Three in five American adults say they feel more fatigued now than ever before, reports Family Safety and Health Magazine, a National Safety Council publication. The findings were based on a study by OnePoll involving 2,000 adults in the USA.
If you’re wondering how to get more energy, you are far from alone, and your diet is the best place to start.
We are lucky enough in America to have an abundance of food products on our shelves. When you know how to get more energy from food, you can take full advantage of this, but where do you start?
The internet is packed full of fad diets and dubious claims. Let’s start with the basics: the benefits of antioxidants, complex carbs, and less bulk.
Read on to get started!
How to Get More Energy: Eat Smaller Portions, More Often
Many of the countries with the world’s healthiest cuisines and highest life expectancies eat by the mantra, less and more often. This means instead of eating 3 large meals daily, you should aim for 5-6 smaller meals to keep your energy levels stable throughout the day.
Digestion takes a lot of energy, and the more food your body needs to digest, the more fatigue you will feel after eating. Think back to the last Thanksgiving or other feasts you’ve had. Were you buzzing with energy afterward?
Probably not. All those simple, starchy, potatoey carbs took energy to digest. Together with fats and tough proteins, they most likely sent you to the couch for a lie-down.
Instead of saving your largest meal for dinner, it makes sense to consume more calories earlier in the day. This is when you need the most energy, and you will give your body time to burn off the calories before you get home.
Co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10 or ubiquinone) is essential for cellular respiration and the energy production process, so make sure you get enough of this antioxidant in your daily diet for the best results. Now you need to choose what to eat.
Protein-rich breakfasts with complex carbs will keep you going, and 3 smaller meals over the day will top up your blood sugar. When you get home, a nutritious evening meal will replenish your energy stores. A light, protein-rich supper, like Greek yogurt and nuts, will help you sleep.
Boost Your Antioxidants and Vitamins
The benefits of antioxidants took the media by storm a decade or so ago. Studies of the world’s healthiest cuisines found them to be high in antioxidant-rich foods. The Mediterranean diet, for example, has olives, citrus fruits, red wine, nuts, fish, and fresh vegetables. All of these contain an abundance of antioxidants that halt free radicals, help prevent cell damage, and boost energy levels.
What Is an Antioxidant?
Antioxidant foods, as the name suggests, stop or slow oxidative cell damage within your body. A major source of cell damage is the unstable molecule group, free radicals, which are formed when you convert food to energy, exercise, or ingest environmental pollutants; antioxidants counteract the oxidative stress caused by these free radicals.
Benefits of Antioxidants: Key Types for Energy
Reservatrol is a powerful antioxidant found in red wine, red grapes, plums, peanuts, dark chocolate, and most dark berries. Once your body converts resveratrol into trans-resveratrol, this polyphenol boosts your cardio health, counteracts oxidative stress, and can even aid weight loss.
CoQ10, or ubiquinone, is one of the most important antioxidants. CoQ10 can boost physical performance, decrease migraine frequency, lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, reduce the effects of aging, and even improve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
CoQ10 is vital for energy production, cellular respiration, growth, and cell maintenance. It also has powerful anti-aging benefits. Your body produces CoQ10 by itself, but you can top up your levels with meat, fish, nuts, and high-quality supplements.
Antioxidant vitamins, like vitamin C (ascorbic acid), are found mostly in fruits and vegetables. Vitamin C helps strengthen your immune system, prevent oxidative damage, and even lift your mood. Citrus fruits and berries are among the best sources of vitamin C, but rose hips contain even more.
N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) is an amino acid and antioxidant that has anti-inflammatory, energy-boosting, and detoxifying properties. It is the supplement form of cysteine, an amino acid found in poultry, eggs, dairy, seeds, and legumes. NAC helps your body make glutathione, one of the most powerful antioxidants, fighting free radicals and improving immunity.
Balanced Antioxidant Sources
Other antioxidant vitamins to look out for are astaxanthin, rose hip extract, alpha lipoic acid, and quercetin. All of these antioxidants can help improve your energy levels and get the most out of life. Top-quality supplements offer all of these in easy-to-take powders; together with a healthy diet and regular exercise, antioxidants can help you feel like a new you.
Eat Complex Carbohydrates
Simple carbohydrates, like white bread, white rice, and pastries, digest fast in your body. You break them down into glucose within an hour or so, and then your blood sugar spikes. This gives you energy in the short term, but soon after, you will crash and feel worse than before you ate anything.
The glycemic index (GI) measures how fast carbs turn into glucose in your body. A lower GI, 55 or less, results in a steady release of glucose into your blood. Wholegrain bread and pasta, legumes, nuts, dairy, and most vegetables fall into this category.
Moderate GI foods, 56 to 69, include white potatoes, white rice, couscous, and wheat cereals. High GI foods, 70 and up, include white bread, bagels, cakes, crackers, pastries, and doughnuts.
Fats tend to lower the compound GI of foods that would otherwise have a high GI. For example, ice cream has a lot of fat, and this slows the digestion of the sugar it contains. The Mediterranean starter of bread and olive oil has a similar effect, but the olive oil offers plenty of antioxidant benefits too.
Put the Bounce Back in Your Step
When you know how to get more energy from food, daily tasks become easier, your moods will be more stable, and you will have more energy to do the things you love. Reap the benefits of antioxidants, eat smaller portions more often, and choose the right carbs to boost your energy. Let’s be real, it can be difficult to consume the perfect balance of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants on a daily basis. That’s why we created our nutritional supplement to help you nourish your body on a cellular level.
Our specialized formula contains key antioxidant compounds such as ubiquinone (CoQ10), N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC), Resveratrol, Astaxanthin, and Rosehip powder. These compounds are great at improving your health by reducing cellular oxidation in addition to acting as an anti-aging nutritional supplement. We strive to help our clients live healthier, have more energy, and look amazing all with one product.
NutrifyPro, founded by Katerina Kennedy, is a cutting-edge nutritional powder designed to protect your cells and boost your energy. It contains amino acids, powerful antioxidants, and beneficial herbs. Clinically tested and ethically produced in Atlanta, NutrifyPro can give you the lift you need.
