EP 77 – Eat This: Energy

Energy is defined as the “strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity”. Well, that’s the definition to do with health of course. Energy can feel like seeing an oasis in a desert at times, where you wish you could get there—feel it, experience it and then live it, man your life could be all singing, all dancing if you just had more energy. There are different types of energy; physical energy, that you have to run faster or get through your day. Then there is also energy that you feel that’s not necessarily about the mitochondria of your cells—you know those hundreds of little factories in your cells that turn food and oxygen to energy. But the energy that you feel—the spidey sense, those vibes you pick up about something or from another, the goosebumps and raised hairs on your arms kind of energy too. When you feel overcome with emotion, that’s energy—and those emotions can positively or negatively affect your health. I get asked how to feel good all day, every day – without that sluggish, trying to walk through muddy water feeling that just makes life less than it could be if you felt like you were running on all cylinders. And those times where you are crashing, just want to curl up and nap, but just need to push through. What can you do then? How can you cross the finish line when your tank is empty? Energy comes at us in a bunch of ways and today on EAT THIS with Lianne, I’m going to enlighten you on physical energy, and how to quickly boost that, but also what non-physical energy does to you, and touch on how all this affects your sexual energy. Because who doesn’t love to feel that?

There’s a whole krebs cycle, ADP to ATP and how your body makes energy. Oxygen is needed so take a deep breath right now and focus on that breath. You just allowed your body to make more energy. When I do my initial intake with clients, I always ask how their energy is throughout the day because how they feel can tie back to what’s going on. 

For instance, if you don’t jump out of bed in the morning and feel foggy, that can be your liver not having detoxified overnight. Or your blood sugar crashed because your couch snacks from the night before were carb rich and you crashed while you were sleeping and haven’t recovered. If your energy crashes after lunch then it can be from what you ate, or what you didn’t eat at breakfast or mid morning. There’s a flow to blood sugar balance that is directly related to how you feel and your energy. When you eat something sugary, white, refined, from a box, or drink a sugary drink, add sugar to your tea or coffee or or think that that chocolate bar will help get you through—it’s short lived. And you’re worse off after the fact when you crash like hitting the flat after the downhill of a rollercoaster. For some having a sandwich at lunch, the carbs and gluten really sends them almost into a coma. Notice next time that you do. 

Now what if you had a massive green salad with arugula, baby kale and spinach, red and orange peppers, leftover sweet potato, grated carrot and beets, that’s topped with almonds, walnuts and hemp, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, an egg on the side, or some fish for protein – Seriously, eat that and see how you feel eating that versus the 12 inch meatball sub. I’m not kidding. Fibre keeps you going, protein helps energy from food last longer and the antioxidants in all those colourful veggies protect your cells where your mitochondria or energy production centre live. You can’t silo these things, they all have a knock on effect. 

For fast physical energy—there’s the short game and long game here. Long game is truly ditching the sugar and processed food. I know I say it a lot, but really it’s foundational and you can’t get away from it. Ever. If you need to ditch the sugar—listen to our most listened to episode with Barry Friedman in Episode 7. I’ve heard from loyal listeners that they got his book—I love me more than sugar, and followed it and have become sugar free. It can be done. 

Let’s talk a bit about the energy that you feel—more that spidey sense and emotional energy. As we’ve heard Dr B say in a few of his episode that has blown Chris’s brains, emotions affect your health and also your energy. If you are in a constant state of fear, angry at your partner or your kids, you dread going to work every day and live for the weekends, your energy is being used there. That stress burn out and HPA Axis dysregulation that Dr. Christine Matheson talked about in episode 72 is real. So many are there right now or have been in the past. While I’ve been hyperfocused on my daughter and her mental health challenges of late, my energy has been stable while I was in a stressed state. But then my body makes me stop, by giving me a migraine. And I crash and have to sleep. That’s all I can do. Giving too much of ourselves, constantly thinking, doing, and not taking a moment to stop and breathe even affects energy on every level. I mentioned sexual energy off the top and there’s two parts to this—having the physical energy for the physical act of love making and how your muscles in your legs, arms, abdomen all have to have the stamina within them, but then there’s that energy that you feel between you and your partner. And while I’m talking about sexual energy—this also falls into how you feel when you’re with a particular person. You feel attracted to different people, and less so with others. You feel good when you’re with certain people and like you’ve just been drained like a vampire taking your blood with others. What is that all about? Well there are people out there who are highly sensitive people and called HSP. You can google it, look it up and see if you can identify. Highly sensitive people feel all sorts of emotions that may not be theirs. They can be sensitive to to global energy like the fear and uncertainty during the pandemic. Then there’s the energy of the moon cycles; a full moon, super moons, eclipses and new moon, and if you started to pay attention to your crummy sleep around a full moon for instance—that’s what happens to me, you might feel better for knowing that there’s a reason. This energy is what you can’t put your finger on, and needs a different kind of attention to taking more B vitamins for instance. I mentioned taking a deep breath earlier—let’s do that now. I just want you to focus on the air going in to your nostrils and filling your lungs. Hold it there for two seconds and slowly let it out. Stay in the moment and see how you feel. I often feel more grounded, like I’m on solid footing when I do that. I often ground myself and my energy as I start the day by meditating, imaging tree roots coming from my feet as I get out of bed. Visualize my legs as tree trunks with roots coming from my feet and going into the ground—although I live on the 22nd floor. My imagination can do anything. That helps to ground you in the earth and is why at times you need to go walk in the grass without shoes. Or do some gardening or go for a walk and notice nature, the birds, animals around even if it’s an annoying fly. That focus of what’s right here and now, helps the most sensitive of people to stay in the moment. And that energy is what you need while you’re in the moment with your partner as you come close to orgasm. All that sexual energy isn’t mustered up from the green beans you had last night, no it’s in you. It’s there, and rather than thinking about the shopping list or to-do’s, being in the moment harnesses that sexual energy to allow you to feel all that you do. And who doesn’t want that? You can’t get that from a can of anything right. It’s in you, you just need to be aware of yourself, your partner, all the feels and kaboom. 

How to give yourself a boost 

  • No, it’s not red bull giving you wings but water could. Hydration is the number one way to boost your energy fast. Without the sugar and increased heart rate from the fizzy can of jet fuel. Drink an 8 oz glass of water and wait 10 minutes. That’s how long it takes for your Red Bull to hit your cells. 
  • Take a shot of B vitamins. I add in Liposome B Complex liquid to my Kid Boost and Alka C every day. It’s the B vitamins that are needed for energy production. 
  • Pop some magnesium Bis Glycinate. As I wrote this, I stopped to take some. 
  • Find an energy drink without much sugar. I was handed a Guru Organic Energy Drink the other day. Guess what I did first? Read the label to see how much sugar. One was the usual insane amount like 14 g which is just over 3 teaspoons. The one that I ended up taking had less than one—and had stevia in it. I tried a matcha and Yerba Mate—which contains guarana, a natural caffeine. I was impressed with both because I do not like typical energy drinks.  

The long game of having enough energy can’t be skirted by here—eating breakfast if you’re all over the place right now is crucial. Intermittent fasting can come later. Protein at breakfast—wholefoods including greek yogurt, eggs, oats, chia pudding—a recipe in my bookEating regularly and filling your plate with real foods are also key. 

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