How
often do you feel tired and lethargic? Does your energy dip dramatically
in the afternoon making you feel dozy (even if you haven`t washed down a
three- course lunch with a bottle of wine!). If your life is regularly disrupted
by fatigue and you want to take action, one of the wisest things to do is
to look at your diet and change what you eat and how you eat it.
You are most likely to succeed in changing your diet if you eat regularly,
in moderation, and slowly – savour every mouthful. Although the bonuses
of eating in a balanced way don`t come instantly, if you take stock now
and concentrate on eating fresh food and avoid high-fat, sugar-rich foods
such as cakes, pastries and salty snacks, you will probably notice a difference
in your energy levels in a couple of weeks. |
A
diet that makes you feel more energetic is based on natural, wholesome foods
that are nutritious, rather than fatty and fast foods. If you want to boost
your energy levels, stock up on fresh and dried fruits that are high in
natural sugars such as pears, kiwi-fruit, and apricots; vegetables such
as peas, spinach, cabbage and onions; oily fish, poultry, and red meats
such as game and lean beef. Eat nuts, brown rice, seeds, pulses, wheatgerm
and whole grains.
Use cold pressed oils such as grapeseed, olive, seseme, sunflower and walnut
to dress salads, don’t skip dairy foods but use milk and natural yoghurt;
replace sliced white loaves with bread made from wholemeal flower. |
Home
made fruit juices and smoothies are energy boosting alternatives to commercially
prepared drinks, and are so easy to prepare. Choose sweet fruits such as
mango, banana and apricots – these have a naturally high sugar content
– switch on the juicer or liquidizer and drink them chilled. Or you
could try juicing oranges and carrots, mix them together and keep in the
fridge; this mixture is my favourite, I make this at the beginning of the
week, enough to last
until the weekend, great to reach into the fridge every morning and have
a super energy boosting juice before work!
Carol |