It’s the morning after Turkey Day and you work up feeling… a little off. Maybe a headache? Maybe a bit bloated?
So, what exactly happens to our bodies after Thanksgiving?
Here are a handful of possible things that could happen to your body after overeating on Thanksgiving (or anytime).
1 You feel thirsty.
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night after a day of drinking or eating a lot of sodium-filled foods such as meat supreme pizza? The same can happen the night following a massive Thanksgiving feast.
Eating lots of salty foods, such as stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, and gravy, can leave you feeling not only puffy and bloated, but [also] extremely thirsty.
The solution? Make sure you continually hydrate throughout the day so that you don’t disrupt your sleep, and drink plenty of water the day after as well.
2 You have heartburn
When any of us eat our stomach produces hydrochloric acid to help with digestion. However, eating large amounts of food at once causes high amounts of acid to be produced that can end up making their way to the esophagus, causing heartburn.
Fat is more difficult for the body to break digest, and as a result, meals that are higher in fat are more likely to cause heartburn or acid reflux.
The solution? Watch your fat intake on the day of Thanksgiving. A meal-tracking app can help you monitor how much fat you’ve consumed, which may encourage you to skip that extra piece of pie.
3 You’re Taking Alot of Bathroom Trips
Many families rely on boxed foods such as stuffing and gravy mixes for our means. These contain artificial and processed ingredients that are derived from sources of gluten and dairy. Two such ingredients include sodium caseinate and malt flavoring. If your body isn’t used to gluten or dairy or it rejects it, this can lead to gastrointestinal fatigue followed by several trips to the bathroom.
The solution? Come to dinner with a few of your own covered dishes.
4 Trouble Sleeping
Your body has a circadian clock that controls not only your sleep cycles, but also the natural rise and fall of hunger hormones. When you overeat, you disrupt this natural rhythm, which can affect your sleep quality that night
An easy way to prevent this is to curb your hunger and portion sizes.
5 You’re Hungry, again?
This seems a bit backward, right? Well, here’s the thing. When you overeat, your body goes into overtime to digest the excess calories, and the next day it can feel exhausted. Fatigue signals hunger, and what lends quick energy? Carbs, of course. So, you *feel* hungry.
So, yeah. Your body is over-reacting after just one day of over-eating. But the good news, is now you know why (and how to deal with it).
