They fill you up and provide muscle-building material without any of the fat that meat can add to your meal. Spinach is a great source of iron, which is a key component in red blood cells that fuel our muscles with oxygen for energy.
But researchers in Sweden recently identified another way in which these greens might keep you charged: Compounds found in spinach actually increase the efficiency of our mitochondria , the energy-producing factories inside our cells. That means eating a cup of cooked spinach a day may give you more lasting power on the elliptical machine or in your daily sprint to catch the bus. Walnuts are packed with tryptophan, an amino acid your body needs to create the feel-great chemical serotonin.
In fact, Spanish researchers found that walnut eaters have higher levels of this natural mood-regulator. Another perk: "They're digested slowly," says Dr. Asparagus is one of the best veggie sources of folate, a B vitamin that could help keep you out of a mental slump. David Mischoulon, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. All of these are crucial for mood. On the surface this lifestyle may seem healthy, but it may include some behaviors that are actually zapping you of energy.
What might seem like the healthiest way to improve your overall health actually may be what's keeping you from achieving your goals. Here are a few ways a so-called "healthy" diet can make you sluggish -- and what you can do to get your energy back on track.
Cutting too many calories. Read More. Food provides the energy you need to stay focused and productive throughout the day. And though sometimes people think if they want to lose weight, they should eat as little as possible, this doesn't work for the long term, said DeRobertis, the creator of the GPS Weight Loss Program , an online self-paced weight loss program.
When someone becomes too restrictive with their intake, metabolism can slow down, and you may feel drained of energy. The foods you should eat to jump-start your morning, and 2 recipes to try out. Eating too infrequently. In another small study of 10 young women, four weeks of dieting led to greater difficulty falling asleep and a decrease in the amount of time spent in deep sleep Undereating has been linked to poor quality sleep, including taking longer to fall asleep and spending less time in deep sleep.
Indeed, irritability was one of several issues experienced by young men who underwent calorie restriction as part of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment during World War II Your own needs may be lower, of course.
A more recent study of college and high school students also found that irritability was associated with dieting and restrictive eating patterns Prolonged low calorie intake and restrictive eating patterns have been linked to irritability and moodiness.
Your body needs to burn a certain number of calories in order to create heat and maintain a healthy, comfortable body temperature. In a six-year controlled study of 72 middle-aged adults, those who consumed an average of 1, calories daily had significantly lower body temperatures than the groups who consumed 2,—2, calories, regardless of physical activity In a separate analysis of the same study, the calorie-restricted group experienced a decrease in T3 thyroid hormone levels, whereas the other groups did not.
T3 is a hormone that helps maintain body temperature, among other functions Consuming too few calories can lead to a decrease in body temperature, which may be due in part to lower levels of T3 thyroid hormone. Constipation is typically described as having three or fewer bowel movements per week or having small, hard stools that are difficult to pass.
This is very common in older people and can be worsened by poor diet. This was true even if they got plenty of fiber, often considered the most important factor for proper bowel function Dieting and eating too little food may also cause constipation in younger people due to a slowed metabolic rate.
In a study of college-aged women, the strictest dieters were most likely to have constipation and other digestive problems Strict dieting and under-eating can lead to constipation, partly due to less waste product to form stool and slower movement of food through the digestive tract. Although dieting itself may lead to moodiness, outright anxiety can occur in response to very low calorie intake.
Although overeating increases the risk of developing health problems, under-eating can also be problematic. This is especially true with severe or chronic calorie restriction. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. The Rise of the Cleanfluencer. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses.
You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. All fluids — except alcoholic beverages — count toward your daily water requirements. That includes water, milk, unsweetened juices, tea and coffee. You rely on caffeine to stay alert. Cut yourself off caffeine by noon.
One or two cups of coffee can boost mental alertness, but drinking more can overstimulate your central nervous system and cause insomnia. Caffeine blocks the action of adenosine, a brain chemical that causes drowsiness by slowing down nerve-cell activity. Women of child-bearing age should limit caffeine intake to milligrams per day; other healthy adults should consume no more than mg daily.
One 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee has 95 mg to mg of caffeine, one cup of black tea has 14 mg to 70 mg and one cup of green tea has 25 mg to 45 mg. A nightcap or two before bed may help you fall asleep, but it disrupts sleep by causing you to wake up in the second half of the night.
Even imbibing during happy hour or at dinner, without further consumption before bedtime, can increase wakefulness during the night. Consuming more than two drinks can also steal time spent in REM sleep, the stage important for memory and learning. Plus, alcohol dehydrates you, which can worsen fatigue the next day. So, limit your intake to one alcoholic drink per day.
An iron deficiency, even without anemia, can cause fatigue and lethargy. Iron-rich foods include beef, turkey, chicken, pork loin, tuna, halibut, oysters, clams, ready-to-eat breakfast cereal, soybeans, lentils, baked beans, black beans, firm tofu, cooked spinach, raisins and prune juice.
Menstruating women should take a multivitamin and mineral supplement to help meet daily iron requirements 18 mg, or 32 mg for vegetarians.
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