Energy Boosting

*Disclaimer: everything here is what I've managed to find on the internet or through friends.  I don't have any medical sources to back up any claims, so go research it for yourself if you want to look into it seriously!*

So the inevitable has happened and I need to start paying attention to what I eat and not just shoving in any old junk that I feel like.  I've had a good run though :D

This has come about because since moving to NZ I've just felt really tired, pretty much all the time.  At first I put it down to jet lag and severe exhaustion from all the organising and doing the move but it just hasn't really got any better.  Even when I have a good night's sleep I'm still really tired most of the time.  So I decided to research diet and things that can help boost your energy.  I also asked people on facebook for any tips they had.

I'm writing down my findings here so that when I forget and start knocking back the refined sugar again I can come back and remind myself what I *should* be doing.

My first thought was that it could be lack of iron, but of course, I've found out it's not as simple as that.  Whilst iron is important for combating fatigue, you also need the B vitamins and folic acid.  A lot of these are added to breakfast cereals (you know when it says on the box that they're fortified), but having looked at the packets here, they don't seem to have as much added to them as they did back in the UK.  I remember looking at the packets then and thinking that I got a lot of my recommended daily intake from breakfast.  Here, the cereals only have about 25% of what you need.  So I think that's what's been missing in my diet - breakfast isn't giving me as much as it used to.

This has been a useful website, explaining what vitamins do what: http://vitamins.lovetoknow.com/What_Vitamin_Is_Good_for_Energy

I have looked into good ways of getting those extra things I'm missing, as well as taking a multivitamin supplement (I have bought one that concentrates on the B vitamins and iron, with some other useful things too).  I have also had Marmite recommended (for Vit B), and even bought a pot and kept up with having it on toast for a couple of days before I just couldn't force it down anymore :D

Bananas in particular are good, with some good energy boosting stuff and I'm trying to make sure I have one a day.

We need enough protein in our diet too.  Also alkaline-forming foods, but I haven't done much at looking into what that means exactly... http://altmedicine.about.com/od/popularhealthdiets/a/alkalinediet.htm  I think it's basically eating things as they are meant to be - things like raw fruit and veg, nuts, beans.  Avoiding refined foods, a lot of the processes that food goes through removes the good stuff in them.

Also it's important to do some exercise.  Although, that is probably the hardest thing to make yourself get up and do when feeling tired.  So I've been doing Just Dance on the Wii.  Just a couple of songs at a time, mustn't overdo it when feeling so tired, but that does seem to help.

One of the simplest, but very effective things is drinking plenty of water.  Obviously your body needs it for a lot of things, but especially metabolism - so if you have a high rate of metabolism (I do) you will be particularly affected if you aren't drinking enough.  Also mineral water, or even filtered water is better than plain tap water.  But still, get loads of tap water if that's all you can get your hands on.

And stay away from caffeine.  Whilst it's very tempting as a quick fix, my friend Lorraine (who was badly anaemic when pregnant) found out that it prevents the body from absorbing iron, so actually does more damage long term.  To be able to get the best out of the food you should avoid caffeine 2 hours before or after eating.

Sleep is most beneficial if you get 8 hours, but it also best to be "early to bed, early to rise".  The restorative process follows natural light patterns, so things like digestion and hormone production are best "left to do their thing" while you follow a sleep pattern in line with usual daylight hours.  80% of growth hormone is secreted between 11pm and 1am - needed for regenerating your body all over, so best if your asleep then.  Most things I've looked up recommend being in bed by 10pm.  Not sure I can quite manage that one though - I enjoy my down time in the evening!



And the following post was originally posted seperately, titled "I love a good freebie", but it got so many redirects from google from people searching for freebies I decided to delete it and just add it to the bottom of the post from the day before:

Yesterday's boring shopping trip actually turned into a pretty big treat for the kids.  And it all only cost me $3 (that's £1.50 to my UK friends).

We went up to Pak n Save (the big supermarket here) just to get a few bits that I had to give up on the last time we went a few days ago because of Tilly's world record breaking meltdown.  Before we went I'd told the kids we might have a little wander around the mall while we were there, they quite like it, Zach asks to go in the really really big shop :)  But after doing the shopping I wasn't sure I could be bothered, so asked the kids if we should just go home cos they were all a bit worn out and getting hungry.  But they all still wanted to go and Tilly was now telling me she needed the toilet.  So I figured we'd just have a quick stop, go use the facilities and go and everyone would still be happy.

However.... when we got in there there was a man doing a juggling show.  Brilliant :) free stuff for the kids to do is always a bonus.  So he did some juggling with balls and skittles and the kids were in awe.  Then he started giving out free packs of juggling balls to teach the kids how to do it.  They thought they'd died and gone to heaven.  So there we were in the middle of the mall with 75 kids with 3 juggling balls each throwing them around trying to copy the juggler.  It was fun!

We ended up being there longer than I'd anticipated so were a bit peckish.  I rifled through my vouchers and found one that got us a buy one get one free cake slice at a bakery just by where we were.  So we went and got 2 large cake slices (here's the $3 I spent!) and cut them up to share between us.  Buying cakes while we're out really is a big treat to the kids!

Next, I'd spotted a poster advertising a colouring competition, so I went to the customer services desks to pick on up for each of the kids.  While there the lady told me I could join the kids club for free and get a goody bag for each of the kids.  So I did, of course, and the kids got a little bag with a drawing pad and pencil in.

Awesome result for a quick trip in to the toilets :D The kids felt like they'd had a huge treat and most of it was free - happy kids and very happy mummy!