How to Have More Energy (and get your vitality back)
One of the top goals I hear from my clients is “I want to have more energy”.
I’ve been there! I used to need a nap almost every afternoon, fell asleep in classes, and had way too many close calls feeling my eyes get heavy while driving. And you might be thinking, “Okay I’m not quite that bad, but I could still use a bit more energy to tackle my never ending to-do list.”
In this post, we are going to talk about why your energy may be on the low side, some simple steps you can take to improve it, and where to look if you think there is something deeper at play.
Let’s be real, we live in a society that pushes us to live off of caffeine and cortisol. The pressure to do ALL the things. Wake up at the crack of dawn so you can fit in a billion things before leaving for work like “that girl” and her morning routine. Every meal needs to be Instagram worthy, but you also need to keep your perfectly styled white kitchen spotless. Celebrity and influencers sharing their workout routines that take 2 hours a day, and saying that they have the same 24 hours a day as everyone else. I could go on and on… And then there are the 100s of different energy drinks choices at every store and a Starbucks on every corner to make sure you have the energy to do it all. That pressure alone can be exhausting!!
Okay, I may be projecting a bit there and this post is not meant to be a rant about societal pressures. But I think it’s important to recognize as that is a big part of why we have an epidemic of fatigue. We’re constantly asking our body to be working at 100% without giving it the fuel it needs to even run at 50%.
All that to say, if you’re dragging yourself out of bed every morning and reaching for the coffee every afternoon, we need to start by evaluating your foundations.
Are you eating consistently?
My goodness, I did a post about breakfast the other day on TikTok and I never thought something so simple could be so controversial! SO many people commented saying that they don’t eat most of the day. Many of them not until dinner or even later! I’ve also seen this with many of my clients. We’ve turned skipping meals into something that is cool (ahem, intermittent fasting) and we’ve deprioritized giving our body the fuel it needs to function optimally.
Going through the day without eating and wondering why you have no energy is like being confused why your car stopped when there is no gas in the tank. Or for my plant lovers out there, being confused why a plant’s leaves are turning brown and droopy despite not watering it.
So if you feel called out on this one, you’re not alone. But this is where you need to start.
Build a routine with your meals and make sure you’re giving your body the fuel it needs to keep up with the high demands.
Are your meals balanced?
While on the topic of food, let’s evaluate the quality of your meals. The amount and timing of your meals is important, but the nutrients you get from your food matters too. While I could write a whole blog post on vitamins and minerals (although I will touch on these in a second), I want you to first take a look at your macros on your plate. Making sure you have a balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates is key for balanced blood sugar. And stable blood sugar is a foundational piece of stable energy. Read more about blood sugar here.
For most of my clients this is a breakdown of a balanced plate.
How’s your hydration?
If you’re running off cortisol and caffeine like we talked about earlier, chances are you’re dehydrated. So first, make sure you’re hydrating your body before dehydrating with your morning coffee. If you’re like, “Nah, I’m good on water I drink a gallon a day”, but you’re not getting in your electrolytes, then chances are your cells aren’t actually hydrated either. We need minerals (aka electrolytes) to get the water actually into our cells. We want to be grapes, not raisins and minerals help us do just that.
Last on the check list is, how is your sleep?
Similar to food we want to think about the quality and the quantity here. Ideal is 7-9 hours a night. But if you’re waking up 5 million times to pee then you’re not getting that deep rest your body needs. OR if you’re someone who feels like “I have no energy no matter how much sleep I get” AND you check all the boxes above it might be time to dig a bit deeper to pin point why that is.
If your foundations are in place and you’re still struggling with your energy levels I want to go through a couple ways you can get more answers.
Lab work.
I am a big fan of labs because it can give you a peak into what is actually going on in your body. A mechanic doesn’t diagnose your car without opening the hood, and that is exactly what lab work does for us.
Blood tests I recommend to better understand low energy:
Thyroid tests and not just TSH make sure you get the full picture here.
TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, TPO, TG antibodies
Iron panel: serum iron, ferritin, TIBC, transferrin, iron % saturation, hemoglobin
Blood sugar: fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin
Vitamin D, B12, Vitamin A, plasma zinc, copper & ceruloplasmin
Functional testing
Start with HTMA because, if your minerals are depleted, then that is the first place to start
Work with a practitioner (like myself) who will look at the big picture.
It’s important to not just look at the lab value in a vacuum, but rather consider the lab results AND the patient’s symptoms. We’re human, we’re not just numbers. When you view the labs as a piece of the puzzle rather than the whole puzzle, it allows you to look for the other missing pieces that will help make sense of why you’re feeling the way you are and what you can do about it.
If you need help getting to the bottom of your low energy, I have 1:1 spots available with the right tests included to get you answers and give you the guidance to feeling your best and getting your vitality back.