- Today, we're talking about how food can affect
your energy levels.
The other day, I posted up a video about
how there are so many different causes of fatigue.
One of them was nutrients, low-calorie density foods,
and the inability to absorb the nutrients.
We're talking about all three of those things here today.
Now, the first thing we need to start with is
food is energy.
All food you eat will give you energy.
But different foods will give you
a different amount of energy
and different quality of food
will affect your body's ability
to be able to create energy.
Now, at the top is what I would describe as natural,
unprocessed, and nutritious food.
Underneath is what I would class as junk food.
Now, both will give you energy,
but the ones at the top are more likely to have
a more density of nutrients compared to the ones underneath.
Anytime you eat food, it goes into your digestive system,
represented here with the mouth.
As it goes into your digestive system,
it gets broken down into its smallest components.
Now, in the form of vegetables and fruits or carbohydrates,
all carbohydrates get broken down into glucose,
represented here by the g's.
As glucose gets absorbed into your bloodstream,
your blood sugar levels will rise.
But the more sugary or the quicker a food is broken down,
the quicker your blood sugar levels are going to rise.
On this graph here, we have two lines:
the blue line and the red line.
Ideally, what we want is our blood sugar levels
to be stable throughout the day.
We want small rises and small dips in our blood sugar level,
and that's gonna keep us fairly stable
in terms of our energy throughout the day.
But, if we are eating foods such as chocolate, chips,
cookies, fizzy drinks,
things that are high in sugar
and easy for your body to digest,
they will raise your blood sugar levels really quickly
and your body will respond
and it will drop that blood sugar level so quick
that you start to feel really tired.
Here, we can see rapid increases in blood sugar, rapid dips,
and it's at these dips here
that you will start to feel quite lethargic or sleepy.
We wanna try and keep our blood sugar levels stable,
so that's point number one when it comes to energy.
We eat food and food will cause a change in our blood sugar.
The more our blood sugar levels change,
the more they're gonna fall, the faster they're gonna fall,
so we wanna keep that fairly stable.
But the next point to note is that
energy is created inside our cells.
Here, we have a cell.
What happens is glucose from your blood
gets brought into your cells.
Now, you have these little things here called mitochondria,
and they are the power stations of your cells.
They are what pump out energy into your body.
Now, glucose goes into your cell,
it gets processed and it gets converted into energy,
and then the energy will go into the body
and it will make you feel good.
But, one thing I've left out so far,
is everything here in green.
The green represents nutrients.
We can get nutrients more so from these foods
compared to these foods.
Nutrients will also get absorbed into our bodies,
and those nutrients are essential for our body
to be able to create energy.
All of these nutrients written here
are needed in the steps to convert glucose into energy.
If we don't have enough of any one of these things,
that will slow down our cells' ability
to convert glucose into energy.
How does this affect you?
Well, first of all,
if you're not eating enough of this,
then you're not getting enough nutrients.
If you're not getting enough nutrients,
you can't use those nutrients to convert sugar into energy.
The second point is if you are not able to absorb it,
so if you have IBS, Crohn's, ulcerative colitis,
any kind of gut dysfunction,
you will not be able to absorb nutrients as efficiently.
An example of that is if you have low stomach acid,
you're not able to absorb certain nutrients
such as vitamin B.
First of all, we need nutrients to get into our body.
Second of all, we need to be able to absorb those nutrients
in order for our body to be able to use them
to create energy.
Let me just summarize.
We need food, food creates energy.
The more nutritious the food,
the more nutrients can be used
in the processes to create energy.
If we are lacking any of those nutrients,
our bodies are gonna struggle to convert sugar into energy.
We need to make sure we're eating a nutritious diet,
we need to make sure our digestive systems
are working optimally
so we can absorb the nutrients into our body,
and we also need to make sure
that we are not eating foods that are high in sugar
so we get those dips in blood sugar levels
throughout the day.
That's just a really brief overview
of how energy is created in our bodies.
For people who are suffering from chronic fatigue
or just general fatigue, there's a possibility,
and this is not the only reason,
but there is a possibility that maybe
the diet you're eating doesn't have enough nutrients.
There's also a possibility that maybe
you are eating those nutrients
but you're not able to absorb them.
I would suggest get your digestion sorted
and make sure you're eating a good variety of nutrients.
Lastly, I would just advise that perhaps
you're eating enough of these foods.
Again, if you're not eating enough
in terms of the quantity of energy,
then maybe your body just doesn't have enough fuel
to go throughout the day.
There's a few points for you there, guys.
Hopefully, that helps.
Quick overview of how your body uses food for energy.
If you have any questions,
do stick them in the comments section below,
and I will be more than happy to help.