Got Energy?

Do you need more energy? Like our cat, do you feel like you want to take naps during the day? Do you need a caffeine fix in the morning or afternoon just to make it through the day? Do you feel like you can't exercise because of a lack of energy? Let's look at a very short list of why there could be a deficit and go over a very basic plan to increase your energy...

1. Lack of sleep

2. Poor eating plan

3. Lack of exercise

These three are the most common reasons the average person has a lack of energy. Let's briefly look at each and explore possible remedies.

1. A lack of sleep is usually remedied by getting on a regular sleep schedule, eliminating caffeine in the afternoon and evening, and increasing your energy expenditure during the day. Here are some other common and uncommon helps from www.iloveindia.com

- Following the same routine every night

- Apply hot packs to the spine and have a hot footbath before going to bed.  (ooh, that sounds good!)

- Take a ripe banana and mash it. Add roasted cumin seeds to it and mix properly. Consume this mashed mix before going to sleep. (a healthy substitute for the midnight snacker)

- Increase in the consumption of vitamin B foods such as whole grains and nuts. (Which leads to our next culprit of energy...)

2. A poor eating plan can certainly deprive your body of nutrients that supply constant energy throughout the day. We need to eat properly balanced calories. What do I mean by that? We want nutrient dense food, not empty calories. Afternoon snacks are the biggest culprit. What constitutes empty calories that perhaps we think give us energy to keep us going the rest of the day but actually zap us? 

caffeinated soft drinks (diet or not)

candy bars/pastries

granola bars with sugar/corn syrup (supposed to be healthy, right?)

energy drinks such as Monster, Red Bull (look here for adverse affects)

specialty coffee drinks/black teas (I know these are delicious, but have you actually looked at the calories and sugar levels these contain? (Look at carbs with zero fiber) Look up your favorite drink here)

regular coffee? Adrenal fatigue can be caused by too much caffeine.

little 5 hour bottles of caffeine (must we go there?)

chips, pretzels, chocolate, vending machine goodies

All of these are empty calories that will give you a short term boost that leave you holding the bag on energy for the rest of the day.

What snacks are good for afternoon?

Veggies or Fruit with a protein to balance blood sugar levels

Carrots, celery sticks, and apples along with nuts (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, or peanut butter or almond butter) The fruit helps alleviate the sweet tooth some of us get in the PM and the crunch psychologically wakes us up.

Good energy bars (fruit-sweetened)

Yogurt Smoothie (with protein or veggie powder balancing sugar levels)

Hummus and organic chips (Archer Farms organic corn chip, Garden of Eatin)

Trail Mix (basically dried fruits and nuts, or combo of nuts, no fruit) (no MM's please)

Veggies with yogurt dip


These are just to name a few. Experiment to see what you like best. Actually, sometimes it's a matter of what you can tolerate best in the beginning of your healthy eating plan. We can be honest, right? It's hard to compare a Dark Cherry Mocha Coffee Latte with a celery stick, apple and almonds... I completely understand. But remember, it's all a matter of habit and what you get used to. Examine and Exchange those unhealthy empty calories that take your money and leave you with nothing, lack of energy most of all, feeling bad and guilty the rest of the day. Fight Back! You're worth it!

3. Lack of exercise is our third reason the average person has no energy. You're probably saying, "What do you mean? I have no energy...How am I supposed to exercise if I don't have energy to begin with??"  It's a vicious cycle, isn't it?  That's exactly what I'm saying...Begin to exercise and you will get more energy. At this point, it's mind over matter.

-Choose a time when you can consistently exercise. Morning, Afternoon, or Evening? Whatever time you choose, guard it. You don't really want to exercise late evening because that could interfere with your sleep. But if you work outside the home, exercise when you get home then fix a quick healthy dinner by using a crockpot, 15-30 minute meals, or leftovers. Planning is Key both in exercise and cooking healthy.

-Choose your exercise. You can walk, swim or go to a gym but I am on a kick right now of Jillian Michael's exercise DVDs. Why? Because (1) they are effective (2) anyone can do them (remember Biggest Loser Winner?) and (3) she motivates many people in a no-nonsense, "just do it" approach without making you feel like you can't. I would recommend these for anyone. Are they easy? NO WAY! But can you work up to it? MOST CERTAINLY! She combines weights (hand weights), with cardio, and stomach exercises (abs). The 30 Day Shred DVD is inexpensive, so are the weights. No excuse, right? Wait, there's more...it only takes 20 minutes. Yep, that's it. Am I getting any compensation for this. NO, I just want to help those who need it.

We live in busy times but you choose what you want to do with the time you have. If you eat the foods close to the original way God made them (not processed) and give your body the exercise and sleep it needs... You will live a happier, more productive and satisfying life. Is that all there is? No, obviously not, but that's a good start over what you can control.

I saw this on DiseaseProof.com today and thought it appropriate.

“Successful people aren’t born that way.  They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don’t like to do.  The successful people don’t always like these things themselves; they just get on and do them.”  - author unknown

I think that sums it up...What changes will you make today?


This is linked to:
Tasty Tuesdays
Tempt My Tummy
Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

What We Eat - The Basics

If you were to try and sum up our eating plan, you'd pretty much have a look like this cute fellow in this Norman Rockwell plate. So first let me tell you what we are not...


We are not Vegetarian; although veggies are usually the mainstay of our meals.


We are not in the Real Food category since we are not big advocates of saturated fat but I do soak a lot of my grains and what we do eat is real food and from scratch.


We don't follow a Low-Fat diet because we are firm believers in good fats.


We are not in the Gluten Free crowd, because I still use whole grains although I do fix a lot of gluten free meals and breads.


We are not just in the Health Food category because we don't like soy products or all the prepackaged "so called" health foods that are on the market.


I would say we are close to Nutritarians, as coined by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, which means we eat nutrient dense food; while lean meats are not necessarily nutrient dense, we see the need for limited amounts in our eating plan.  


I would even go so far to say we eat only Biblically Clean foods but even then we are not legalistic about it.


We do limit certain things, and use portion control (well, usually), and not limit others.


So in summary, we eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, some lean meats such as  chicken and turkey, and fish (wild salmon being choice). We love organic plain yogurt, whole grains, pseudograins, and legumes. And we do allow ourselves to eat what we want at times, that way we can remember how "bad food" makes us feel. :) (Not really but that's what usually happens.)


For the next few posts, I'll go into a little more detail with recipes to boot so we'll have a little more understanding and have a happy face like this fellow by the time we're done. 

How would you summarize your eating plan? 

Recipes - Separating the Good from the Not so Good

I was wanting to say Recipes - Separating the Good from the Bad, but when I thought of all my "bad" recipes and the memories of birthday parties, get togethers, or special meals, I couldn't call them bad. They are just ones that we want to eat on occasion rather than daily, weekly, or some even monthly. Why? Because while they are good for great meals, they are not good for the health of our bodies long term. 

There's a common adage these days that says, "Eat 90% healthy and 10% not-so-healthy". Well, I thought we had always done that but then when I kept a food log, I realized we had too many "exceptions" and took way more than 10% of our meal plan. I also notice it while I'm outside and I walk by the recycling bin and see all the food boxes leftover. If you don't want to keep a food log and do recycle, then you can get a pretty good idea what you're eating just from your recycle bin. I know, the neighbors, I'm sure, have seen me snooping curiously in our bins and trash can, assessing how we are doing. :)

So what change did I make to our meal plan to help? I separated my recipes. I got the original idea from Alton Brown. He makes a copy of the recipe from the book, that way he can make notes and changes, and then puts it in a page protector to keep it nice while he's cooking with it.

I went a step farther and separated my healthy "good for me" recipes from the ones not so healthy. It's a real help when making a meal plan to just use those recipes that are already healthy or can be made healthier by the "examine and exchange" method. But the problem was that they were all crammed in the notebook without rhyme or reason. I took this opportunity to not procrastinate any longer and put the copies in page protectors (that weren't already in one) and then separated them with dividers by category.

Three things I learned:

1. I have WAY more recipes than what I thought (With it more organized, I'll have more variety in meals)
2. Make sure you have enough page protectors
3. Never do this on an empty stomach (Boy, it makes you hungry!)

As you can see I have plenty of healthy recipes left still to put in the binder. I wish I had more page protectors to finish but, again, I procrastinated...

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -Don Marquis-

What can you do to realign your eating strategy? Perhaps a separate notebook just for healthy recipes would help. Why not take 15 minutes and start today?

This is linked to:
Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays at New Nostalgia