During crunch time and under stress, what you eat can either bring your energy level up or down.

When under stress, your body needs more nutrients to maintain its energy level. Stress affects your body’s ability to absorb and increases your daily nutrient requirement. Vitamin C, for example, is most important during stress. Inadequate Vitamin C can lead to stress and fatigue and even lowers the defense of your immune system. During stress, your body is more vulnerable to diseases.

Sugar and caffeine actually aggravate stress.  These may give you a temporary lift, but in the long run it makes you feel more tired. Sugar and caffeine may cause problems in your blood sugar levels and brain chemistry. I’ll be talking about hormonal response to blood sugar quite a bit down the road quite a bit down the road. 

To deal with stress and to avoid falling into fatigue during crunch time, it is best to load up on vitamins and minerals, avoid the simple sugars and stay we unprocessed, slowly digested foods.

Fruits and vegetables are teeming with vitamins and minerals – they can take care of your increased nutrient requirements. For fruits and vegetables rich in Vitamin C in particular, red bell pepper, cucumber and citrus fruits are examples. For other nutrient requirements, colorful vegetables like carrots and green vegetables like broccoli are excellent sources of nutrients.

Foods using garlic, ginger or onion as spices or ingredients are excellent additions to your diet.

It also goes without saying that you should reconsider coffee and sweets as your energy sources. They only give a temporary high but not long-term energy.

And don’t forget the usual energy fuel – carbohydrates. Healthy sources of carbohydrates are whole grains, corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Eat healthy to keep your energy level up!

Bookmark to: