Is there anything more precious than a good night’s sleep? Perhaps it’s all the more precious because, let’s be honest, you rarely get one. Once you reach a certain age, you can’t even remember a day in which you weren’t tired but does that make the daytime drag inevitable, or is there something you can do to guard your wellbeing against tiredness? Aside from getting those blessed seven to nine hours a night, you can actually support your sleep wellness through your diet – who knew?
The first thing to remember when eating to beat tiredness is to have a healthy, balanced diet that contains foods from the four main food groups in the right proportions. If you can’t think back to when you did the four food groups at school, here’s a little refresher:
1. Potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy foods
2. Fruit and vegetables
3. Dairy foods
4. Meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein
However, not only do you need to keep regularity within your meals, but within the times you eat them. Although it’s not always possible to eat at the same time every day, eating regular meals allows your body to work out when the next meal is coming and prepare for it. This helps you to manage your feelings of hunger (which is good for weight loss as well as banishing tiredness) and you also sustain your energy levels more effectively. The best method is to eat three meals a day and limit your intake of in-between meal snacks, especially if they’re high in fat.
Speaking of meals, it’s important not to neglect the most important one of the day; that’s right, breakfast. You need breakfast if you want any chance of getting the energy you need to face the day. Still, according to the British Dietetic Association (BDA), up to a third of us a regularly skipping breakfast – no wonder we’re all so knackered! The best breakfasts contain healthy options (obviously) so stick to porridge with fruit, a nice vegetable omelette or wholemeal toast with low-fat spread or jam. If you really can’t face food first thing in the morning, it’s far better to take a high-fibre snack to eat on the run, rather than snacking on high-sugar or high-fat foods when the mid-morning hunger pangs strike.
A good snack to choose would be fruit and vegetables, as these are good sources of vitamins, minerals and fibre, which are essential nutrients that your body needs in order to work properly. It doesn’t matter if you get your five-a-day through juices, or if the produce is fresh, frozen, tinned or dried; it all counts. Similarly, starchy foods or carbohydrates are also vital for helping you maintain a range of nutrients in your diet. Moreover, potatoes, bread, cereals, pasta and the like are a good source of energy, and so if you want to stave of tiredness starchy foods should make up about a third of everything you eat. However, not all starches are created equal; you need to go for slow-burning whole grain or wholemeal varieties, as they provide energy in a gradual way.
Finally, there are a few foods that you simply need to avoid to stay alert throughout the day. You’re probably good at telling your kids to go easy on the sugar, but do you take that advice yourself? Sugar steals your stamina, as well as rotting your teeth and ruining your waistline. It’s impossible to eliminate sugar from your diet, but cutting down on foods with lots of added sugar, such as sweets, cakes, biscuits, non-diet fizzy drinks and chocolates, is always advisable.
*Our content is not intended to provide medical advice or diagnosis of individual problems or circumstances, nor should it be implied that we are a substitute for professional medical advice. Users / readers are always advised to consult their Healthcare Professional prior to starting any new remedy, therapy or treatment. Your Wellness Group accepts no liability in the event you, a user of n-gage and a reader of this article, suffers a loss as a result of reliance upon or inappropriate application of the information.
Weeewwww