This week is Thanksgiving in the USA, so today I'm going to answer the most common nutrition question related to Thanksgiving. Does turkey make you sleepy?
We've all experienced it before, eating a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with a generous serving of turkey along with all the other fixings and shortly after feeling like you're ready to pass out on the couch. But is the turkey really to blame?
First of all let's address why everyone thinks turkey makes you sleepy. The reason is somehow turkey has become well known to contain a high amount of the amino acid L-tryptophan, which is associated with making you sleepy because when tryptophan crosses the blood brain barrier it's converted into the neurotransmitter serotonin.
As you may know, serotonin has a sedating effect on the body plus serotonin can further be converted into melatonin which of course is the main hormone that drives sleep. But other high protein foods like chicken, beef, and fish are high in tryptophan as well so if tryptophan was the sole cause of making you sleepy then you would get the same effect after eating any of these other high protein foods.
So why don't you? Because there's one key factor that allows tryptophan to easily cross the blood brain barrier and have this effect of making you feel sleepy, which is, consuming an excess amount of high glycemic carbohydrates like potatoes, yams, stuffing, pie, and other high sugar desserts.
The higher on the glycemic index a carbohydrate is, the higher it elevates blood sugar (1), and the more blood sugar is elevated the more the hormone insulin has to be released to counter and lower blood sugar levels. Also, insulin drives all the other amino acids from the bloodstream except for tryptophan into the muscle cells allowing tryptophan to more easily cross the blood brain barrier.
Now you may be thinking why doesn't tryptophan get driven into the muscle cells like all the other amino acids? The reason is in the bloodstream tryptophan is bound to a protein called albumin which prevents that from happening (2).
On top of this the significant amount of calories we consume at Thanksgiving dinner is also a big reason why we feel sleepy after we eat as a lot of our energy is directed towards digestion. Alcohol can be another reason that you feel sleepy because it is a central nervous system depressant and slows down the brain.
So it's eating an excess amount of high glycemic carbohydrates and overall calories that actually makes you sleepy after that delicious Thanksgiving dinner because of the large fluctuations of blood sugar and the easy transportation of tryptophan across the blood brain barrier. This is also the exact biological process for storing body fat.
So if you want to avoid feeling like you're going to pass out on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner and prevent gaining body fat the key is not to consume an excess amount of high glycemic carbohydrates.
The right amount of carbohydrates per meal can vary quite a bit depending on your size, body type, and activity level but typically it will range from about 40-100 grams per meal or 1-2 hand cup sizes. In this case you can create the opposite effect and allow another amino acid called tyrosine to cross the blood brain barrier which allows for more nor-epinephrine production and simulates the nervous system giving you energy.
Now if you're thinking "John this is great and all but it's Thanksgiving I'm going all out whether it makes me sleepy or not" then let's talk about some things you can do to try and decrease how sleepy you feel and prevent gaining body fat if you know you are going to eat a lot of carbs and calories on Thanksgiving.
There's really not much you can do to prevent feeling sleepy if you're going to eat an excess amount of high glycemic carbs and calories, but if there is one trick that may help it would be adding a one to two teaspoons of cinnamon to your meal and/or dessert as some studies have shown cinnamon acts like the hormone insulin and helps reduce blood sugar levels after a meal (3,4,5,6).
Then in order to prevent gaining body fat either skip or have a small low carb breakfast and save most of your daily calories for the massive thanksgiving dinner and dessert you have planned and do a hard strength training or high intensity interval training workout in the morning like 10-15 sets of 20 seconds of sprinting followed by 40 seconds of rest so you can significantly increase your calorie output for the day and make it less likely for you to get into a calorie surplus and even if you do at least some of that calorie surplus can go towards gaining muscle.
So let me know in the comments below, what's your favorite Thanksgiving food? Ironically enough mine is turkey with gravy on top! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
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References:
1. https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/31/12/2281/24911/International-Tables-of-Glycemic-Index-and
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021925818493532
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9269353/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5220230/
5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29250843/
6. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2020.619782/full
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