How often have you: 

1. Started yawning before lunch 

2. Experienced the afternoon crash 

3. Gotten a boost of energy just as you're about to crawl into bed? 

If you've experienced any of these things before, chances are you have inconsistent energy levels throughout the day.

Now that might seem normal because of how common it is but it really shouldn't be, and there are things that you can do to fix that. 

As always before we give you our solution to the problem let's look at what most people do and why what they do just doesn't work: 

1. They Eat A Big Breakfast First Thing In The Morning

Now we don't think there's anything inherently wrong with eating breakfast itself. It's just the way that most people eat their breakfasts completely messes up their energy levels. 

What does a typical breakfast look like for most people if you're in a westernized country? 

It's going to be some combination of eggs, toast (which is probably going to have some butter on it), maybe you're going to have some hash browns, some deli meat, and possibly some fruit. 

Now if you look at all of the things that we just listed, what's the biggest macronutrient in a typical person's breakfast in a westernized country? 

CARBS! 

The problem with this is that when you consume a large amount of carbs in a relatively short window it's going to spike your blood sugar levels. And none of this is inherently bad by the way, it's just how our bodies work. 

So when your blood sugar levels get spiked you're initially going to experience a boost of energy. So right after you eat a good breakfast you feel like you're ready to attack the day, and we think that's great. 

However, after you get that initial boost of energy you'll notice that eventually you experience a crash usually 1 to 2 hours after your meal. That’s because the larger the spike in your blood sugar levels the lower the crash is going to be. 

It's a concept that we learned of a couple years ago called glycemic variability, and it just describes how your body responds to consuming glucose.

In essence, when your body takes in too many carbs and there's too much glucose circulating in the bloodstream, that it's not going going to use or it doesn't need to use right now, it's going to store it as glycogen in the body.

As a result of you consuming so many carbs in a short window you're going to spike your blood sugar levels, and when the excess sugar needs to be stored because your body isn't going to use it, you’re gonna experience a crash. 

This is when you feel lethargic, fatigued, tired, drowsy - you name it. It's also why many of you are probably yawning before lunch. Eating a heavy breakfast full of carbs is arguably the biggest reason for that, assuming you're sleeping well.

2. Drinking Coffee Too Soon In The Morning

We know coffee-culture is a big part of most people's lives; we're not telling you to quit coffee or caffeine altogether, although it would probably help a lot of people to quit caffeine. 

But, we're not trying to turn this post into an argument to convince you to quit caffeine. However, what we are going to tell you is that the way most people consume caffeine is wrong. 

When most people drink coffee, it’s typically first thing in the morning, or they have it along with their breakfast with all of those carbs.

The problem with consuming caffeine in the morning isn't actually consuming caffeine itself; it has more to do with WHEN you consume the caffeine. 

We don't know if you're familiar with Dr. Andrew Huberman; he runs a podcast called Huberman Lab. It's very popular and we've learned a lot listening to his podcast over the years. 

What we're about to tell you about consuming caffeine is something that we learned from him so if you find this topic interesting, and anything else related to neuroscience in general, we'd highly recommend you check him out. 

Anyways, the problem with the way most people consume caffeine is that they do it too soon in the day. The reason is because there's a chemical in your brain called adenosine that builds up as the day progresses which makes you tired. 

The reason caffeine makes you feel alert and awake is because caffeine is an adenosine antagonist, which basically means that caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors in your brain preventing you from experiencing fatigue.

That's what we call the “caffeine high”. 

The problem is that when you've first woken up there's still some adenosine lingering around in your brain. Hence, your body needs some time to clear that adenosine out so that you can feel fully awake. 

If you think about it, no matter how good of a night's rest you've gotten, you're probably not wide-awake the second you open your eyes.

You probably need some time to get going, and this is the time that a lot of people drink their coffee (and that's a mistake). 

If you're drinking coffee while your body is trying to clear that adenosine from your system, you're basically preventing it from doing so.

This means that as the effects of the caffeine wear off you're going to have a lot of adenosine built-up that hasn't been cleared out by your brain.

As a result, you experience that afternoon crash; you feel super tired, and what does that make you do?

It makes you reach for another cup of coffee, which is probably going to have a negative impact on your sleep because of how long the half-life of caffeine is. 

3. Eating Too Much Processed Food 

Now, we understand that eating processed food is almost unavoidable in most places.

Because unless you're only buying organic food from the farmers's market, or you're growing the food yourself, it's probably been processed to some extent. 

So we understand that it's not feasible for most people to completely avoid processed food. However, you can take steps to reduce the amount of processed food that you're eating.

We know that it's possible because we've done it, and we'll share how you can do it too later in this post.

But for now, let's stick to why this is terrible for your energy levels. The main reasons include: processed foods tend to contain high amounts of sugar, preservatives to extend their shelf life, and they're not satiating at all. 

Most processed foods don’t make you feel full, so you constantly grab for more and more snacks. 

However, eating these processed snacks throughout the day is going to force you to develop a dependence on them to keep consistent energy levels.

Because if you stop consuming all of that sugar, you're going to experience the crash. So all you’re doing by munching on these snacks throughout the day is delaying the crash, typically until the end of the day. 

Now, you might not see that as a problem given that you want to fall asleep then anyways, so being drowsy helps.

And we get where you’re coming from, but the problem lies in the dependence that you have on the snacks to keep you going throughout the day.

It’s not healthy. 

If you think about it, digesting food is a very metabolically-demanding process. And constantly introducing food to your body, not allowing it to rest and recover, isn’t doing you any good. 

And of course, before we wrap this section up, we also need to mention that the preservatives most processed foods contain probably aren’t good for you. 

We don’t have any specific examples to give you right now.

But it goes without saying that the preservatives companies use to artificially extend the shelf-life of their products probably aren’t chemicals you want to be consuming on a regular basis. 

Principles Of A High-Energy Diet

So we've looked at what most people do and why it just doesn't work for their energy levels.

Now, we're going to give you some nutrition principles that everyone at The Healthy Kangaroo follows to have more consistent energy levels throughout the day. 

So let's get started! 

Principle #1: A High Protein Diet (Where You Always Eat Protein First)

Benefits

So there's a couple benefits to this. First, protein is the most satiating macronutrient there is, meaning that it's going to keep you full for longer than nutrients like carbs and fats. 

This will reduce your temptations to snack during the day, thereby decreasing your dependence on snacks to keep consistent energy levels.

Another benefit of maintaining a high protein diet and eating your protein first is that it'll prevent you from overeating for the same reasons.

Because protein is so filling, if you eat it at the beginning of your meal you're less likely to over consume carbs and fats; the kind of tasty food that tends to cause weight gain (because you’re already full from the protein).

Third, protein will not spike your blood sugar levels because relative to other kinds of macronutrients protein does not contain that much glucose.

Protein contains more amino acids, and in fact, part of the reason why it keeps you full for longer is because it requires more energy to break down. 

Your body needs to work harder to digest protein, which means in the process you're actually burning more calories to digest that food.

Again, any kind of digestion is a very metabolically-demanding process, so it's going to take energy for it to occur. 

Obviously you're getting energy out of the food that you're digesting, but the point is that eating a high protein diet is good for a lot of reasons. 

Implementing This

So to get a little bit more practical with this, let's say you have a plate that you're about to fill up with food.

You can divide the plate into portions where one portion is going to be for protein, one portion is going to be for your fats, and one portion is going to be for your carbs.

What we want you to do is make sure that at least 40%  of your plate is protein, making it the biggest portion of your meal. Then, you can divide the remaining 60% into say 30% carbs and 30% fats. 

The point is that you want to make protein the centerpiece of your meal, and you want to eat that part first. So once you're done with your protein, then you can go for your carbs & fats. 

Principle #2: Eat Minimally-Processed Foods

This principle doesn't require much explanation; it's pretty simple. Just eat a potato instead of eating french fries. That's the best explanation we can give you. 

The less processed the food is, the fewer preservatives it's going to contain, the less likely it is to include artificial sugars that spike your blood glucose levels, the fewer calories it's going to have, and the more satiating it tends to be. 

So there are a lot of advantages to eating minimally-processed foods. We're not saying that you need to eat raw potatoes for dinner every single day. You can obviously cook it, put some seasoning on it, etc. 

But the less processed the food is the better it tends to be for you from an energy standpoint and from an overall physical health and well-being standpoint. 

If the potato versus french fries comparison wasn't practical enough, another way to tell if a food is minimally processed or not is whether it has an ingredients list.

Minimally-processed foods typically don't have an ingredients list. 

For example, if you look at a box of cereal you're going to see a bunch of ingredients, half of which you can't pronounce, because it contains a lot of artificial sugars and preservatives.

But if you look at something like broccoli, or carrots, or cauliflower, they don't have any list of ingredients, they're just in their natural state.

That's the kind of food that you want to be eating. 

A great minimally processed meal would look something like: 

• Having about 40% of your plate filled up with lean meat like chicken or turkey that's been seasoned well. 

• Throw in some broccoli, some spinach, and some carrots. 

• On the side you've got a few slices of avocado. 

• And you've got some quinoa or brown rice. 

That right there is a fantastic minimally-processed meal, and it's going to do wonders for both your energy levels and overall health & well-being. 

Principle #3: Backload Your Carbs

So you know how we mentioned that eating a heavy breakfast full of carbs is terrible for your energy levels? 

Well, you can try just avoiding carbs altogether at breakfast, have very few at lunch, and basically get the rest at dinner. That's called backloading your carbs, and there are a few benefits to this.

By avoiding carbs altogether at breakfast you're not going to spike your blood sugar levels in the mornings, which is going to give you very consistent energy levels for that period of time.

Now the reason we say you can introduce some carbs at lunch is because it's pretty impractical to just be eating protein for two meals and then having one normal meal at the end of the day.

But, we encourage you to choose fibrous carbs at lunch as opposed to starchy carbs. 

So choose things like broccoli, carrots, spinach - basically your vegetables, instead of choosing things like rice, quinoa and potatoes.

We’re not saying those foods are bad.

All we’re saying is that they will spike your blood sugar levels, but if you focus on fibrous carbs, which have less glucose when compared to the starchy carbs, you're not going to spike your blood sugar levels as much.

And of course we all know that fiber is good for digestion. Since you're eating a high protein diet, which takes a lot of effort for your body to digest, eating fibrous carbs like veggies will help with that process. 

Now, if you avoid eating carbs throughout the day chances are you're going to need to make up for the calories that you're missing.

Because if you're just getting lean protein and some fat from eggs in the morning and then some chicken and vegetables at lunch, you're probably not getting enough calories. 

So you're going to need to make up for it in order to not lose weight by eating more carbs at dinner.

If you've gotten most of your protein in at breakfast and at lunch, you can reduce your protein-intake at dinner to focus more on starchy carbs.

This is pretty practical for a lot of reasons. For example, when people go out to eat with family and friends, which is an important part of maintaining a healthy social life, it's usually at dinner time.

So making more space for carbs and not having to focus as much on protein is pretty practical from that sense. 

It’s also like a reward for the end of the day where you get to eat more tasty, enjoyable foods because you do need those macronutrients.

But by backloading your carbs, you’re basically delaying the blood sugar spike and the following crash for the evenings. 

Assuming you do most of your work earlier in the day, it's okay for you to be tired as a result of the crash in the evenings because you're going to have to fall asleep a little later anyways. 

Of course, if you're a night owl then this probably isn't the most ideal diet for you because it's not going to be great from an energy level standpoint in your particular case.

So for you guys, you can simply switch the order of it. 

You can get your carbs in at breakfast if you're not going to be very productive in the mornings, and then you can stop eating most of your carbs at lunch, and eat none at dinner.

This will help you be more productive in the evenings, avoiding any blood sugar fluctuations during that time.

Principle #4: Hydrate!

Dehydration will make you lethargic. We don't need to explain to you why dehydration makes you tired. Please drink more water throughout the day. 

A practical tip is to keep a full bottle of water next to you at all times.

Ideally, it's a really fat water bottle that's very noticeable so that you know it's always there. It’ll act as a constant reminder to make sure that you stay well-hydrated throughout the day. 

A good way to tell if you're drinking enough water is the color of your piss.

If your piss is a dark yellow you're probably dehydrated to some extent and you need to be drinking more water. If your piss is a light yellow or almost clear, then you're probably pretty well hydrated.

And if maintaining consistent energy levels isn't enough motivation for you to stay more hydrated throughout the day there are a lot of other benefits to it.

For starters, you're probably going to look better too because hydrating well means your body can flush out toxins more easily. This makes you less likely to develop acne, so your skin is going to look better.

You’re also going to retain less water. The reason is because when your body isn’t getting enough water, it’ll start retaining as much water as possible, which will make you look puffy and bloated. 

Drinking more water is going to have the opposite effect of making you look leaner and more youthful.

So that’s another reason for why you should stay really well hydrated throughout the day.

Of course, as with almost everything in life, don’t overdo it; there is a limit.

Over-hydration is a real thing, so you don’t want to be drinking gallons of water every other hour. 

Principle #5: Try To Eat At The Same Time(s) Every Day

This has a lot of benefits, but the biggest one has to do with your circadian rhythm.

If you think about your sleep schedule, for example, when do you experience the best quality sleep? 

When you go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time.

You might’ve noticed that after a week of having a consistent sleep schedule, you stop needing an alarm to wake up. 

You just start waking up on your own because your circadian rhythm has adjusted to your new routine. 

Just like with your sleep schedule, you can take advantage of your circadian rhythm with your diet as well. 

The reason why an inconsistent sleep schedule is terrible for your sleep is because your body isn't used to waking up at whatever time you get up at, since it's different every single day.

Without consistency, your body can’t prepare to wake up at a given time because it doesn't know when that's going to happen. 

In the same way, if you eat dinner at a different time every day your body's not going to be prepared to digest the food that you're consuming each time you eat dinner because you're not keeping it consistent. 

However, if you ate dinner at the same time every single day your body would eventually get used to the fact that you're eating at that time and it would prepare itself to digest the food that you're about to consume. 

Similar to maintaining a good sleeping schedule, if you've maintained a good eating schedule in the past you probably noticed that you start to get hungry around the times that you usually eat meals. 

That's a signal that your body has prepared itself to digest food, and it's ready for you to consume it. As a result of this preparation, you're not going to have as large of a swing in your energy levels once you’ve eaten. 

So maintaining an overall consistent schedule with your sleep, diet, and exercise, will not only improve your energy levels, but just like all of the other principles, it’ll also improve your overall physical health & well-being. 

Obviously, we know that it's not practical for many people in many different professions to maintain a consistent schedule like this, but do the absolute best that you can! 

That’s A Wrap!

We hope you found this post valuable! 

If you did, then consider sharing this post with someone you think it could help! The bigger our community, the more we can all help each other :) 

Thanks again! 

Your Internet Siblings: The Healthy Kangaroo Team ;)