Do you feel tired all the time? Low on energy? You might be running low on the vitamins and minerals necessary to help your body convert food into energy.
With a busy schedule, you need energy and lots of it. You can’t afford to put low quality fuel into your body.
Asking your body to maintain a busy schedule while eating a poor diet is like asking a car to run the Indianapolis 500 with sugar in the gas tank. You just aren’t going to get very far! You’ll be exhausted and irritable all the time. You also won’t be able to enjoy your life to the fullest.
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Below is my list of top 10 high energy foods – okay, I cheated a little on number 10 because it isn’t a food but still very important to maintaining your energy levels.
After the list, I will explain why these foods and others like them are important for energy production. I listed them in order – those that contain the most energy-building vitamins and minerals to the least:
- Whole Grains
- Fatty fish (especially Salmon and Tuna*)
- Sunflower seeds
- Dairy products (Milk and Yogurt)
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Nuts
- Mushrooms
- Beef
- Water
* If you are pregnant or nursing, limit your tuna servings to 2 a week due to concerns with mercury in this type of fish.
Vitamins and minerals are organic nutrients that the body uses to maintain normal metabolism and health. Vitamins function as chemical partners for the enzymes involved in cell production and tissue repair. Minerals help facilitate the absorption of vitamins.
The food you eat is the primary source for these elements since most cannot be manufactured in the body. Let’s focus on the vitamins and minerals responsible for energy maintenance.
Vitamins That Enhance Energy
- Thiamin (Vitamin B1) is essential for helping the body convert carbohydrates into energy. Foods that are good sources of thiamin are beans and peas, whole grains, brewer’s yeast, and sunflower seeds.
- Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) and Niacin also help us use the energy obtained from our food more effectively. Sources of Riboflavin include milk, yogurt, mushrooms, and whole grains. Niacin food sources are mushrooms, whole grains, tuna, salmon, chicken, and beef.
- Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) assists in protein metabolism. Foods high in Pyridoxine include spinach, bananas, soybeans, sunflower seeds, tuna and beef.
Minerals That Enhance Energy
Several minerals also assist in energy metabolism. These minerals are Phosphorus, Zinc, Iodine, Copper, and Chromium. Here are the food sources for these minerals:
- Phosphorus: Dairy products, poultry, fish, eggs, whole grains, nuts, seeds
- Zinc: Poultry, fish, eggs, whole grains
- Iodine: Salt-water fish, dairy products
- Copper: Seafood, nuts, seeds
- Chromium: Egg yolks, whole grains
In addition to these foods, you want to maintain a varied diet of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein sources for good health and energy. With all of these foods, you want to use moderation in your portion sizes since overeating also drains your energy.
Let’s not forget the most important nutrient of all – water. Your body is composed of 60 to 70 percent water. Because so many of our bodily functions depend on water, it is estimated that you can only live for four days without it. Your body does not have a mechanism to store excess water, so you must take certain measures to ensure that you maintain an adequate water intake.
You lose up to twelve cups of water per day through various means, so you need a continual supply of fresh, clean water to keep your system flushed and running cleanly. Another good reason to drink plenty of water is that when you become dehydrated, your thinking becomes impaired. Lack of adequate water also has a profound effect on your energy levels.
So how much water should you drink per day? Most experts recommend that you take your body weight and divide that number by 2 (half) to determine how many ounces of water you need to consume per day. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you would need 80 ounces of water per day, which would translate into 10 8-oz. glasses of water daily. At the very least, strive for 8 glasses of water per day.
Be blessed with health, healing, and wholeness,
Kimberly Taylor
Author/Christian Life Coach of the Take Back Your Temple program
P.S. When it comes to weight loss, do you often know what you should do but have a hard time doing it?
I struggled with this issue on my own weight loss journey, but I discovered that “Nothing is different until you think differently.”
The value of the Take Back Your Temple program is that you will learn how to think differently through using Biblical keys to overcome obstacles. You’ll discover how to win the Spiritual and mental battle that often causes us to become inconsistent and get off-track on our weight loss journey.
Join a community of like-minded Christians losing weight and keep it off.
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I’m hoping this works for me. I’m so exhausted lately. I’m taking care of my husband after major spinal fusion and I just can’t keep up with him, he needs me right now and ‘ve run out of energy
Hello Kimberly, thanks so much for this. I will put what I’ve learnt from you to work and I trust God will use them to make a difference in my energy level.
Do whole grains include brown rice?
Yes, brown rice falls into that category and it is one of my favorites 🙂
Thank you so much!
Hey Kim, thanks for the article. I’ve been feeling very sluggish as of late. Its so bad that once I’m home from work, I don’t want to move. Every chore feels like Mt Everest. Any way, I really want to turn my life around and after trying again and again I realized that I don’t have the energy necessary to achieve those goals. So I need to start focusing on my health first.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Kim! I have been researching for days and have never read a simple and extremely useful article as yours! GOD BLESS YOU MIGHTILY!!!
I’ve just had flu and have really low energy levels.I’m looking for the fastest quick fix to restore the energy levels.
Lots of good advice here.
Drinking lots of water is in no way bad for you, and even drinking 8 at once isn’t enough to intoxicate you. People who work out regularly drink up to two litres a day. Drinking so little water coupled with dry, salty, high energy foods will only dehydrate you.
Just so that people aren’t misinformed – it is very dangerous, and DEADLY actually to consume 8 glasses of water DAILY. Yes, your body needs that amount of water but keep in mind that your body will naturally absorb H2O from various foods that you eat. Mosts foods that we consume already contain water. At the most, 3-4 glasses of water a day is enough unless you physically feel the need to drink more. But drinking 8 glasses a day for an extended amount of time can be fatal.
I agree that consuming 8 glasses of water (64 ounces) in a short period of time (like within 30 minutes or 1 hour) has the potential to be dangerous because it can cause water intoxication. However, I have never heard that consuming 8 glasses of water in one day (over a 16 hour period) is fatal. I have never seen a report of someone dying if they consume 8 glasses of water in a day and would be interested in your source for this viewpoint. I’ve done it myself for several years with no ill effects and others have as well.
I am so afraid to eat the recommended foods because of the carbs….the only way I have ever been able to lose any weight is by eating low carb
Hi Barb – I believe that you can enjoy foods the way God made them in moderation. The only higher carb food type on this list are whole grains. Because they are higher in fiber, the body digests them more slowly so you don’t run into the problems that you might by eating white flour carbs. The majority of foods on this list are those higher in protein so there is no need to fear – again, as long as you eat them in moderation.
This information is so vital. Many people truly do not understand how eating from these tips can completely change their health forever. It can prevent cancer, help you lose weight or give you energy you never knew you could have. Thank you for all the wonderful advice. Best of luck to everyone and God Bless : )
This energy tips is very nice
Thanks a lot. This is so easy to understand and act upon. Your information will certainly help in building healthy practice in the area of my feeding.
Glad that the information is helping you, Sharon! God bless you 🙂