Low Energy? Get back to basics…
Are you tired and worn out? Suffering with crushing fatigue, just can’t get going in the morning? or, get the dreaded 3pm energy-slump?
I understand more than most how this can feel and how it can prevent you from getting through the day, achieving your workload, parental duties etc., not to mention keeping yourself healthy and fit?!
I see clients every week that say their biggest complaint is fatigue.
I want to share my story about the reasons for my own crushing fatigue, what I did about it and what you can do to improve your energy levels to feel healthier and happier starting from today.
6 years ago, I was studying, drowning in essays and taking on intensive amounts of science into my brain. My brain had been somewhat dormant for 10 years bringing up my three children and I was also experiencing a hugely emotionally stressful period in my life, this I believed, was enough to explain my crushing fatigue.
However, in my lecture on thyroid health, we covered what can go wrong with the thyroid and what as a Nutritional Therapist we can do, the list of symptoms “fatigue” especially, seemed familiar and I became my own health detective and discovered I had Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis; an autoimmune disease where your immune system attacks your thyroid gland. I also had anaemia; closely associated with Hashimoto’s, and was another clue for my fatigue.
Now I had identified the root cause I could do something about it using what I had learnt as a Nutritional Therapist. I restored my iron levels using food and symbiotic nutrients to increase absorption in the small intestines. I learnt quickly which foods restored me and those that left me drained.
I changed my diet, replacing high carbohydrate starchy foods (bread,pasta etc.) with complex carbohydrates (more vegetables & salads) and ate more healthy fats (nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado) which improved my energy levels no end. I had never felt better or healthier, using the power of food and natural solutions.
Energy leaks from us for different reasons, finding your root cause is the first step to recovery and maintaining energy levels you once enjoyed.
If you suffer with energy dips or fatigue there are things that you can do right now to master your own energy levels. I describe the body-basics for energy as the “three-legged stool”,get these three basics in place as a good start!
- Sleep – are you getting quality 7 hours sleep every night?
- Water – are you hydrated? The first symptom of dehydration is fatigue!
- Food, the best and simplest way to bio-hack your energy is by changing what is at the end of your fork.
Eating a balanced diet, rich in plant fibre, complex carbohydrates with healthy fats and quality protein is a simple and effective way to naturally increase your energy levels. Ditch the packaged, processed foods and supply yourself with the energising nutrients your body truly desires for optimal health, be kind to yourself with whole, “real” food.