It’s a feeling all high performers are unfortunately very familiar with, that mid-morning energy crash. The one where you’re sitting at your desk and your eyelids start to fall. It’s hard to concentrate on any one thing. Your brain becomes foggy and “connections” just aren’t being made. The only thing you want to do is head to the kitchen and grab a coffee, or another donut. This familiar episode is a productivity-killer, and your frustration rises almost as quickly as your energy falls whenever you experience it.
Although it seems as though this experience is a normal side effect of early hours and hard work, it’s actually completely avoidable. This mid-morning crash can be completely bypassed by simply consuming a better breakfast. Yep, you heard that right. Breakfast has often been called the most important meal of the day, and when it comes to your work performance, I would have to argue that it is! Consuming the right foods will leave you feeling energized throughout the day, with sharp focus and clear thinking. By simply switching up your morning meal, you’ll be able to catapult your daily productivity, crossing way more tasks off your to-do list than ever before. In this post, I’ll talk about why the mid-morning crash happens, and I will offer some easily implementable tips to help you Build your Best Breakfast to keep you full and focused through lunch (and beyond!).
Why Do We Crash?
The typical American breakfast is extremely high in sugar. Just go take a look at the go-to breakfast staples in your fridge and cabinet. 1 serving of Honey Nut cheerios contains 9g, 1 serving of original Yoplait yogurt contains 22g, 1 Starbucks Blueberry muffin contains 30g, even a “healthy” Nature Valley granola bar contains 12g. And let’s not forget the liquid we use to wash these foods down! 1 serving of Tropicana orange juice has 34g of sugar, 1 serving of Great Value apple juice has 28g, and a Venti Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks tops our list with 42g.
So what? It has sugar, doesn’t sugar give me energy? It’s true that the brain utilizes glucose (the “broken down” form of sugar and carbohydrates in the body) as fuel. In fact, the brain uses 100mg of glucose per minute to fuel its energy (Bourre, 2006). However, that’s only if this glucose is able to be utilized appropriately by the brain and body. When we eat sugar or anything with refined carbohydrates, our blood sugar spikes drastically. The body doesn’t like this elevated blood sugar, so in an effort to get back to homeostasis, the pancreas secretes a large amount of the hormone called insulin. Insulin’s job is to take the glucose from the blood and shuttle it into cells where it will either be used for energy or stored as fat. Under normal circumstances when we’ve eaten a meal lower in carbohydrates and sugar, this mechanism works well for us and our performance. However, when we’ve consumed a large amount of carbohydrates and sugar, we can experience what’s called reactive hypoglycemia (Nguyen et al., 2018), or a blood sugar “crash.” Along with our blood sugar, our energy crashes as well. We might start to experience exhaustion, hunger, or brain fog (NIDDK, 2021).
One study found that participants who consumed a meal of pure carbohydrates (similar to the breakfast cereals and orange juice mentioned above) had a higher level of fatigue 2-4 hours after their meal when compared to a group who ate a meal consisting mainly of fat (Pharr, 2010). In fact, in the carbohydrate group, the level of fatigue increased 100%! Another study found that the greater the amount of carbohydrates consumed at breakfast, the greater the rating of being tired was reported up to 80 minutes after eating (Nabb & Benton, 2006).
Building Your Best Breakfast to Avoid the Crash
So obviously, the content of your breakfast can be the cause or the cure for this infamous crash. And I know what you’re thinking, “if I can’t have the typical breakfast foods what in the world will I eat?!” Fear not. The following tips will help you to Build your Best Brain Boosting Breakfast.
- Start the day with protein & fat: I know this is sorta contrary to what we typically think of as breakfast, but proteins and fats have a small effect on blood glucose levels, helping you to maintain more stable blood sugar throughout the day. In fact, studies have shown that breakfasts higher in protein, fats, and fiber (see below) can be protective against fatigue (Pharr, 2010)!
- Eat plenty of fiber: hypoglycemia can be avoided by consuming carbohydrates that have low glycemic insulin indexes and whose breakdown into the bloodstream is slow (Bourre, 2006). This tends to include foods that are higher in fiber. Think: non-starchy veggies (yes! They can be considered a breakfast food!), low GI fruit, nuts and seeds. Breakfast salad anyone?!
- Engage in physical activity before breakfast: if you simply can’t live without your morning cereal and OJ, try getting your workout in before breakfast. After physical activity, your muscles will soak up glucose in the blood without needing as much insulin to be secreted (Richer & Hargreaves, 2013). This may reduce the chance of experiencing the blood sugar crash as a result of increased insulin production that happens when we typically consume these types of foods.
- DIY your cup of joe: as we saw above, sweetened coffee that is commonly sold at popular coffee shops can be PACKED with sugar, and may be at the bottom of our energy crash (pun intended). Now I’m not suggesting you drink black coffee as that might be a little ridiculous (and I’m sure would lose me a few followers). However, you can make your own coffee at home and sweeten it with a more natural sweetener like stevia or monk fruit. These are 0 calorie sweeteners that have no impact on blood sugar (Ajami et al., 2020, Zhou et al., 2009) ! Thus, helping us to avoid the spike and crash morning rollercoaster.
Imagine how much more you could get done daily if you didn’t spend your morning crashing after your high-carb breakfast! Try out these tips to Build your Best Breakfast so you can experience an entire day full of sustained energy, sharp focus, clear memory, and improved productivity. Let me know what your favorite Brain Boosting breakfast food is in the comments below!
References
Ajami M, Seyfi M, Abdollah pouri Hosseini F, Naseri P, Velayati A, Mahmoudnia F, Zahedi M, Hajifaraji M. Effects of stevia on glycemic and lipid profile of type 2 diabetic patients: A randomized controlled trial. Avicenna J Phytomed, 2020; 10(2): 118-127.
Bourre, J. M. (2006a). EFFECTS OF NUTRIENTS (IN FOOD) ON THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM: UPDATE ON DIETARY REQUIREMENTS FOR BRAIN. PART 2 : MACRONUTRIENTS. The Journal of Nutrition, Health, and Aging, 10(5), 386–399.
Nabb, S; Benton, D. (2006). The Effect of the Interaction Between Glucose Tolerance and Breakfasts Varing in Carbohydrate and Fiber on Mood and Cognition. Nutrition Neuroscience. 9, 161- 168.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (2021, December 9). Low Blood Glucose (Hypoglycemia). https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/preventing-problems/low-blood-glucose-hypoglycemia
Nguyen, Q., Pandya, S., Chin, K., & Parkin, C. G. (2018). Use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Detecting Reactive Hypoglycemia in Individuals Without Diabetes. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, 12(6), 1244–1245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1932296818777273
Pharr, Jennifer R. (2010) “Carbohydrate Consumption and Fatigue: A Review,” Nevada Journal of Public Health: Vol. 7 : Iss. 1 , Article 6.
Richter, E. A., & Hargreaves, M. (2013). Exercise, GLUT4, and Skeletal Muscle Glucose Uptake. Physiological Reviews, 93(3), 993–1017. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00038.2012
Zhou, Y., Zheng, Y., Ebersole, J., & Huang, C. F. (2009). Insulin secretion stimulating effects of mogroside V and fruit extract of luo han kuo (Siraitia grosvenori Swingle) fruit extract.. Yao xue xue bao = Acta pharmaceutica Sinica, 44(11), 1252–1257.