Tell me if this sounds familiar: constant exhaustion, a desperate struggle to leave the bed every morning and the urge to slouch on the couch all of the time. Rest assured that you are not the only one suffering the lack of energy to accomplish the mere basics of your every day job, and not just during the cold winters – but year round! With the many hands-on activities that our society needs us to take on nowadays the need to beat fatigue has never been more pertinent.

"A lot of factors contribute to every person’s general vitality," says Dr Fawsi El Shobaki, professor of Nutrition at the National Research Center. "One of which, and most significantly is: food,” he continues. “Indeed, carbohydrates are essential for the body as the main source of energy. The heart prefers fatty acids and the brain goes for glucose, but the most important ingredients are vitamins: especially vitamin B, which is crucial to the vitality of the human being. We should also note that in the process of turning carbs into energy chemical reactions take place and those are catalysed by enzymes and co-enzymes, and most vitamins are co-enzymes. That is why we always advise people to stick to the golden rule of five-a-day [eating five different units of fruits and vegetables], which ensures the daily recommended doses of vitamins, rather than taking over-the-counter vitamin tablets, as these are preferred only if there is a medical problem that demands such measures."

A new book and lifestyle-altering-method is now taking the world by storm. In his book “The Source,” Dr Woodson Merrel, an assistant clinical professor in medicine who specialises in integrative practices in New York delineates a plan to stop fatigue before it starts. He insists that exercise has a direct and immediate effect on energy and recommends core training to strengthen the abdomen for posture, breathing and back support. As for increasing energy: yoga is recommended to help unite movement and deep breathing, known to boost energy.

Dr Merrel advocates for crucial lifestyle changes to focus on balancing and regenerating the energy of the body, which can be done in part by choosing the foods we eat. Different foods are processed differently by our body. He argues that when we eat foods full of preservatives, flavourings and colourings that the body spends an inordinate amount of energy separating the artificial ingredients from whatever nutrients it can find. Thus, it becomes quite clear why it is of utmost importance to eat whole plant food. Within this context, it is advised to avoid burned meats, fried foods, saturated animal fats, wheat, cow's milk and refined sugar in favour of a plant-based diet, or “power foods,” such as: walnuts, olive oil, ginger, garlic, rosemary, salmon, trout, tea, grapes, citrus fruit and cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower and dark, leafy greens.

If you are serious about boosting your energy and shedding that lazy feeling - get up and go! Exercise more and take a serious approach to changing your eating habits. Try it for a while: you will never regret the effort when you see the results. Now is the time to develop our potential and do more than ever.

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