Tag Archive for: energy

Energy Thieves: Food

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This week I’m focusing on potential energy thieves, and I’ve identified three areas that can hinder performance; one of those is the foods we eat. The two primary food thieves that affect me and many others are refined carbohydrates and deep-fat fried food, but the reasons are polar opposites:

  • Refined carbohydrates and some starchy foods raise blood sugar quickly, but then you suffer a rebound drop. Eating too many refined carbs can put you in a carb coma.
  • High-fat foods, especially deep-fat fried foods, can take hours to digest, redirecting blood from the rest of the body to the digestive system to digest and absorb the fatty foods. Less blood to the brain means your mental acuity drops.

All this week, I’m using the techniques I developed for Energy on Demand in the Optimal Performance Program to have all the energy I need to focus and work 14-hour days through the end of the next webinar. My goal is to eat to perform at a high level, and part of that is knowing what not to eat. If you participate, either live or by listening within the following week, you’ll get the complete story.

Spend some time thinking about how the foods you eat affect your energy levels. There may other foods and dietary factors that affect you in addition to the two I’ve listed; for example, maybe it’s not so much which foods as when you eat them. How food affects energy for the times you really need to be at your best will be one of the topics this Sunday in the Super Bowl Webinar. I hope you’ll join me.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Power Up with Vitamin B12

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The final supplement I’ll cover this week is vitamin B12, sometimes called the energy vitamin. Many vitamins are involved with energy production, but a lack of B12 can certainly cause problems with energy and other issues.

Vitamin B12 is also known as cobalamin and if you’re wondering, yes, this vitamin does include the mineral cobalt. There are two primary functions of B12 in the body. The first is to help reduce the chemical homocysteine to methionine while helping folate be converted into a usable form in the same reaction. Without enough B12, homocysteine increases inflammation in the body . . .

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Do You Make Enough Coenzyme Q10?

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There’s one major difference between coQ10 and other vitamins, minerals, and nutrients such as omega-3s: we can produce coQ10 ourselves. The problem is that we may not produce all the coQ10 we need, especially as we get older.

CoQ10 is used in the production of energy from both carbohydrates and fat in the mitochondria of the cells. You remember mitochondria from science class; they’re often called the powerhouse of the cells. And coQ10 is the substance that’s used to produce that power. It’s critical in the steps where oxygen is used to produce ATP, the . . .

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When It’s 51-49

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I know what you’re probably thinking: Dr. Chet is predicting the Super Bowl score. While that would be a great game, especially if the Broncos win, that’s not what I’m talking about. (Don’t be offended, you Panther fans. I’m an AFC fan every day and especially, a Peyton fan.)

What’s 51-49? Let’s say that you wake up five minutes late on Monday. You will immediately start the process of deciding whether or not you can exercise or fix your healthy breakfast shake; the score stands at 50-50. The arguments begin in . . .

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The Two O’Clock Fade

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See if this sounds familiar. If you work a typical 9-to-5 job, and somewhere around two o’clock in the afternoon, your body is there but nobody’s home. If you work a second shift, adjust the time to a couple hours after lunch. You can stare at the computer screen or the telephone, know what you have to do, but have no mental focus to get it done.

My philosophy is that the simplest solution is often the correct one. Odds are this fade is caused by dehydration. Make sure you drink two to three cups or . . .

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Taurine and Energy Drinks

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Taurine is typically found in energy drinks, but many people don’t understand how it works. Let’s start with the obvious: how could taurine help with increasing energy levels in the body?

In a review article, the authors explained the role of the beta-amino acid taurine in energy production (1): not supplying calories, but having a role in the production of energy inside the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell. It’s an extremely complicated biochemical process, but let’s see if we can break it down into simpler terms.

Taurine contributes to the production of proteins inside . . .

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