In her 1929 book, A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf wrote: “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” She was certainly onto something. Diet plays a huge role in your physical, mental, and emotional health, thus the adage: “you are what you eat.”
At Integrative Medica in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jake Schmutz, NMD, and Joshua Hersh, NMD, clarifies the direct connection between diet and beauty every day. The patients who eat well have more joy and energy, and that translates into attractive confidence.
Because we care about your beauty and wellness inside and out, we offer a full spectrum of cosmetic treatments to help you look and feel your best, and we also offer these five tips for vitality-boosting eating habits.
We tend to think of meals in terms of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but that mindset might be sabotaging your energy level.
Your brain doesn’t store much of its own energy, so if it’s been a few hours since you’ve eaten, your brain and body begin to slow down. It doesn’t take much to pick up the pace again — a handful of nuts or an apple will do the trick.
If you retrain your brain to think of meals as small snacks throughout the day rather than three feasts, you’ll give yourself a steady supply of nutrients that will sustain your energy level and help you avoid slumps and crashes.
A simple rule of thumb when eating for energy is to consume more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Several foods fall into these categories, but your specific choices aren’t as important as knowing and understanding the micronutrients they contain.
You need the B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6) to break down and convert proteins, fats, and carbs into energy. Find these vitamins in brown rice, chickpeas, salmon, soybeans, whole grain wheat, nuts, eggs, cheese, and fatty fish.
Other nutrients that convert food to energy include:
Eating a varied and colorful diet ensures you’ll get your daily supply of nutrients and restore your youthful vitality.
Since your blood transports nutrients to all the cells in your body, and blood is mainly water, dehydration wreaks havoc with your energy level — one of the first signs of dehydration is fatigue.
It’s especially important to monitor your water intake during a workout, as sweating quickly depletes your supply. A good rule of thumb is to guzzle at least 8 ounces before and after a 30-minute workout. If you’re active longer than that, take a water break every half hour.
Avoid diets that eliminate certain food groups and nutrients, or crash diets that rely on extreme calorie cutting. Not only are these techniques ineffective, but they’re also dangerous. They tank your vitality, so you have no energy to exercise. Instead, eat a well-rounded diet; cut out empty calories like starches, carbs, and sugar; and shoot for losing a pound every two weeks.
Breakfast is your most important meal. This doesn’t mean you should sit down to a plateful of bacon, eggs, and waffles, but just grabbing a sugary donut, or worse, skipping the meal altogether, sets you up for a bad food day.
You’ve been fasting all night, so your metabolism needs a kick start. Your blood sugar is low, so your muscles and brain are on standby until you feed them. Fruit, dairy, and whole grains give you the boost you need to stay focused and energetic.
Healthy new dietary habits are just the beginning. You can optimize the effects of your newfound energy and overall wellness by refining the outer you to match the inner you.
If you’re noticing signs of sun damage and aging, like wrinkles and dark spots, we can help you erase the effects with Lux 1540 non-ablative laser treatments. This safe and painless treatment also reduces the appearance of stretch marks and scars.
To learn more about how to boost your vitality inside and out, call the team at Integrative Medica at 801-676-9876 to reach our office in Salt Lake City, Utah, today, or use our online booking feature to make an appointment with our integrative medicine experts.
