Adding these foods should increase your overall energy levels. Here is a quick bit of ‘simple biochemistry’ to explain more clearly how energy is produced.
A calorie is a way of measuring how much energy is produced from food. It is a confusing and abstract concept, so I tend not to use it in clinic.
What is useful to know however, is that dietary fats produce more than twice the energy of both carbohydrates and protein.
These three together (Fats, Carbs and Protein) are called Macronutrients, as opposed to Micronutrients – vitamins and minerals.
The other interesting fact about dietary fats is that they keep blood sugar very stable. This is because the pancreas does not need to make and release
hardly any insulin when dietary fats are ingested.
Examples of healthy dietary fats I personally eat daily and recommend include;
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Avocado
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All nuts and seeds in general
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Chia seeds
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Coconut and associated products
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Cheese
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Eggs
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Oily fish (cod, salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines ect…)
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Organic grass fed butter
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Olives
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Olive oil
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Pumpkin seeds
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Sunflower seeds
The trick here is to eat these foods in every meal without the refined carbohydrates like bread. This means having things like fried/boiled eggs with ½ or a whole avocado for breakfast without
the bread.
B Vitamins – The Energy Vitamins
B vitamins are a group of vitamins with similar characteristics. They all do something different in the body and contain both a letter, number and technical name.
The numbering system is random because our understanding of B vitamins changed over time. There are 8 main B classes but also some very important types that exist outside of these 8
classes. The numbering system goes like this;
B1 – Thiamine
B2 – Riboflavin
B3 – Niacin
B5 – Pantothenic acid
B6 – Pyridoxine
B7 – Biotin
B9 – Folate
B12 – Cobalamin
B13 – Orotic Acid
B15 – Pantothenic Acid
B17 – Laetrile
The first 8 of these are involved in either direct mitochondria function (energy production in the cell) or the ability to carry oxygen in the bloodstream.
Both of which influence energy production.
Main natural food sources of B vitamins include.
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Dairy
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Eggs
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Fermented foods (tofu, tempah, sauerkraut, kimchi)
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Green leafy vegetables (All)
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Nuts
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Organ meats
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Seeds
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Seafood
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Nutritional yeast