Easter and chocolate go together like peanut butter and jelly, but what doesn’t go down as well is our bodies reaction that comes after binging on all your Easter goodies.
We’ve all heard the expression of being on a sugar-high. Keri Glassman, registered dietitian and founder of Nutritious Life and The Nutrition School explains this experience as “a surge of feel-good hormones known as dopamine” resulting in “a high similar to using some drugs”. This sensation is caused by our body’s release of insulin to remove this overload of glucose from our body to stabilise our blood sugar levels. However, as a result of this abnormally rapid spike in our blood glucose levels, followed by the ensuing drop once the insulin has finished its job and the sugar is absorbed, we experience the dreaded sugar crash.
So, with our slightly higher than usual (ok, a LOT higher than usual) sugar intake over the Easter period, this is something a lot of us have probably experienced lately, and while there is no magic cure for it there are some things you can do to help combat and lessen the effect it has on you!
This is the most often mentioned, and possibly most important of all! That glucose we were talking about earlier? Well, adding water to the equation dilutes the ratio of glucose in your bloodstream. According to Lisa Eberly, R.D, this “will help speed up the filtering of your blood, getting that sugar outta there”. It will also help to put a stop to that accompanying headache that so often complements sugar binges.
It doesn’t have to be anything extreme, even just a 10-minute walk will do – but get moving! Exercising will burn that glucose and excess sugar that is running around in your veins during that sugar high, lessening the crash we feel later on. As an added benefit, a good workout will get you sweating out toxins too!
Eating more after chocolate may not necessarily be the first thing you want to do, but an influx of other nutrients can help prevent that crash after a sugar high. Jennifer Powell Weddig, a professor of nutrition at Metropolitan State University of Denver, suggests eating “a spoonful of peanut butter or a handful of nuts” after consuming larger dosages of sugar than usual. These will give your body “fat[s] and protein[s] to slow digestion”, hence helping to ward off that sugar crash.
Indulgencing yourself to the occasional treat is key to living a well-balanced lifestyle, and Easter is definitely the perfect time to do it! So don’t beat yourself up over all the chocolate you consumed, instead focus on how great Easter was!