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Hi Reader!

Do you want to have more energy? Of course you do! Having plenty of energy gives you a feeling of well-being, stamina, and vitality. You can perform your daily physical, mental, and social activities optimally.

We all feel tired from time to time. Fatigue is an adaptive or helpful response from your body trying to protect you from overworking. It's a signal that it's time to pause the physical or mental exertion and to rest or sleep. However, when fatigue persists, it might indicate an underlying problem like an acute or chronic illness, a nutrient deficiency, or depression.

Today, I'd like to review some food-related causes of persistent fatigue and what you can do nutrition-wise to improve your energy level.

Vitamins and minerals in energy production

Vitamins and minerals are essential in various metabolic processes that affect mental and physical fatigue.

​Iron, B12, B6, and B9 are crucial for the health of your red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to tissues and organs. Because oxygen plays a vital role in energy production, an insufficient supply will result in less efficient energy production. Iron, B12, or folic acid deficiencies will result in anemia. Your doctor usually diagnoses anemia based on your blood test results. You should take supplemental iron or B vitamins, depending on the type of anemia.

In addition, all B vitamins, iron, and magnesium are required in chemical reactions that burn nutrients for energy production.

Vitamin deficiencies are not common these days, except in specific cases. You might be at risk for a less-than-optimal supply of blood-building and energy-producing vitamins and minerals if:

• You are a vegetarian and especially a vegan. Because animal flesh is the best source of iron and B vitamins, your diet lacks those nutrients.
• You take acid-reducing medication for a long time, it can result in difficulty absorbing those nutrients.
• Your digestive secretions are not optimal, making it difficult to absorb nutrients.

You can safely take a B-complex, but I don't recommend supplementing iron unless your blood test indicates iron deficiency. You can eat some steak, chicken, or beef liver, which will provide plenty of iron and B vitamins to see if your energy improves.

Blood sugar rollercoaster

When you feel tired, do you eat to remedy that? It makes sense, as we burn nutrients from food for energy production. So if you lack energy, why not throw some fuel into the furnace, right? Except, a healthy body is not supposed to feel tired when it needs fuel; it's supposed to feel hungry. Hunger is the internal cue to eat, not fatigue, lack of concentration, or irritability.

Suppose it's been a while since the last meal. In that case, a healthy body seamlessly switches to burning stores: glycogen and fat, without our awareness, dips in energy, or any other perceivable changes. By the way, we are also not supposed to feel energized after a meal, but rather satisfied, satiated, or just no longer hungry.

If your energy levels fluctuate before and after a meal, chances are, you are eating unbalanced meals that spike your blood sugar. After a blood sugar spike, there's a subsequent drop that we often experience as hunger, tiredness, or sleepiness. The solution is to balance the diet for stable blood sugar.

Fun Facts About Mental and Physical Fatigue

Our brain and muscles are our body's most metabolically active parts, even at rest. Mental and physical fatigue are experienced when the brain or muscles don't meet their energy demands.

Muscle energy demands fluctuate considerably, depending on intensity and duration of physical activity. And our muscles can generate energy with remarkable precision to match the demand. Muscles store glucose in the form of glycogen for easily accessible nutrient sources during physical activity. One of the reasons our muscles fatigue is due to overheating, which in turn, limits energy production.

Our brain consumes about 20% of our daily energy and, unlike muscles, our brain is always active, even when we sleep. Mental work increases the brain's energy demands by only 5%.

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I'll be in touch in two weeks, take care!

Olga