by S.Stillwell

Created on: February 12, 2009

Simple changes to what you eat and when you eat it can make a huge difference in your body's ability to increase and sustain energy. The biggest challenges you are likely to face in making these changes will be learning how to change your habitual eating patterns, resisting cravings for foods you are accustomed to eating, and making sure you have the foods you need available to you when you should be eating them.

The basic premise for eating to increase and sustain energy is simple: eat low glycemic index foods during the day when you need that energy and eat high glycemic index foods in the evening, when your body is best prepared to store energy.

If you are unfamiliar with the glycemic index, it is essentially a rating system for how quickly food releases sugars into your bloodstream. Foods with a low glycemic index release slowly (giving you sustained energy) while foods with a high glycemic index release quickly (giving you an energy boost followed by an energy crash). This is a simplified view of the glycemic index, but will arm you with the basic knowledge you need in order to choose the proper foods for increasing and sustaining energy. There are many books and websites out there which can provide you with a deeper understanding of the glycemic index as well lists showing where certain foods fall on the index.

The following is an example of a day's eating plan to increase and sustain energy. You'll notice that it is simply broken up into day time foods and night time foods. Other than that simple formula, during the day you should eat when you are hungry and only eat enough to dispel your hunger. This will prevent an overload of sugars being released into your blood stream. At night, you can eat until you are satisfied (taking care not to eat TOO much, or you'll face some weight gain).

Daytime foods: Tea with milk, plain unflavored yogurt with unsweetened berries and sunflower seeds, almonds, apples, simple spinach salad (baby spinach with just enough oil & vinegar dressing to lightly coat leaves tossed with a tablespoon or so of sunflower seeds), carrot sticks with hummus, ice water

Nighttime foods: Cheese ravioli with chunky tomato sauce (including lots of onions and green peppers), garlic bread (olive oil and minced garlic on french bread), chocolate ice cream, popcorn, red wine

Once you have a basic knowledge of where foods sit on the glycemic index, it should be a simple task to create your own eating plan to increase and sustain energy. Good luck!

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