue aka “food coma” aka “the itis.” With meal consumption, you actually release serotonin and even some melatonin which will lead to less wakefulness or sluggishness. Diabetics may have a stronger effect of sluggishness. Other disease states may also contribute to a ton of things that will lead to discomfort, fatigue, indigestion and more.
The comments in this sub are outrageously different from one another and we appear to have listed so many nutrients of suspect already.
Some people may have special circumstances/reactions so they very well may all be valid answers—keep that in mind. One of my patients just found in her retirement that she is allergic to wheat.
definitely not the calories you can eat or drink twice the cals of junk and feel fine if its clean food. its the bad stuff like sodium ,excessive salt/sugar, artificial additive/preservatives. Theres also little or no nutrients so you dont feel fulfilled cause your not getting what you need to function.
also an interesting short doc on youtube explained how eating junk food actually makes the feel hungry chemical go up and the feel full chemical go down (why its hard to quit)
To put it simply, the liver gets overwhelmed due to lack of fibres as the food starts to get absorbed straight away in the duodenum and nothing else passes to the large intestine. Consuming fibers along with your fast food of choice will minimise this effect.