How to eat for energy

*Click here for a chart that lists foods that provide energy-boosting nutrients.

On the list below, answer "yes" or "no" to the symptoms that are familiar and persistent for you:

• feeling tired all the time
• using coffee, tea, or a cigarette to get you going in the morning
• feeling unrefreshed after sleep
• experiencing energy slumps during the day
• having mood and concentration swings
• craving sweet and starchy food, coffee, tea, alcohol, cigarettes
• getting angry easily
• over-reacting to pressing or antagonistic issues
• regularly feeling impatient
• feeling anxious or nervous

If you answered "yes" to five or more symptoms, you will almost certainly feel more energetic if you follow the following advice:

Energy deficit
Sometimes everything just seems like such an effort, and all you can think of is bedtime. We all have our off days when we feel low in energy, but for many people, this is pretty much a permanent way of life. Yes, it is normal to feel tired after a week of getting up early, working hard, exercising, and going to bed late. But the tiredness some people experience every day is more like a constant, wiped-out, drained feeling. And when you feel that way, it's almost impossible for you not to get tetchy with your family, friends, and coworkers.

Unless you have an underlying illness, your weariness and irritability are probably easily surmountable. With a little effort, you can identify and tackle the root causes of your tiredness and adopt a diet and lifestyle that truly energize you. However, if your tiredness is extreme or prolonged, you should talk to your doctor in order to rule out any potentially serious causes.

Identifying the cause of your tiredness
There is a host of reasons why you may be feeling weary, many of which are simple to overcome. For example, being dehydrated can make you tired. Try drinking at least six glasses of bottled or filtered water daily and you may well quickly see an improvement in your energy levels. Similarly, if you are not eating nutritious foods, you may be missing out on some important energy nutrients. Your doctor may find that low iron stores (especially common in women and vegetarians) are at the root of your problem, in which case you will need to increase your intake of iron-rich foods and even perhaps take iron supplements.

If your body is not detoxifying efficiently, you can raise your energy levels by changing to a diet that supports your body's detoxification mechanisms rather than hampering them. Alternatively, your tiredness could be the result of a sensitivity to certain foods. Again, simple dietary changes -- identifying and eliminating from your diet the foods that are causing the adverse reaction -- can make all the difference.

Common causes of persistent tiredness that are not directly diet-related include an underactive thyroid gland, which your doctor can test for. Lack of sleep is another obvious culprit -- if you are not sleeping well, you are bound to be tired and tetchy. Depression may also manifest itself as ongoing tiredness and irritability.

*Click here for a chart that lists foods that provide energy-boosting nutrients.

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Excerpted from Feel Good Foods by Natalie Savona. Copyright 2003 by Natalie Savona. Excerpted, with permission by Duncan Baird Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Eating for energy
The link between your diet and how energetic you feel is easy to see -- after all, we know that if we drank a strong coffee and ate a bar of chocolate, we would be buzzing, for a while at least. On a cellular level, we are, with our diets, literally fueling all our cells to produce energy through a carefully controlled chemical reaction. The type of fuel we use correlates to our performance, much like that of a car. In fact, many people are probably more careful about fueling and servicing their car than they are their own body.

To produce energy, each cell needs a supply of fuel in the form of glucose, derived from the carbohydrates and sugars that we eat. There's little danger of any of us not getting enough carbohydrates, but the process of converting the fuel into energy requires a range of micro-nutrients. The best way to provide your body with all these nutrients is to eat a varied diet of fresh, unprocessed foods. *Click here for a chart that lists foods that provide energy-boosting nutrients. It can also help to take vitamin and mineral supplements, but it is important to remember that they are just that -- supplements to, not substitutes for, a good diet.

Avoiding foods that sap your energy is just as important as eating energy-rich foods. The energy drainers are generally foods and drinks -- and especially stimulants, such as coffee, alcohol, and candy -- that play havoc with our blood-sugar levels.

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Breaking the dependency
Especially when we are feeling constantly exhausted, we often become addicted to stimulating "superfuel" foods and drinks to keep us going. Unfortunately, these can give us only a very temporary boost, followed by a dive in mood and energy that leaves us reaching for the next stimulant. Meanwhile, we require ever-larger doses to produce the desired temporary buzz. Harsh as it may sound, the best way to stop the seesawing of energy and moods is to give up stimulants altogether.

Coffee - friend or foe?
Coffee can certainly give you a buzz but, like many "addictive" substances, the initial high is inevitably followed by a low -- in effect, a withdrawal symptom. It is no coincidence that coffee drinkers often sleep less soundly than non-coffee drinkers. Apart from playing havoc with your adrenal glands, coffee is also a diuretic, so it can leave you dehydrated, which can also make you tired and short-tempered. Nor is decaffeinated coffee a viable alternative; not only does it still contain other natural stimulants, such as theophylline and threobromine, but it may also contain residues of harsh chemicals used in the decaffeinating process.

You do not necessarily have to give up coffee entirely - just cutting back can help your energy levels to recover. For some people, this may mean cutting down from six daily coffees to one or two; for others, it means going from two to none. If you find this hard, I suggest you try not to have a coffee or tea before at least 11am, so that you are not relying on a stimulant to kick-start your day. As you begin to reduce your intake, you may feel even more tired or headachey. This is perfectly normal, and not a good reason to start up again. If you are maintaining even blood-sugar levels and eating a balanced, nutritious diet to help boost your energy and maintain even moods, you should find you no longer "need" so many doses of caffeine.

Excerpted from Feel Good Foods by Natalie Savona. Copyright 2003 by Natalie Savona. Excerpted, with permission by Duncan Baird Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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