Chapter 44 Energy

Energy determines our capacity for action in the world. We use it for everything we do, from reading a book to cooking dinner to making love. Clearly, the more energized we feel, the more fully we can live. But how can we increase our energy levels?

Good healthy nutrition and the air we breathe are our main sources of energy. Essentially, food combines with oxygen to provides us with fuel. However, just like a car that combines petrol with air to power the engine, the food-air combination produces damaging exhaust fumes. I'll explain all of this in a bit, but, before
I do, understand this.

Humans are built for survival. But, in interestingly, the survival of the species is more important than your individual existence. In other words, given the choice between reproduction and repair, your body would choose to make babies. It's as if we're martyrs to the cause of human existence, sacrificing all for the good of the species. But, hey, at least we get to have fun along the way. In any case, the main point here is we can't control the body's energy allocation. But we can control the demand we put on the maintenance and repair function. So if we want more energy, that's the place to look.

When food combines with oxygen in the body to produce energy the by-product is a number of destructive substances called free radicals. But your body has a great defense system to eliminate them: it produces antioxidants to kill them off. But if your system becomes overload with the bad stuff, the body looks elsewhere for help. It relies on the nutrients that can help: antioxidants. So the body gets damaged, quickly ages, and wastes energy eliminating junk.

In fact, for most people a major energy drain is the body's attempt to extract artificial ingredients from whatever nutrients it can find. It quite literally has to separate the wheat from the chaff. And often that effort is excessive because there's more chaff than wheat. So instead of energizing us, the food we eat makes us feel awful. This then triggers a vicious cycle because there's more chaff than wheat. So instead of energizing
 us, the food we eat make feel awful. this then triggers a vicious cycle because the body presses us to eat more processed food. And as opposed to feeling fit and fired up, they feel fat and fatigued.

Want to feel more energized? then start with your diet. Eat nutrient-rich, unprocessed, plant-based foods. Generally speaking-rich, unprocessed, plant-based foods. generally speaking, darker colored fruit and veg have higher levels of antioxidants. For example: red grapes, blueberries, broccoli and spinach are all high in antioxidants. So start to include some of this good stuff in your duty diet today.