Foods that energize...help! (heart, diet, peanut butter, sleepy)

[Pikantari]

Ok, heres the quick scoop, terrible ordeal over the weekend. I lost a whole night of sleep, much trauma and stress.

Called my dr, he agrees that i have made up the sleep, but thtrauma and stress are causing the sleepiness, and my body just needs to recoup.

I am not hitting the caffeine anymore. Just the cup in the am. I start getting sleepy around 2.

When I get home, I do a few things around the house, dinner, wash clothes, but then I have to crash

ENERGIZING FOODS TO SNACK ON THRU THE DAY???

[jkmewright]

I have heard that an apple gives you more energy in the morning than a cup of coffee. Maybe some apples and peanut butter for a nice snack?

[johndoe07]

Stay away from the caffeine and other stimulants, period! It's what you leave out of your diet that will heal you and return you to normal!

[hnsq]

When I go rock climbing or backpacking, I take bottles of honey with me and eat it straight. It might sound a little crazy, but if you are looking for quick calories, plain honey and Gatorade does it for me every time. Calories = energy.

[Marylandkitten]

And now a word, from our daily web snooper :

Snacks that will Energize you throughout the Day :

Cottage cheese with fruit
Bagel with low-fat peanut butter
Cup of non-fat plain yogurt with fruit
Low-fat cheese on wheat crackers

Everywhere is saying fruits, wheat products, stay away from sweets, sugar can give you a rush, yesss.. but it doesn't last long, and it leaves you feeling lower than you were to begin with!

Granola bars are excellent. they make them now with different flavored yogurt in them. If you don't like the taste of energy bars (power bars) yuck! then try the granola bairs, or the nutri grain bars you can find them in your local grocery store.

I make it a point to keep apple juice on hand at all times. not only is it super super super good, but it keeps me sailing through the day.

[jhlcomp]

It would be helpful to know what you eat throughout the day. The other posters have offered excellent advice.

Until I, too, had a big awakening, I used to start my day off with a huge cup of coffee - no food until noon. Lots of water though. Well that caught up with me. Now I make sure to eat breakfast even if it is around 9:30. I still can not break the coffee habit.

I go with my mood - high fiber toast with low sodium peanut butter, plain yogurt, hardboiled egg. I stay away from fruit juices because the sugar rush just isn't worth it. Certain fruits will have the same affect on me. I do eat papaya which is great for tummy and doesn't give me that sugar rush.

Good luck to you.

[CosmicWizard]

Replace the coffe with a good quality organically grown YERBA MATE. I order mine form EcoTeas.com I prefer loose leaf to the tea bags

Spirulina is an excellent source of energy and general overall nutrition. Organically grown MACA is another excellent energy food.

regards...Franco

[Pikantari]

Originally Posted by jhlcomp

It would be helpful to know what you eat throughout the day. The other posters have offered excellent advice.

Until I, too, had a big awakening, I used to start my day off with a huge cup of coffee - no food until noon. Lots of water though. Well that caught up with me. Now I make sure to eat breakfast even if it is around 9:30. I still can not break the coffee habit.

I go with my mood - high fiber toast with low sodium peanut butter, plain yogurt, hardboiled egg. I stay away from fruit juices because the sugar rush just isn't worth it. Certain fruits will have the same affect on me. I do eat papaya which is great for tummy and doesn't give me that sugar rush.

Good luck to you.

fruit, kashi bars, fig newtons, lots of water, only that cup or half a cup of coffee in the am. Beans... no meat, not sweets or junk food really. Salad, rice, veggies.

I had a rep lunch yesterday and they only brought sodas and eek... I got a little diet caffeine free coke...could not even drink a second sip...too sweet. I ate a BLT, actually ate the bacon on it..surprised myself. They brought apple pie, one bite, couldn't handle it.

I used to be big on sweets, can't do it any more...

[zorst]

I've found these things called Cliff Bars. It feels my body temperature rises when I'm done with it. I only eat them occasionally like once a month or less but they do work for me. You have to drink a lot of water with them.

[Karla with a K]

my trainer said eating in the morning helps jump start your metabolism. Since I have started eating a bowl of "healthy heart cinnamon raisin bran" in the morning I find I have more energy at the gym.
Also you have to make sure you are eating enough food, if not your body goes into what I call "starvation mode" it will slow down to conserve the food because it thinks it is not going to get more. After years of different dieting my sister finally listened that she wasn't eating enough and thats when she started losing weight.
If all you are eating for protein is some beans(you didn't mention how much of the stuff you are eating) you may want to look at ways of getting more protein into your diet.
I have also heard that you should be eating at least 1200 to 1400 calories a day while dieting. But again this all depends on a persons weight. Personally as active as I am at the gym(my one spinning class burns 800 calories) 1200 would be way to low for me.
With dieting the faster you take it off the faster it comes back on. They say you should aim for 2 pounds a week.