One of the biggest symptoms clients ask for my help with is lack of energy. However, time and time again when these same clients are asked to keep food diaries, the story is the same, erratic eating, over consumption of caffeine, soft drinks and often alcohol and a heavy reliance on processed food in the form of sandwiches, ready meals and quick food.
In order to feel energetic you have to ensure that you are fuelling up on nutrient rich, unprocessed foods:
1. Eating regularly 5 times a day. In an ideal world you would eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack then dinner. Eating every three hours can help keep blood sugar levels even and this in turn can help keep energy levels even too.
2.Ensure you drink 8 glasses of filtered water every day. Dehydration can often impair the ability to concentrate.
3. Eat plenty and fill up on non-starchy vegetables. These are high in vital vitamins, minerals and fiber.
4. Eat oily fish 3 times a week. E.g. Salmon, mackerel, sardines & fresh tuna. As well as containing essential fatty acids, they are also a good sources of protein. Eat 25g of nuts a day and 25g of ground seeds; these again are full of the good fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals.
5.Limit your tea and coffee to one per day and ideally have two days free from them a week.
6.Avoid alcohol or restrict your intake to 2 units a week
7.Don’t eat sugar or add it to your foods. Opt instead for low glycemic loaded fruit, such as pears, strawberries, raspberries and fresh apricots A sample day could be:
a) Porridge made with almond milk topped with ground linseeds and fresh berries
b) 2 oatcakes and almond butter
c) An egg omelette filled with feta and vegetables and a green side salad
d) Hummus and chopped vegetables, roast chicken breast, new potatoes and large green salad with rocket, spinach and watercress.