You've had lunch, opened your laptop again, and really, you should be able to power through with energy. Except your body apparently has other plans.
Your eyes get heavy, concentrating gets harder, and somewhere between 3 and 4pm that desk drawer suddenly starts looking suspiciously tempting. Chocolate? A biscuit? Coffee number four?
Online, this quickly gets called a blood sugar dip. An energy dip after eating can have several causes. What and how much you eat can play a role, but so can your sleep, movement, stress, eating rhythm, and simply the normal course of your energy throughout the day.
So before we banish every carbohydrate from the kitchen cupboard: let's first look at what's actually happening in your body.
What happens to your blood sugar after eating?
When you eat carbohydrates, your body breaks most of them down into glucose during digestion. That glucose is absorbed into your blood and can then be used as fuel.
That's where your pancreas comes in. When the amount of glucose in your blood rises, your pancreas releases insulin, among other things. Think of insulin as a kind of key: it helps glucose move from your blood into your body's cells, where it can be used for energy.
A rise in your blood sugar isn't a bad thing
A whole culture of fear has sprung up online around blood sugar. You eat a banana and someone on Instagram practically draws a flashing red light next to it. But your blood sugar is supposed to rise after you eat carbohydrates. In healthy people, the body then regulates glucose levels back down again with the help of insulin.¹
So where does that energy dip come from?
Say your breakfast or lunch mainly consists of easily digestible carbohydrates.
A plain white roll with little on top. A sugary drink alongside it, and a few biscuits because you didn't really have time for lunch.
Carbohydrates differ in how quickly they're digested and absorbed. The composition of a food or meal also plays a role — fibre, for example, can slow down the absorption of carbohydrates.
That's why it's better to look at a complete meal than at a single food. A sandwich isn't just a sandwich.
What's on it? Wholegrain or white? Do you have something alongside it? How big is your meal? And maybe more importantly: did you actually have lunch at 12:30, or did your 'lunch' consist of two bites between Teams meetings? No amount of chia seeds in the world can fix that one.
Not every afternoon slump is a blood sugar dip
Feeling tired after eating doesn't automatically mean your blood sugar is dangerously low. In healthy people, the body normally keeps blood glucose within a certain range. That doesn't mean you're imagining your energy dip, of course.
You can absolutely feel tired, hungry, weak or less focused. But there can be a lot more behind that. Maybe you slept five hours last night. Maybe you've barely eaten since 7am. Maybe you've been at your desk for six hours straight. Maybe your lunch was simply too small. I'd rather look at the whole landscape around your complaint.
What can you try yourself for an energy dip after eating?
Before you decide you can never look at a carbohydrate again: start with the basics.
- Give a meal more substance. Combine your carbohydrates with a protein source, fibre-rich foods and, if you like, some fat. Think wholegrain bread with egg and vegetables, or yoghurt with oats, fruit and nuts.
- Choose fibre-rich carbohydrate sources more often. Think wholegrain bread, oats, wholewheat pasta, legumes, vegetables and fruit. Fibre has several health benefits and can help carbohydrates get absorbed more gradually, among other things.
- Look at your eating rhythm. If you structurally go hours without eating and then start your next meal ravenous, it can be worth exploring whether a different rhythm suits you better. That doesn't automatically mean breakfast > snack > lunch > snack > dinner — not every body or every schedule needs the same pattern.
- Get up from that chair for a bit. A short walk after lunch doesn't have to be a full workout. Sometimes ten minutes outside is already a nice break from hours of sitting.
- And look beyond your plate. If you're sleeping too little every night, we don't need to spend three weeks first debating the glycaemic index of your banana. Health is made up of more than nutrition alone.
So should you eat fewer carbohydrates?
No. Carbohydrates aren't intruders. They provide glucose, an important energy source for your body and, among other things, your brain. I don't want you to become afraid of bread, pasta, potatoes or rice. I want you to learn to understand what they do and how you can use them. We can look, for example, at the type of carbohydrate you choose, how much you eat, what you combine it with, and how that fits into the rest of your day. You don't have to chop down the tree because one branch is growing crooked.
Sometimes the solution is surprisingly simple. And sometimes we need to dig a little deeper. But the core message for carbohydrates always stays the same. No fear of sugar. No war with carbohydrates. And absolutely no life spent chasing a sandwich with a glucose monitor because TikTok said it causes a spike.
When is it wise to see your GP?
An afternoon slump after lunch is one thing. Persistent or severe symptoms are another.
Do you regularly experience symptoms like intense shaking, sweating, dizziness, fainting, or other symptoms that worry you about your blood sugar? Or have you measured abnormal glucose values? Discuss this with your GP. Especially where diabetes may be a possibility, diagnosis belongs with a doctor.
- Voedingscentrum (Netherlands Nutrition Centre) — Carbohydrates — https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/encyclopedie/koolhydraten.aspx