The food we eat can either promote and support our energy levels, or work against us, taking up more of your energy to digest and detox it from your body. One of the best ways we can boost our energy levels is by fueling ourselves with nourishing nutrient dense foods.

“One of the best ways we can boost our energy levels is by fueling ourselves with nourishing nutrient-dense food.”

The key to living with an abundance of energy is ensuring you have enough micronutrients to support energy production. This is because every major metabolic pathway in our body depends on essential nutrients.

“The key to living with an abundance of energy is ensuring you have enough of these micronutrients to support energy production.”

There are some vital nutrients that support and increase energy production at a cellular level, helping us carry oxygen around the body and are essential for our hormonal energy.

Let’s take a closer look at these three areas:

1. Nutrients for Cellular Energy

Cellular energy is key to health. Our body is constantly creating energy within our cells. The mitochondria are the part of the cell that is responsible for energy production. In order for the mitochondria to function properly, it needs the right fuel. This is where nutrients are so important, as the rate at which energy is produced is nutrient-dependent.

“In order for the mitochondria to function properly, it needs the right fuel.”

Essentially nutrients give our body the ability to turn fats, proteins and carbohydrates into energy. Nutrients are the cofactors for enzymes within the mitochondria which allows metabolic reactions to occur that produce cellular energy. This means nutrients make the enzymes work faster.

Nutrients that increase cellular energy are B1, B2, B5, B7 and magnesium. CoQ10 also promotes energy production as well as being a strong antioxidant. It helps to recycle the metabolites of energy production to allow our body to make more energy.

Omega threes are incredibly important for providing the structure of our cell membranes which in turn helps our cells make energy more efficiently.

Where can you find these nutrients in food?

• B-Vitamins. Beans, green leafy vegetables, avocados and animal products such as organic free-range meats and fish.
  
• Magnesium. Almonds, green leafy vegetables, and cacao. Try this Simple Chocolate Smoothie recipe to boost your magnesium status.
  
• Coq10. Sardines, liver and leafy greens.
  
• Omega 3’s. Oily fish such as mackerel, sardines, tuna and salmon. Try this Almond, Lemon, Parsley-crusted Salmon recipe.
  
  

2. Nutrients for Oxygen Carrying

Oxygen is essential for your body to function properly. Your red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen around the body and delivering it to tissues via the bloodstream. You body’s production of red blood cells is dependent on B6, B9, B12, and iron.

If you are deficient in any of those nutrients, your body won’t be able to make enough red blood cells to carry oxygen to your tissues, which means your energy levels will be low.

Where can you find these nutrients in food? 

• B12 is high in red meat and seafood. In BePure One we have 50mcg of Methylcobalamin (B12) to provide you with optimal B12.
  
• Iron. Liver, red meat, chicken, nuts and seeds. Try this Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe, full of energy boosting ingredients.

3. Nutrients for Hormonal Energy

Hormone balance is incredibly important for energy production at a cellular level, as hormones essentially tell your mitochondria what to do.

The thyroid is responsible for creating thyroid hormones including thyroxine. Every single cell in the body has thyroxine receptors found on its DNA, making it one very important hormone for your energy production. It essentially controls our ability to produce energy. Thyroxine is dependant on iodine, zinc and selenium.

Other day-time hormones, such as cortisol, are important to keep us energised throughout the day. This is the hormone that gets us out of bed in the morning! Having optimal levels of cortisol means we have a good amount of ‘stress’ each day. However, in the modern world prolonged stress has become increasingly more common, leaving us with depleted energy to live the life we want.

The synthesis of your hormones is mainly dependant on zinc, B6 and vitamin C but almost all nutrients play a role.

Where can you find these nutrients in food?

• Zinc. Chicken, seafood (especially oysters) and red meat.
  
• Selenium. Brazil nuts, beef and fish.
  
• Iodine. Seaweed and kelp are the best food sources of iodine.
  
• Vitamin C. Citrus such as lemons and oranges, tomatoes and many fresh seasonal fruit and veggies.

Real, nutrient-rich whole foods will ignite your energy, but unfortunately, true nutrient-rich whole foods are hard to come by in the modern world.This is mainly due to the nutrient quality slowly decreasing in our foods, as we aren’t replenishing the nutrients in our soils.

“Real, nutrient-rich whole foods will ignite your energy, but unfortunately, true nutrient-rich whole foods are hard to come by in the modern world.”

Magnesium is one that comes to mind, as research shows the magnesium content in food has been on a downhill slope where 80% of people are now deficient. This is why I recommend taking a high strength multivitamin and omega three fish oil such as BePure One and BePure Three, which offers the baseline nutritional support everyone needs on top of a healthy diet, everyday, to support your overall health and energy levels.

To understand your body and to unlock the energy you want, a good place to start is to take the BePure Energy and Stress Questionnaire. This questionnaire is designed to give you a personal snapshot of your current energy and stress status.

Ultimately having the energy to do what excites you is the most important gift you can give to yourself.