{"id":8647,"date":"2022-11-18T15:04:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T15:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vegetariantimes.com\/how-can-i-eat-to-boost-my-energy\/"},"modified":"2022-11-18T15:04:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T15:04:23","slug":"yes-you-can-eat-to-boost-your-energy-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/18\/yes-you-can-eat-to-boost-your-energy-heres-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, You Can Eat to Boost Your Energy. Here\u2019s How"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We humans, we\u2019re creatures of habit. Which means that time changes\u2014be it Daylight Saving or traveling to a different part of the country\u2014can leave us feeling sluggish.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, sleep and exercise can help right the ship, but so can your diet. Dr. Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, explains that if you were to view glycogen (our muscles\u2019 energy source) under a powerful microscope, it would look like a long, branching string of beads. Each \u201cbead\u201d is a molecule of glucose, or simple sugar. Marathoners eat lots of rice, bread, pasta, and other starchy foods, because when starches are digested, they release glucose that the body stores in the muscles and liver, like extra batteries.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy two favorite endurance athletes are Brendan Brazier and Scott Jurek. Most people would be proud to have run a marathon,\u201d Barnard says.  \u201cBrazier leads the pack in Ironman triathlons and 50-kilometer ultramarathons, and is as particular about food as a Formula One driver is about racing fuel.\u201d Brazier\u2019s diet is loaded with healthful carbohydrates. Barnard goes on to explain that early in his racing career, Brazier found that animal products slowed his recovery after exercise. His energy returns quickly with a totally vegan diet, and he\u2019s ready to compete again.<\/p>\n

And perhaps no one has more energy than Scott Jurek. In 1999, Jurek entered the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run. He and 334 other runners set off running, and not only did Jurek win that race \u2014he won the race every year for the next six years, setting the course record in 2004 at 15:36:27. Like Brendan, explains Barnard, Jurek leaves animal products off the menu, and sticks to a high-carb, vegan menu instead.<\/p>\n

If the marathoners\u2019 menu\u2014rice, bread, pasta, and other starchy foods\u2014sounds like a dream come true, it\u2019s important to remember that not all carbs are equal. For energy, you want carbohydrates with staying power and consulting the Glycemic Index Chart can help guide the way.<\/p>\n

Foods that score high on the index, such as sugar, white and wheat breads, white potatoes, and most cold cereals, digest too rapidly and cause your blood sugar to spike. Then, as your blood sugar falls, your energy flags and cravings kick in. Another reason to avoid high-glycemic-index foods? They tend to boost serotonin in the brain, which can make you sleepy.<\/p>\n

But low glycemic-index foods have a much gentler effect on blood sugar, helping stabilize energy without highs and lows. Some good choices are oatmeal, beans, rye or pumpernickel bread, pasta (yes, even if it\u2019s made of white flour, it has a low glycemic index), yams, and sweet potatoes.<\/p>\n

Foods That Drag You Down<\/h2>\n

In addition to sugary and high glycemic-index foods, fatty foods are also problematic. \u201cYou know the slowdown that many people experience after a meal, especially after huge holiday dinners loaded with meat, cheese, and gravy? It turns out that animal fats\u2014\u2014and any sort of saturated fats\u2014\u2014make the blood more viscous, or \u201cthicker,\u201d Barnard says. \u201cYour blood becomes more like oil and less like water. I suspect that is the main reason many people feel tired after heavy meals, and it\u2019s also why so many people who go vegan notice that their energy increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coffee and energy drinks might provide short-term pep, but the main function of drinking caffeinated beverages every morning is to combat the withdrawal that comes from having had them the day before. \u201cCaffeine withdrawal reduces alertness and mental clarity, and causes headaches,\u201d Barnard explains. \u201cA morning cup of coffee simply hoists you temporarily out of your withdrawal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Energy drinks such as Red Bull combine caffeine (about the same amount as in a small cup of coffee) with the amino acid taurine and other additives to increase alertness and boost athletic performance. Whether its effects are caused by caffeine or by its other ingredients are not yet clear, but many people report a withdrawal syndrome very much like caffeine.<\/p>\n

For sustained energy that doesn\u2019t leave you dragging, the bottom line is simple: Get a good night\u2019s sleep, exercise regularly, eat plenty of healthful complex carbs and plant-based protein, and skip the sugar, fatty foods, and caffeine. After that, you should have energy to burn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Yes,<\/figure>\n

Find energy naturally through foods and good habits.<\/p>\n

The post Yes, You Can Eat to Boost Your Energy. Here’s How<\/a> appeared first on Yoga Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,35,36],"class_list":["post-8647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ayurveda","tag-blogs","tag-yoga","tag-yogacourseware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}