Christian Baker, a professional speaker and nutritional specialist, explains the reason behind the afternoon slump and shares effective tips on how to avoid it.
I jerked my head upright a split second before it hit the table. That was the 5th time now.
I really, truly wanted to listen and learn to the great info that was coming my way but it just wasn't happening. I was fading fast.
I was suffering from the extreme amount of work I had put in over the previous month but I was also certain that my afternoon fatigue had something to do with the lunch I had consumed just 1 hour earlier: a big plate of carbs with minimal protein and fat.
This fun little situation happened just over 6 years ago when my brother and I were being trained up by the finest minds in nutrition this country has to offer in order to help us become the first Australian store owners of the world's biggest nutrition and health food chain.
I've since solved my fatigue problems and these days I rarely slow down to sit let alone have a micro-sleep like I used to.
What I described above, however, is unfortunately very common in today's world.
With crazy work schedules, fitness regimes, family time, social time and god forbid: some alone time to unwind, it's no surprise that we live in such a fatigued society.
There are many causes and many solutions, many of which are addressed in our previous blog posts. But for today's post we are going to focus on one thing: the dreaded Afternoon Slump.
A sudden drop in energy levels and focus at this time of day can negatively impact your productivity, reduce your desire to exercise in the evening and give you some serious carb cravings for your next meal.
A high protein and moderate to high fat lunch = stronger afternoon energy levels and less chance of the 3pm slump.
Now, this is not a small amount of food and if most people were to eat this all at once they would most likely feel a little bloated.
But, right now I feel damn good and I'm powering through this blog post. A blog post which I started shortly after... 3pm.
Firstly I chose the above meal because it is:
I ate this all at once, but only after I had eaten the carrot and celery sticks first and waited around 15 minutes.
Apart from being delicious, crunchy snacks, I have included these as my entree to help stimulate digestion and help me to process my main meal better.
Raw veggies contain enzymes which help improve the digestive process, carrots being an excellent example of this. Low temperature cooking started to trend a while back because it potentially stops the complete destruction of the enzymes naturally present in foods. Granted we have other reasons for cooking food like hygiene and palatability.
And both of these veggies, celery in particular, contain a type of fibre which is loved by the good bacteria that live in your digestive system so not only am I improving my digestion today but I'm also helping to strengthen it for tomorrow and beyond.
The whole waiting 15 minutes thing is because I want to give the enzymes a chance to get in there and do their thing before I eat the rest of my food.
Now, I could go on forever about the methods behind my madness but instead I would like to give you a fun exercise to try yourself:
Next time you're feeling hungry, go and eat a carrot and wait just a little longer before eating your main meal and see what happens.
Let me know how you go in the comments section below.
Ok, so to sum all of this up: to prevent the 3pm slump, your choice of foods matter and the order of consumption matters.
To give yourself the best chance of avoiding the 3pm slump, do the following:
And that's it.
If you're struggling with the 3pm slump, please give the above strategies a try and see how you feel.
Until next time
Live with energy
Christian Baker
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