Many of my clients ask me what they can take for help with gaining more energy. First of all... Lets take it to the basics. What IS energy?
Energy: "the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity."
Obviously you need calories to exert energy. But WHICH calories you bring in is super important.
Before talking about what to ADD to your diet or routine, lets talk about what to TAKE AWAY. If you eat processed or sugary foods, you are sure to crash right after you eat. If you drink caffeine, you are also guaranteed to crash later on.
The first thing you should do is cut down on both these things and find healthy swaps for them. For example, instead of having soda drink water, instead of coffee try tea, a kombucha or a green vegetable juice for energy. (more on these later!)
After making these changes, you will absolutely begin to feel a difference in your energy level.
Also, so vital...SLEEP!
While people lift weights for muscular strength, do Yoga and Pilates for flexibility, spend hours a week for cardiorespiratory strength and endurance, and count calories for body composition—there is one thing that hardly ever gets named as part of a person’s fitness regiment. The irony is that one thing may very well be one of the most important components of health and fitness—that thing is sleep. Make sure you are getting enough for YOU and your body. Try and settle down an hour before you want to get to sleep, turn the lights down, turn the computer/tv off (stimulation for the brain) and read, meditate or take a bath. Make sure you have a routine and attempt to get to sleep around the same time each evening.
If you still feel drained or low energy, you can begin to add healthy supplements and superfoods to your regiment.
Here are some of my favorites for natural energy:
- blue-green algae
- maca
- bee pollen
- ginseng and royal jelly
More to come about these!!!! For now... start on the sleep and cutting back on caffeine :)
one thing at a time...