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5 Food Related Ways to Keep Your Energy Level High
The Resourceful Mother’s Tips to Controlling Blood Sugar
Many of us would describe ourselves as “tired” each and every day. Some of us even wake up tired! I am seeing more and more people addicted to coffee and chocolate in order to keep their energy levels up. There is a better way! We need our energy in order to be good to ourselves, our spouses, our children, our friends and even to strangers. We also need energy in order to accomplish our life purpose. And how can we feel joy each day when we are tired? It is next to impossible.
Why do we reach for caffeine and sugar? We reach for these foods because our bodies know that our blood sugar is low and that these foods will spike our blood sugar. However, what we don’t know is that after we eat these foods, we experience a crazy drop in blood sugar that makes us even more tired than we were prior eating these foods!
What we create are ups and downs in our blood sugar that create the following:
- Mood swings
- Brain fog
- Irritability
- Memory loss
- Depression or anger without reason
- Anxiety or panic attacks
- Inability to concentrate
- Phobic/compulsive behaviors
- Fatigue
- Further caffeine, sweet or bread cravings
When you see a child in the mall screaming, crying or having tantrums, either it is their nap time, mom or dad has kept them shopping too long, they are over-stimulated or they have low blood sugar! When you and your spouse are spending a lovely afternoon together and he just suddenly snaps, take a look at when he ate last – is his blood sugar low? When you struggle to finish a project that you have been working on for 3 hours because your concentration is waning, when did you eat last?Here are 5 simple, tried and true techniques for keeping your energy levels up all day long. They apply to adults as well as children. Try implementing one or more of these ideas and then let me know if you notice the difference:
- Eat small meals every 2-3 hours all day long, stopping around 6 or 7pm at night.
- Eat a protein with a starch for optimal blood sugar control. Healthy examples of protein are beans, lentils, chickpeas, fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, spirulina, and quinoa. Healthy examples of starches include spelt, kamut, quinoa, brown rice, white basmati rice, and baked, steamed or broiled potatoes.
- Eliminate foods to which you react i.e. dairy, wheat, and sugar, as the most common reaction to foods is fatigue.
- Reduce or eliminate caffeine and refined sugar
- Drink filtered water throughout the day
Some foods that actually help stabilize blood sugar are cinnamon, almonds, spirulina, onion and garlic – there are many more. Green tea is a perfect warm drink to have each morning and even throughout the day – it’s all-natural, contains caffeine, has many health benefits and does not mess with our blood sugar.
When my daughter was a toddler, she used to wake up each morning screaming. Unbeknownst to me, she had low blood sugar. Thank goodness these ideas helped me turn this situation around. Now, our whole family gets a happy start to each day. I drive by the people in the Tim Horton’s line-up and am grateful that I don’t need to join their ranks, even though I love Tim Horton’s coffee, and thoroughly enjoy my five cups a year!
How about you? Do you have a story to share? I love receiving feedback. Here on my blog, you will get commentluv. That’s a plug in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave a comment.
Until next time,
Meredith
