I’m not a fan of overeating. In fact, I believe that consistently overeating is one of the unhealthiest things a person can do because it puts you in a state of constant excess energy. Excess means you can’t handle the food you get. It means your cells are literally full, your organs are overworked, and your hormones aren’t working the way they’re supposed to. Overeating is actually inflammatory, so if you do it every day you have chronic inflammation. And that’s not even mentioning the impact it has on obesity.
But we’re human – we party. Whether it’s a holiday like Thanksgiving or a birthday celebration or just because we feel like it, sometimes we like to eat a big meal. Sometimes we like to overeat.
How do we make it safer? How can we mitigate the negative effects of overeating and possibly turn it into a positive contribution?
Let’s find out:
A tough workout
A hard workout before a big meal will improve nutrient breakdown by several mechanisms. First, by clearing the glycogen in your muscle cells, you’ll increase insulin sensitivity and open up safe storage space for all the carbs you’re about to eat. Exercising hard before eating increases something called insulin-independent glucose uptake, meaning you don’t even need to raise your insulin levels to store glucose as glycogen. You can store glucose while still maintaining lipolysis, or the release of body fat for burning.
Hard exercise also regulates muscle protein synthesis, so that any protein you eat is preferentially directed toward muscle hypertrophy and recovery. In short, a large workout before eating allows you to consume more food without suffering the same metabolic consequences that you would otherwise.
The most effective workout for these purposes will be a total body workout that incorporates strength training and cardio or metabolic conditioning. Consider a CrossFit workout, a combination of sprinting and lifting, or circuit training.
Take berberine
Try berberine 30 minutes before a meal. Berberine is a potent anti-hyperglycemic supplement that improves lipid counts, metabolic function and, when taken before a meal on an empty stomach, post-meal blood sugar. You will improve blood glucose levels if you take berberine before eating. Another useful effect of berberine is the uncoupling of mitochondria, which means it increases energy expenditure and “makes room” for all the incoming energy during a large meal by increasing the metabolic rate.
Eat vinegar
Consuming vinegar 20 to 30 minutes before a large carbohydrate-containing meal improves glucose tolerance and reduces the usual glucose response. This is actually part of the reason why vinegared salads are traditionally consumed before meals. It’s not just because they taste good – although that’s part of it – but because it prepares your body to use glucose better.
Fast forward
Eat lightly or not at all during the day until your big meal—the best meals I’ve ever had came at the end of a fast. It doesn’t have to be a full day fast. It could just mean skipping breakfast and having a light meal. And I wouldn’t recommend eating just one meal a day forever, as I think that can have negative long-term consequences for energy levels and metabolic flexibility. But if you’re going to eat a big meal and it’s a one-off, not eating in the hours before it will mitigate most of the negative effects of overeating while maximizing your enjoyment.
Prioritize protein
If you know you’re going to overeat, be sure to load up on protein. Is it Thanksgiving? Get plenty of turkey. Christmas dinner; Stuff leg of lamb. Eat protein first, let the fat come along for the ride, then finish with carbs. Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, so starting with it means you’re less likely to overdo it with the rest of the food. Feasting is great, but no one enjoys the feeling of excess.
One study even found that overfeeding with low protein intake increased fat mass but not lean muscle, while overfeeding with high protein intake increased the same amount of fat with additional lean muscle mass. No one wants to gain fat, but I would argue that gaining muscle along with fat is better than gaining body fat alone.
Eat gelatinous foods or collagen during meals
Both collagen and gelatin are rich in glycine, an amino acid that has been shown to lower blood glucose levels. If you’re going to eat a ton of carbs, a lot more than usual, including some gelatinous foods — like gravy, bone broth, skin and connective tissue — or even a few spoonfuls collagen it will improve your glucose response to the meal. It will also offset the methionine load you get from muscle meat.
Drink red wine with your meal
Red wine during a large meal has many health benefits in addition to tasting great and improving the subjective enjoyment of your food.
- It reduces your blood lipid oxidation and inflammatory gene expression that usually occurs after a large junk food meal.
- It can reduce the rise in blood pressure that often occurs with overfeeding.
- It can reduce markers of oxidative stress after the feast.
Early dinner
If you are going to eat a large amount of food, start the meal earlier than normal. Don’t have a giant dinner at 10pm, then wait to fall asleep and enjoy a great 8 hours. You need at least 3-4 hours after a meal to walk around, digest your food and process everything internally before trying to sleep. Everything digests better when you give yourself a few hours.
Have coffee afterwards
A cup of coffee or espresso after a meal is a traditional way to boost digestion and calm your gut. As for coffee as a post-meal digestif – no, I wouldn’t tell someone with a caffeine sensitivity to have an espresso after their meal, especially in the evening. If you know coffee keeps you awake, then don’t drink it or go with decaf (which works almost as well). But if you can enjoy a little coffee without it affecting your sleep, then after a big meal is the perfect time for it. Bitterness helps digest the food you have just eaten.
Go for a walk afterwards
A 20- to 30-minute walk, or even just 10 minutes if that’s all you can spare, right after a meal helps with digestion and reduces the spike in both blood glucose and fatty acids that usually occurs after eating a giant meal. Personally, if I eat a big meal and sit down, I don’t feel great. I feel better if I go for a walk afterwards. That’s part of the appeal of the walkability of a place like Miami. When Carrie and I go out to dinner, we walk there and back, and that post-dinner walk home is just the right time to trigger the beneficial effects on blood glucose levels, free fatty acids, and digestion.
There you have it: the ten things you can do before, during and after a big meal to reduce the negative effects of overeating. Don’t make big meals a habit, but if you’re doing it for a special occasion, this is the way to make it work for you, not against you.
Thanks for reading, everyone.
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