I know what it’s like to always feel tired. In fact, I used to nap daily, go to bed early, and still have a hard time getting up in the morning. I felt like 14 hours of sleep was not enough to get me through the day. In this post, I want to share exactly how I was able to reclaim my life and heal my body through diet and natural supplements for energy.
Food: The Ultimate Natural Energy Booster
Like in any of my posts that aim to inform you about natural supplements, I like to start with food. Food is the number one way to transform your health and improve your energy naturally. Some foods are natural energy boosters while others drain your energy.
Foods That Boost Your Energy
Some foods are natural energy boosters. Here are some foods that are commonly recommended to increase energy:
- Bananas: Bananas are an excellent source of carbohydrates, potassium, and vitamin B6, which all tend to increase energy production.
- Salmon: A serving of salmon is enough to fill your daily need of Omega-3, which helps reduce inflammation. Inflammation is a common cause of fatigue. That’s why taking Omega-3 has been shown to increase energy.
- Sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of carbohydrates, manganese and vitamin A. Since they pack a lot of fiber, the energy they provide is assimilated at a steady pace.
- Water: Drinking more water can improve your energy since fatigue can be caused by dehydration. Drink half your body weight (in pounds) in ounces of water.
- Dark chocolate: Cocoas has just enough natural caffeine to give you an energy boost. In fact, I have become quite sensitive to the effect of caffeine and just eating chocolate chip cookies in the evening will disrupt my sleep. Make sure you choose your chocolate wisely and don’t overindulge. Choose chocolate that has a cocoa content of 70% or more. Added bonus, you will get a powerful dose of antioxidants.
- Avocados: Avocados are rich in healthy fats and fiber.
- Leafy greens: Leafy greens are high in many energy-producing nutrients like iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamins A, C, E, and K.
Foods That Rob You of Your Energy
If you struggle with chronic fatigue, an elimination diet to discern your food sensitivities is a good idea. Eating foods you are sensitive to will cause inflammation in your body and make you feel tired. The Paleo Diet is a great place to start. Read Paleo Diet 101 to learn everything you need to know to go Paleo. Here are the main foods to avoid because they will drain your energy:
- Refined flours: Refined flour and processed snacks with sugar will raise your insulin level and cause a drop in energy after the initial boost.
- Refined sugars: There are more than 50 names for various types of refined sugars. Here are just a few: high-fructose corn syrup, white sugar, maltose, and dextrose. Stick to honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar in moderation.
- Excess alcohol: Excess alcohol will interfere with your sleep and will cause you to feel fatigued.
- Vegetable oils: Vegetable oils are inflammatory and should be avoided.
- Dairy: Approximately 65 percent of the human population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy. Moreover, unless your dairy products are raw, they have very little nutritional value. It’s best to avoid dairy if you want to increase your energy.
Energy Supplements That Work
Many energy supplements contain caffeine. It’s ok depending on your goal and in moderation. I love to use a bit of caffeine to fuel my workouts, but too much caffeine will exhaust your adrenals. Energy supplements that work right away usually contain caffeine. Natural supplements made from herbs will take longer to work, but they still do. Let’s go over the main natural supplements that yield results.
Natural supplements for Energy, Mood, and Focus
These are natural supplements that will boost your energy, mood and focus without caffeine:
- Rhodiola rosea Extract: Rhodiola rosea is considered an adaptogen, which means it helps your body adapt to stress. Its adaptogenic properties help relieve fatigue.
- Moringa Leaf: Moringa improves energy by providing iron and vitamin D to the body.
- Vitamin C: Vitamin C is a well-known antioxidant that improves your energy by helping your body absorb iron and improving your immune function.
- American Ginseng: American Gingseng may help relieve fatigue.
- Bee Pollen: Bee pollen relieves inflammation and works as an antioxidant.
- Ginkgo Biloba leaf extract: Ginko Biloba is also an antioxidant that fights inflammation. It also improves your circulation and brain function.
- Beetroot Powder: Beetroot powder boosts your cognitive function and your athletic performance. Moreover, it fights inflammation.
- Spirulina: Spirulina fights inflammation and helps improve anemia. Furthermore, it may help with blood sugar control which improves your energy.
- Cordy-Gen Mushroom: The Cordy-Gen mushroom is a type of Cordyceps, which improve immune function and energy levels.
Does Vitamin B6 Help Improve Energy?
Vitamin B6, along with the other vitamins, helps the body turn food into energy. When people think of B vitamins for energy, they often think of B-12. Vitamin B-12 is well known to improve energy. It is most abundant in animal products and nutritional yeast. People with vitamin B12 deficiency may get injections to quickly and effectively improve their levels. My list of the Top 7 Most Effective Natural Supplements for Energy doesn’t include the B vitamins because it’s best to supplements with whole superfoods rather than isolated vitamins.
What About Vitamin Q10 for Energy?
CoEnzyme Q10 (CoQ10) helps your cells produce energy. CoQ10 production decreases as you age. Furthermore, it is also a crucial antioxidant that helps the body perform its functions. Again, I prefer whole food sources such as:
- High-quality meat (organ meat and pasture-raised meat)
- Fatty fish such as salmon
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Legumes
- Nuts and seeds
Tops 7 Most Effective Natural Supplements for Energy
What I love about my top 7 most effective natural supplements for energy is that they contain the effective ingredients we just talked about. These high-quality natural energy supplements actually work because they take all the best nature has to offer and put them in formulations that work in synergy.
1. Revive-It-All
Decreased energy and cognitive abilities are not due to the lack of signals sent out by the brain. Rather, our neuro-receptor sites fail to receive them. You can improve the function of your neuro-receptor sites by using Revive-It-All, which contains Acetyl L-Carnitine HCI, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Rice Bran, GliSODin®, and Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract.
Alpha Lipoic Acid is an antioxidant that helps repair cell damage and stabilizes blood sugar levels, rice bran (as well as navy beans) helps heal your gut lining. GliSoDin is a powerful antioxidant complex.
2. Can’t Beet This!
Can’t Beet This! is low in sugar and delivers oxygen and nutrients to your body to fuel workouts and keep endurance strong. This is the only product on this list that contains naturally occurring caffeine. It contains beetroot juice powder, maca root, cordyceps mushrooms, yerba mate, and moringa leaf.
3. C From Nature
Vitamin C is one of the first vitamins that started giving me results I could actually feel more than a decade ago. C From Nature is an all natural vitamin C supplement. It is a powerful combination of Indian Amalaki, Acerola, Camu Camu, Rosehips and citrus bioflavonoids. I have been loving my C from Nature, it has improved my energy and helped my system fight off various illnesses.
4. Bee Energetic
Bee Energetic contains nature’s most energizing foods without ephedrine or added caffeine. It contains American Ginseng, Bee Pollen, Spirulina, Cordy-Gen This powerful blend of plant powders can help build-up immune systems and support adrenal glands while giving you the sustained energy you really need.
5- Super Meal LOV
Super Meal LOV is composed of 30+ pure, premium, natural, whole-food ingredients. It supports a healthy immune function and increases energy by flooding your body with nutrients and a healthy dose of essential fatty acids. I mentioned before are essential fatty acids decrease inflammation, which in turn increases your energy. Super Meal LOV contains green superfoods such as spirulina and alfalfa, a mushroom blend, a vegetable blend, a sea vegetable blend, and the amazing adaptogen Rhodiola rosea.
6. BiomeMedic
BiomeMedic is another product that has changed my life. It’s an effective multipurpose probiotic that has been shown to decrease inflammation which is measured by the inflammation marker C-Reactive.
7. Apothe-Cherry
Apothe-Cherry is one of my all-time top 3 natural supplements. It will give you the best sleep of your life on top of providing you with a powerful dose of antioxidants. Of course, high-quality sleep means more energy! Tart cherries contain naturally-occurring melatonin, which leads to deep sleep.
In Summary
The main two causes of fatigue are poor nutrition and inflammation. You can remedy both of these through diet and supplementation. To improve your diet, you need to avoid inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy, excess sugar, excess alcohol, and vegetable oils. Instead, focus on whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and healthy fats like avocado, salmon, and nuts and seeds. When choosing natural supplements for energy, make sure they are organic and whole food-based as much as possible. Even if you start taking only three of the seven I decided to include on my list, you will notice a difference. If you would like to talk further about what option is best for you, you can always contact me.
