You’re working out. You’re sleeping eight hours. But for whatever reason, you still feel tired, sluggish, and cranky. What gives?
According to nutritionist Ángela Quintas it all comes down to what you’re eating—and, more specifically, how it impacts your insulin. “Food is our fuel,” she explains. “If we make the wrong food decisions, we will be tired. We will have headaches and joint aches; we will constantly crave sweets.”
She has a point. For as often as we blame our health on the stress of our demanding routines, few of us ever consider the impact of the foods we eat. “We must be thoughtful about our daily diets,” Quintas warns. “Think about foods that nourish you.”
The myth of the slow metabolism
Of all the complaints that Quintas hears in her office, a “slow metabolism” might be the most frequent. However, Quintas says this is rarely the sole issue. “We look for external causes to our problems, when the truth is that we can do a lot to improve with a change of habits,” she explains.
To that end, we should consider how what we eat influences our metabolism. Quintas defines metabolism as “all the chemical reactions that occur in each of the cells” and says that to keep our energy in an optimal state, we must first consider our basal metabolism—the energy our body uses on involuntary functions like the heartbeat and breathing while at rest and not digesting. “It depends directly on your muscle mass: the more muscle mass, the better the basal metabolism, so it is crucial to take care of it,” Quintas says.
Knowing this, she says we should focus on working out, staying active, and increasing our protein intake to provide the amino acids that our muscles need. Then, we should manage stress because high cortisol levels can cause our body to use that muscle mass as a source of energy instead of fat.
The influence of insulin
Another of the great myths she encounters? The idea that we must eat mostly fruits and vegetables if we want to balance our metabolisms: “Wrong,” she says. “If we do that, our insulin can peak just before bed.”
Insulin is the hormone that is in charge of managing glucose in the blood. It also plays a central role in fat storage. “When we have more glucose than we need, insulin helps convert it into fat for storage,” Quintas explains. The problem comes when we develop insulin resistance—or, put another way, when our body’s cells become less sensitive to this hormone and, therefore, we are unable to process high glucose levels.
5 ways to manage insulin and energy
To reach balance, Quintas proposes an “insulin control diet,” which she says leads to better health because it benefits us in numerous ways—including helping to reduce tiredness after meals, hunger between meals, and spurring our bodies to use stored fat efficiently as a source of energy. Furthermore, controlling our insulin can help us maintain muscle mass, stabilize our blood glucose levels, and improve our digestive health as well as reduce LDL (bad) and stabilize our liver profile, reducing our risk of fatty liver. Below are her five tips—
1. Eat carbohydrates with protein
“When we consume carbohydrates alone, especially if they have a high glycemic load, such as rice, pasta, or potato, they cause a rapid increase in blood glucose, leading to an insulin spike,” Quintas says. “This spike not only promotes metabolic imbalances, but can also cause an energy slump.” To prevent this from happening, she recommends adding protein in order to stimulate the secretion of glucagon, a hormone that counteracts the effects of insulin and helps keep the glucose level more stable.
2. Avoid liquid carbohydrates
Juices, sodas, and smoothies can cause insulin spikes. “Because they are in liquid form, the stomach doesn’t need to work hard to process them, which causes the sugar to quickly reach the bloodstream,” Quintas explains. “This sudden increase in glucose causes an insulin spike, which, as we already mentioned, favors the accumulation of fat and can generate hunger soon after.”
3. Eat every three to four hours
“Maintaining a constant supply of energy through small, frequent meals is key to avoiding insulin spikes and keeping the metabolism active,” Quintas says. She argues that if we let more time pass, our body may start using muscle mass as a source of energy instead of fat, lowering basal metabolism and causing a rebound effect. So be sure to have a healthy mid-morning and afternoon snack, as “this will help us arrive less hungry to our main meals.”
4. Eat within one hour of waking
Quintas warns that after a long overnight fast, our glucose stores are low, which means we must eat to keep the body going: “If we don’t eat soon after waking up, our body could start using muscle mass as a source of energy.” She advises eating first thing in the morning, even if it’s just a little yogurt or a coffee with milk: “After a few hours you can have a bigger breakfast. This will help our metabolism to get the batteries without forcing a large meal first thing.”
5. Don’t workout on an empty stomach
Some swear by the benefits of working out on an empty stomach but Quintas says this is a mistake—not only because of scarce morning glycogen reserves, but also because it increases the risk of injury by using muscle mass as a source of energy. “A small portion of carbohydrates and protein before exercise ensures greater energy availability and protects muscle mass,” she says.
