If you are reaching out for coffee to build your energy, try this instead

What you need to know:

Living on beverages like tea and snacks mean that the body doesn’t have the right sort of fuel it needs.

We have just completed the first four months of the year and I seem to be seeing a large number of people who are already fed up with 2022 – the year that was meant to have things getting back to normal.

You know those days: you wake up exhausted and spend the entire day making up for it, reaching for coffee to perk you up whenever you get the chance. But, for most people, that’s where it ends. After a good night’s sleep, they’re back to their usual chirpy selves. But what if, like Joy, former high-flying executive and now stay-at-home mum, you’re still tired the next day? And the next...
As I said to Joy, it may sound obvious, but the first place she needed to look is diet. Living on beverages like tea and snacks mean that her body doesn’t have the right sort of fuel it needs. What’s more, tea and coffee are stimulants, which means they give you a lift in the short-term, but leave you feeling worse than before. Similarly, the refined nature of the snacks means that the energy is short-lived. Good meals, made up of complex carbs, vegetables, protein and some “good” fat (like the kind found in avocados) or good snacks, like fruit with nuts or yoghurt, make sure that this doesn’t happen.
But Joy was eating all the right things, and that’s what led me to her liver. When the liver is backed up with things to do, it won’t detoxify the body as it should – and that’s why she felt exhausted.
Rather than embarking on a full-blown detox with her three young children at home, I suggested some simple strategies to help give her liver a break. Aside from doing away with stimulants, drinking plenty of water was crucial. Five servings of fruit and veggies came next, and I asked her to eat as much colour as possible. For her complex carbs, she could have brown rice, millet, lentils and beans, and cut on wheat. And for protein, we started off with more lentils and beans (they contain carbohydrate and protein), nuts and seeds, before adding in fish and lean white meat. Dairy produce (milk, cheese, yoghurt, ice-cream) was also out.
The first few days were pretty heavy going, so Joy started slowly, actually only incorporating a few of the suggestions above. However, after a month of eating this way, she began to feel lighter (both mentally and physically) and had considerably more energy. What’s more, she was also sleeping like a baby.