Any time someone hears about high-protein food of any kind, they automatically think about that tired feeling you get at the end of a big holiday dinner.
We get it, because you can’t expect to eat something like that halfway through the day and get anything done. Especially not in today’s busy world.
Do high-protein snacks make you sleepy, though? Are you going to eat high-protein cookie dough and suddenly feel like you could huddle up and hibernate for the rest of the year?
Well, let’s take a look at that in more detail, and we’ll figure it out the scientific way.
Why High-Protein Meals Make You Sleepy
Now, we don’t need to lie to you here. We know that you’ve had the family over, eaten a ton of protein-rich foods like turkey, ham, and similar things, and then immediately felt like going into a food coma. That’s real, and it is due to an abundance of protein.
However, we need to go over why that happens when you indulge like that, because it’s easy to assume that feeling sleepy after protein snacks works the same way.
There are several reasons those massive, sudden protein dumps make you pass out.
First, there are the psychological effects. Tryptophan is an amino acid that is a direct part of the chain for your sleep hormone production. When you get lots of tryptophan at once, it can stimulate more melatonin and serotonin production. When that happens, those hormones tell you it’s time to sleep.
There’s also the digestive process. You might not feel it or even know what’s happening in there, but your digestive system goes to work after those big meals. It doesn’t seem like it, but that’s still a hefty workout. It’s no different than you pumping iron at the gym. It is draining.
As that giant meal is digested, and you continuously burn energy doing it, you get worn out the same way you do when working out. You just don’t usually sweat as much.
On top of it taking more time to digest a big meal, you have to consider that some foods require even more energy due to their chemical composition. That’s called the Thermal Effect of Food. Protein is one of those foods that takes more to digest. That’s partially why it keeps you full longer. Your body doesn’t burn through it in an instant like sugar and other junk.
Another thing to think about is that you’re rarely just eating protein during those meals. On average, you probably have lots of carbs and fats, too. Carbs and fats might digest faster, but guess what else they do? They spike your insulin levels.
If you’ve ever seen a diabetic person suffer an emergency event, you'll see a much more dramatic and serious version of that, but it’s somewhat similar. You’ll get extremely tired. Luckily, it’s nothing serious if you’re in good health, but it is a real-world example you’ve likely seen. Blood sugar levels have a big impact on this.
Have you seen the big picture with this, though? All of that has to do with eating lots and lots of protein-rich food at once.
A Snack isn’t a Holiday Meal
High-protein snacks might be packed with protein, but they don’t share any of the traits we mentioned with the situations that make people think protein is practically a sleep aid.
First, a high-protein snack doesn’t typically include all the other things that cause a lot of the issues. You’re not eating tons of carbs when you eat our high-protein cookie dough bites. Each batch is carefully crafted to be rich in protein while staying low in sugar and carbs.
That means the carbs won’t spike your blood sugar, and you’re not taking in much fat either. You’re eating a snack-sized portion of very lean protein, and the fat that is added is added in a scientifically backed amount to ensure it’s balanced. That’s it.
The amount of protein you’re eating at once isn’t nearly as high, either. A chicken breast has roughly 25 grams of protein. Now imagine how much you unknowingly eat when you eat a big holiday plate full of ham, turkey, chicken, and everything else you can think of. It’s a lot more than a single chicken breast.
Our high-protein cookie dough bites have 15 grams of protein per serving. That’s just a little more than half of a chicken breast worth.
That smaller portion size and smaller protein amount mean your digestive system isn’t working nearly as hard, either.
Will High-Protein Cookie Dough Bites Make You Sleepy?
At the end of the day, our high-protein cookie dough bites aren’t going to make you tired. There just isn’t enough going on to make that happen.
The only exception to that would be if you cracked open bag after bag of FUUL in one setting, and while we appreciate the sales that would generate, we’d really prefer for you to eat it responsibly and avoid that. We know how tempting it is with the great cookie dough taste.
The idea that you eat a bit of protein and suddenly want to sleep is a messy claim. The best examples of that happening pretty much always include lots of other foods and ridiculous amounts of protein at once, and that simply doesn’t apply when you’re eating a snack portion of anything.
So if you’ve been worried about feeling sleepy after protein snacks, you can rest easy. Our bites just don’t have the same effect.
What You Do Get with High-Protein Snacks
While you won’t feel like you just drank melatonin tea, you will get some other things.
When you eat FUUL high-protein cookie dough bites, you’ll get the protein your body needs to repair itself, a little bit of fat to keep you going throughout the day, and a delicious taste that makes you feel like it’s cheat day every day.
FUUL is also extremely low in sugar and calories. 6 grams of sugar is a great amount for a little sugar boost and an enhanced flavor, but it’s not enough to be detrimental. There are also only 270 calories. That’s about as much as a can of soda that doesn’t do anything good for you. You can skip one soda and make up for the snack in your calorie budget.
Don’t worry about passing out over a snack. Get the protein boost and long-term fullness you deserve. Contact us today if you have any questions. We’d be happy to chat!