What if anything can help increase energy? I am exhausted most of the time. I work outside one day and Im done for the week. It takes me that long to get back to normal. I have so much work to do, inside, outside and with school cant keep doing this tired suff.
I dont do the energy drinks and crap either. I actually want something healthy and safe.
Ashly, I'll be 61 years old this August, and I can work outside for 13 hours a day, coming inside only for a 15 minute lunch and to use the flusher. And I mean I WORK! Yesterday I had my chainsaw going for four hours, working alongside my husband. We had three dozen 40 year old pines cut down just south of the house a few months ago. They were 65 feet tall, and only the bottom 40 feet were taken. All the branches were left behind, and 20' or so of the tops, so we've been working to remove all the refuse.
So, when you say you want something healthy, think about what is supposed to give you energy... carbs! However, we know that too many carbs can cause a sudden "high" and then a crash. I have looked into different diets for years, and what I do seems to help me and give me the energy I need. My breakfast is always one of two things that I switch on and off: high-protein with a "few" carbs. I will either have three eggs plus bacon or sausage, along with a side of broccoli, peas, whole grain toast, or maybe a small serving of oatmeal. It's a lot for me to eat at one sitting, but I go outside and work for two or three hours without breakfast, and then come in and eat that. If I don't have the eggs, I have my "health drink" which is a cup of greek non-fat, unflavored yogurt, blended with a half cup of berries, two tablespoons of Nutiva's Protein Hemp Powder (at Amazon), plus a tablespoon of ground flax seed, all put in a blender with a cup of either soy or almond milk, unflavored and unsweetened.
When I have either of those breakfasts, like at 9 or 10 AM, I don't eat again until 4:30 or 5. I'm just not hungry and I have the energy to go all day because I get lots of high quality protein and a few high quality carbs. I'll eat a normal supper around 7 PM, but small portions. I also love my sweets! But I've learned to cut back on them. Like, instead of eating my ice cream at night in a soup bowl, I learned to put it in a much smaller custard cup! Instead of eating a 6 oz bar of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate in one sitting, I now just buy the Dove dark chocolate pieces, individually wrapped, and will only eat three or four of them. Sugar, I've found, makes me tired. The science behind this is real, too, so it's not in my head.
For my entire life I only weighed about 122 lbs, but in recent years my weight went up to 138 lbs. I dieted, got it down to 130 lbs, and have kept it there for four years, but I do NOT count calories... ever! I think that just eating more high-quality carbs and fewer empty carbs, and lots of protein, I'm able to have the energy and keep the weight off as well.
