I used to have that all the time. I would drag myself home from work, get in the house and crash before heading off to my evening job. It was awful. I was overly tired, my muscles ached and I craved sugar laden treats. It’s not like I ate the worst although lots wasn’t good but looking back some things were really just sugar disguised as healthy. I would eat a few pieces of fruit, a protein bar, some yogurt, or peanut butter and crackers, a glass of milk. Some days, I might have a few cookies and tea with honey. On really cold days, I might have hot chocolate. It was all sugar. Sugar, sugar everywhere. I would go to Walmart and snack on my favorite thing, intense chocolate milk during my break.
I convinced myself that I always felt better after I had it, but then in about twenty minutes, exhaustion would hit and I had to force myself to stay awake and keep going. So what did I do? Have a little more sugar to start the whole process going again, only then it might be a bowl of cereal, some oatmeal with dried fruits, maybe some popcorn.
When I started with Dr. Jack, 3 p.m. was still my worst time. Many days, it still is, mostly because I haven’t eaten enough that day, or I should have accounted for more activity with a few more snacks. I get a bit hungry after school and it’s funny but I still think about sugar. I just know I won’t have it, but it doesn’t stop my head from going there. Today I am thinking about it, probably because we had a movie day at school , and they served the kids popcorn.
So what changed? Well, I restructured my life some so that my evening meal is early because of my work schedule. In my head I know I can wait until then to eat. If I am cold after school, mostly because my classroom is like the arctic, I usually warm up with some organic chicken broth in a cup. If I want a snack, it’s usually veggies, or nuts.
What is interesting to me though is without the sugar, I don’t have that slumpy afternoon. I can come home, do a few things, eat and go to my other job until ten with no issue. I don’t have to sit and rest and I don’t get that awful feeling of exhaustion. I just can keep going!
Sugar really is bad for you. People don’t often realize how bad it is. For me, it just clogs up my little cells and inflames them..no wonder I would get exhausted! I will write about all that another day.
Last week when I was at Wegmans I was going through the checkout and while I was waiting, I picked up some of the health bars at the checkout. Their main ingredients? A lot of stuff that is sugar, or disguised but is sugar like dried fruits. No wonder I was always having that exhausted feeling at about four p.m. but thinking I was eating so great! Wondering how I could stay awake to even get ready for my other job was a real battle.
Its amazing to me how changing my diet has helped to lose not just pounds but all kinds of bad things that I just attributed to my age. I might miss a few things once in awhile but I never miss that afternoon slump!