You would think the more you eat equals more fuel in the tank and therefore more energy throughout the day. Right? This is in fact incorrect! The more food and calories you consume during the day does not necessarily mean more energy. One of
the most asked questions by my clients are how ca I eat less but still have the energy at the same time. It’s quite simple and involves a few factors – quality, quantity and blood sugar levels.
Eat Quality / Nutritional Value:
The higher quality of the food and nutritional value = the better you feel. Eating a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, proteins and healthy fats contain a high amount of vitamins and minerals essential for our bio-chemical pathways within
the body. This then allows our body to function effectively providing B vitamins for energy production and stress support, essential fatty acids for immunity and to reduce inflammation, calcium and magnesium for healthy muscles,
bones, energy, metabolism and cardiovascular health.
Portion Control / Quantity:
How much are you eating in one sitting? Portion control is important because our body can only breakdown and digest a certain quantity of food at a time. For example, our digestive system works a lot better in the mornings – eating a larger breakfast or lunch compared to dinner will help the absorption of vitamins and minerals into the bloodstream and reduce bloating, wind and malabsorption issues. Smaller more frequent meals work for some of my clients and not so much for others. It is important to determine how you feel throughout the day after eating, if you get hungry a lot throughout the day, you are better to have small nutritious snacks more regularly. Compared with other clients who eat a meal and feel satisfied for a few hours afterwards, you may not need to eat in between meals. Everyone’s digestive system is different. You don’t want to be eating for the sake of eating – this increases your intake of calories during the day and may lead to weight increase.
Stabilise Energy Levels / Blood Sugar Regulation:
The best way to stabilise your energy levels is to eat foods high in protein and healthy fats rather than highly refined carbohydrates. Why? Proteins and healthy fatty acids take longer to be broken down in the digestive tract and therefore the release of glucose into the bloodstream is a gradual increase for a longer period of time. Compared to consuming high dense carbohydrates like two pieces of white bread with jam, this will cause a spike in blood sugar levels rather quickly, then a dramatic fall. This is when you feel like curling up at work to have a nap straight after lunch. You want to be consuming foods with a low glycaemic index throughout the day.
High Medium And Low Glycemic Index Foods
- A high GI value is 70 or more
- A medium GI value is 56-69
- A low GI value is less than 55 = More energy for longer!
* Indicates foods high in fat & should only be consumed in small amounts.
| LOW | MEDIUM | HIGH |
| Cereals | ||
| AllBran, Fruit ‘n oats, Toasted muesli*, Frosties, rolled oats, porridge, Guardian, oat bran, Komplete oven baked muesli, oat/rice bran, Special K, |
Special K, untoasted muesli, Bran Buds, Just Right, Mini Wheats, Vitabrits, Nutrigrain, Sustain, Weetbix, Honey Smacks, untoasted muesli, shredded wheat, , .
|
Cornflakes, Sultana Bran, Branflakes, Cocopops, Puffed Wheat, Rice Bubbles, Rice Chex, Wheat bites, Breakfast bars, Oat in honey bake, Team, Total, wheat bites, corn bran
|
| Breads | ||
| Burgen Oat bran bread (31) or multigrain bread or soy-linseed bread (19) or fruit bread, kibbled barley, Holsom’s wholemeal, 9 grain mutigrain, fruit loaf, pumpernickel, sourdough rye, stoneground wholemeal, Ploughman’s loaf, Vogel Honey & Oat. |
Pita bread, croissant*, crumpet, white bread, hamburger bun, light rye bread, sourdough, rye, wholemeal bread, pizza. |
White, Bagels, waffles Wonderwhite, Dark Rye bread, French baguette, melba toast, Gluten-free bread. |
| Crackers/Crispbreads/Biscuits/Cakes | ||
| Jatz*, oatmeal, rich tea biscuits, banana cake, pound cake, apple muffin, sponge cake.
|
Ryvita, Saos, Jatz, Breton wheat, stoned wheat thins, digestives,oatmeal, milk arrowroot, shredded wheatmeals, shortbread, flans, angel food cake* muesli bars with fruit, bran muffins, Blueberry muffin, flaky pastry.
|
Kavli, water crackers, rice cakes, pretzels, crackerbread, puffed crispbread, morning coffee, vanilla wafer, donuts (cinnamon). |
| Grains/Pasta | ||
| Wheat pasta, noodles, egg fettucine, vermicelli, meat ravioli, macaroni, tortellini, spaghetti, long grain white rice, pearl barley, buckwheat, bulgur, semolina, cracked wheat, popcorn. |
Buckwheat, brown rice, Doongara, Basmati rice, taco shells, gnocchi, couscous, maize cornmeal, macaroni cheese (packet). |
Sunbrown quick rice, Calrose shortgrain rice, Instant cooked, tapioca, Corn chips, millet, rice pasta. |
| Legumes/nuts | ||
| Soya beans, kidney beans, lentils, butter beans, chick peas, haricot beans, lentils, baked beans, bengal gram, blackeyed beans all nuts
|
Green gram dahl, green pea soup, split pea soup. |
Broad beans, lima beans, pinto beans. |
| Vegetables | ||
| Green peas, sweet corn, sweet potato, carrots. potato crisps*
|
New canned potatoes, new potatoes, beetroot. |
French fries*, baked potatoes, pumpkin, parsnip, potatoes (Pontiac, Sebago, Desiree, instant). |
| Fruit | ||
| Cherries, plums, grapefruit, peaches, apples, pears, dried apricots, grapes, kiwi fruit, oranges, jam. |
Mango, paw paw, sultanas, bananas (just ripe), raisins, rockmelon, pineapple, fresh apricots, canned fruit in syrup.
|
watermelon, very ripe “medium fruits”. dates
|
| Dairy Foods | ||
| Whole milk, skim milk, chocolate milk, low fat flavoured yoghurt, artificially sweetened yoghurt, low fat ice-cream*, custard, soy milk |
Icecream (full fat). |
Tofu frozen dessert Vitari frozen fruit
|
| Sugars | ||
| Fructose (fruit sugar). Nutella
|
Lactose (milk sugar), Sucrose, honey. |
Glucose, Glucodin, jellybeans, lifesavers, maltose. |
| Beverages | ||
| Apple juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice, Sustagen. |
Cordial, Fanta. |
Lucozade, Gatorade, Sports Plus. |
