Many people skip breakfast believing that it is a good way to lose weight. Then, by mid-morning, they start to feel gaunt and are ready to drop. They run for a quick dose of energy: a chocolate bar, a soda, or worse, one of the new energy drinks packed with caffeine and sugar. And it does give them a jolt, but it’s relatively short-lived. By lunchtime they are again exhausted and ravenously hungry. No one wants a rollercoaster morning like this, and besides, it’s a surefire way to overeat and gain weight. But it can be avoided by eating the right foods. These foods give you a steady stream of energy that will keep you feeling great throughout the day.
Glucose
The energy you need to get through the day comes from the conversion of the food you eat into glucose and the absorption of this glucose by your body’s cells. Food comes in three forms: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. For the most part, our energy comes from carbohydrates (or at least it should). Unfortunately, carbohydrates have gotten a bad rap lately, and people have been told to avoid them as much as possible. The problem with this is that it applies to only one type of carbohydrate, and carbohydrates come in two varieties: complex and simple. Complex carbohydrates consist of long molecular chains that slowly release their energy into your body. Simple carbohydrates, on the other hand, consist of short molecules that release their energy quickly. Simple carbohydrates require little breakdown and their energy goes almost directly into the bloodstream, so they’re fast acting. As a result, they should be avoided as much as possible.
If your body runs out of energy from carbohydrates, it actually turns to fats and proteins. Both can be broken down into glucose, but the process is more complicated (compared to carbohydrates) and produces several undesirable byproducts. Protein is not “clean burning” like carbohydrates; produce ammonia and urea as byproducts. The breakdown of fat into glucose is also very complicated. Also, some types of fat are unhealthy. However, both proteins and fats are important in our body.
We will focus primarily on the breakdown of carbohydrates to glucose. And we’ll start with the rate at which it’s converted to glucose and fed into the bloodstream. How it stays in the bloodstream and how well cells absorb it and convert it into energy is also important, but we’ll leave that for later. A measure of how long it takes after we eat a certain food for its glucose to reach our bloodstream has been around for several years; is called the glycemic index (GI). The higher this number, the faster glucose is activated. The scale is configured with glucose itself, which has a GI of 100; On this scale, GIs over 70 are high and GIs under 55 are low. This is helpful because we don’t want to eat foods that are converted to glucose very quickly and are quickly consumed.
But there’s a problem. The GI only takes into account the carbohydrates in a food, and most foods contain other things, such as fiber, water, fat, etc. As a result, carrots (with just 7% carbs) have a relatively high GI of 47, and watermelon (which is mostly water) has a GI of 72.
To get around this, another measure is now used: it’s called the glycemic load (GL). It is obtained from the GI using the formula: GL = GI/100 × carbohydrate content of food (less fiber). The guidelines for this scale are: GLs below 10 are low and desirable; GL over 20 are high.
best high energy foods
What we want are foods with a lot of energy, with their energy delivered to the blood slowly over a long period of time, and we’d like the GL to be less than 10. Also, fiber slows down the rate of burning, so They also want foods with considerable fiber in them.
Below is a list of the best high energy foods based on the above. They are in a rough order of effectiveness.
1. Oatmeal. This is one of the best for energy. It will keep you going all morning if you eat it for breakfast. The two main types are oatmeal and oat bran. The GL for oatmeal is 13; the GL for oat bran is 3. They have lots of fiber (particularly oat bran) to slow down the rate of burning, and you don’t have to worry about excess calories making you fat.
2. Whole grains. Whole grains of any kind have three parts: the endosperm (starchy part), the bran, and the germ. When it is refined, the bran and germ are discarded, but these two parts contain 87% of the polyphenols and most of the overall nutrition. So it is best to eat whole grains. They are high energy and full of nutrients and fiber.
3. Yogurt. Low-fat yogurt has a GL of 10 and is very nutritious. It contains several B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, and potassium, and is a good source of protein. But of particular importance, it contains live cultures that are critical for a healthy colon.
4. Walnuts. Nuts like almonds, walnuts, and cashews are great because they can be eaten as a snack when you’re hungry. Eat them instead of chocolate bars, chips, sodas, or energy drinks. They have a low CG; cashews, for example, have a GL of 3.
5. Seeds. Another excellent energy food that can be eaten as a snack. The best are sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds (which must be ground).
6. Fruit. Fruit is an excellent energy food. Some of the best are oranges, grapefruit, apples, and bananas. Both are high in energy and fiber, and have a low GL. An orange has a GL of 5, an apple has 6, and a grapefruit has 3. Apples are particularly good when you start to feel drowsy while driving.
7. Blueberries. Most berries are good for you, but blueberries are particularly good because they are the most well-known source of antioxidants. They are also rich in fiber, magnesium, and vitamin K.
8. Broccoli (spinach). These two are the most nutritionally dense vegetables known and have a GL of just 1. Plus, they’re effective in fighting cancer.
9. Beans (all types). Beans are particularly helpful in keeping your blood sugar level from rising too quickly. They are also very high in fiber and have relatively low GL. The GL of baked beans is 6.
10. Eggs. Eggs may not seem like a high-energy food, but they are. In addition, they are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.
Several other foods like fish, chicken, and avocado are also good energy foods, but the list above should give you a good idea of what to eat when you’re low on energy. Finally, it is important to remember the water. About 2/3 of your body is made up of water, and it’s critical to how you feel.
