There are no ‘quick fixes’ when it comes to fixing your energy crisis. You must have patience, self-control and a willingness to fix your problem! The number one thing you MUST do is to uncover the root of your fatigue problem. And no, I don’t mean blaming it on your fibro or rheumatoid arthritis, but finding the root cause of your illness. I suggest working with a functional medicine doctor or a health coach to help you get past your symptoms and identify your true problem. For instance, your root may be a leaky gut, SIBO, Candida, an infection or virus – just to name a few.
There are SO many factors that play into our autoimmunity, inflammation and fatigue issues. Today’s #AskJuls video dives into my tip 5 tips for increasing your energy.
1. Be active
I don’t suggest going out and running a marathon, and let’s face it, that’s probably the LAST thing you want to do. But getting up and getting your body moving will help SO much. Just like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde says “Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy. Happy people don’t shoot their husbands. They just don’t.” Ok, maybe disregard that last part, but when we move our bodies our joints get lubricated, oxygen starts getting spread around our body and a ton of different chemical processes are set off.
What are some easy ways to get moving?
- Take a walk around your block
- Do some gentle yoga
- Try water therapy or water aerobics
Start small. At first you’ll be exhausted after a little bit of movement, but your body will start to become used to it and you’ll be walking laps around your neighborhood in no time.
Here’s a post I wrote about how to slowly get into Yoga. Yoga can help every spoonie – regardless of your range of motion! Even if you just focus on breathing, you’re practicing yoga!
2. Drink Water
This may seem like a silly tip, but dehydration causes a whole host of problems in our bodies. Many of us do not drink enough water during the day and that can be a huge contributor to our fatigue.
Make it a game! Get a cute water bottle and challenge yourself to drink so many of them a day! Start with adding 1 water bottle full of water a day, then 2 and so on! Dress up your water with fruit or essential oils too.
3. Add Supplements
Depending on exactly WHY you’re having fatigue (again, going back to finding that root cause) there are different supplements you could add. But, there are many overarching supplements that I believe can help ALL patients. Those begin with adding fish oil and curcumin to your daily regimen. Let’s be real, in a perfect world we’d get all our nutrients from our diet… but unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world. So adding some supplements here and there are really beneficial for our health. Fish oil is a natural anti-inflammatory. It’s going to help your immune system combat all of the pro-inflammatory cells in your body and help calm down your edema. Curcumin is a wonderful supplement that is an antioxidant, anti-viral, helps with digestion and also is anti-inflammatory (among many other things).
Check out all of my supplement suggestions on my Products I Love For Spoonies page. (And be sure to take advantage of the 75% off of monthly purchases from Life Equals!!)
I’ve actually posted quite a few blogs on supplements. Check out these previous posts:
These are some of the supplements I’m currently taking.
Why Deep Blue Complex is a good option for my spoonie friends.
Be cognizant of what you’re buying. There’s a lot of “crap” in supplements.
4. Practice Mindfulness
So often in life we are always thinking about the next thing, worrying about the past or having anxiety over the future. When we practice being mindful, truly being in the present and being in our body NOW, we can help increase our energy. The exercise in the video may seem silly, but focusing on increasing our inhales helps oxygenate every cell in our body. And when we do that, guess what! We’re going to have more energy!!
Try adding some meditation or yoga to your daily routine. Don’t know where to start? Check out the Headspace app or the Buddhify app for your phones. They’re both guided meditations that can help calm your nervous system (which could be sucking your energy!), brings you back to the here and now, and helps to oxygenate your body!
Want some mindfulness ideas? Check out this easy exercise you can add to your day!
5. Eat A Nutrient Dense Diet
Eating a healthy diet is the best thing you can do for your body. You’re going to give your system the right nutrients and tools it needs to do its job properly! Whenever you eat an anti-inflammatory, high nutrient diet and eliminate trigger foods which cause you discomfort, inflammation and irritations, then you’ll allow your gut to heal, your immune system to calm down, your body can stop frantically living in a fight or flight mode and your body can focus on healing. Don’t under estimate the power of your veggies!!!!!
Looking for resources? Check these outs: What’s the “perfect diet”? OR Elimination Diet Tips, Tricks & Resources
Give yourself the love and resources it needs to help calm down the fire and focus on healing. It may sound crazy, but I’ve seen SO SO SOOOO many people increase their energy just by changing their diet. It works people, I swear it works!
Remember, THERE ARE NO QUICK FIXES! Your energy is more than likely being sucked by your inflammation and your body working twice as hard to help heal it’s self. Also, medications that we’re often given to help combat autoimmunity can suck our energy as well. Sometimes it seems like there are so many factors stacked against us, but don’t allow that to hold you back. Take control of what you CAN control and combat your fatigue!!!!!!
Wishing You A Pain Free Day!
