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November/December 2007 Alternative Health
Have a High Energy Holiday

by Bryan Flournoy

Bryan Flournoy

It's easy to experience a lack of energy during the holidays.

While some people alleviate this by reaching for caffeine in the morning, there are a number of other ways to support your body's ability to sustain its energy and mental alertness.

Balance Your Diet

When it comes to your vitality, vitamins and minerals are important. Some act as antioxidants, preventing physical fatigue by fighting environmental stresses such as pollution, as well as those toxins created by normal reactions within the body.

Vitamins actually help the body derive energy from the foods you eat, specifically from proteins and fats. Amino acids, or protein building blocks, are important because they make up enzymes. Enzymes help synthesize hormones, digest food, metabolize waste and enhance fat metabolism, which produces energy. Some minerals, such as trace metals, help your bodily enzymes work more efficiently.

Amino acids also are necessary for energy because the body uses them to synthesize neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters relay electrical impulses from one nerve cell to another. They also regulate memory, awareness, alertness, sleepiness, touch and pain. Since many nerve cells originate from the lower brain and spinal column, good posture ensures the appropriate release of neurotransmitters and the unobstructed flow of electrical conduction from the spine to nerve cells, which stimulate tissues and organs throughout the body.

Drink Water and Consume Fat

Because vitamins and other nutrients are either water or fat soluble, you must ingest reasonable quantities of both through your diet in order to help nutrients move from the gut into the blood stream during normal digestion. Alternatively, kidneys and skin pores help eliminate water-soluble toxins via urine and perspiration, but only if the body is sufficiently hydrated. Caffeine and alcohol are natural diuretics and increase urination, thus depleting the body's available water. (In addition, both have stimulant properties and may cause fatigue and/or insomnia.)

Thirst is not the only sensation the body uses to encourage the drinking of water - hunger pangs can result from dehydration as well. Consequently, it is easy to confuse the sensation of thirst with that of hunger.

Oxygen: Breathe Deeply

Oxygen allows for respiration, the process by which all cells create energy. The heart pumps blood to the lungs where oxygen is introduced to red blood cells. Iron (an essential metal) enhances red blood cells' affinity for oxygen by attaching to hemoglobin (the pigment in red blood cells). In time, red blood cells wear out and must be replaced. Folic acid and vitamin C are a necessary part of this process, ensuring that newly developed red blood cells do not grow too large or stay too small. A nutritional diet, good posture and unhindered deep breathing make sure that blood-oxygen levels stay normal so that all cells have enough oxygen to create energy.

Don't Skip Meals

The body, especially the brain, uses simple sugars or carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose and milk sugar or lactose), which can be found in fruits, vegetables, honey, dairy and sugar cane. The entire body also uses complex carbohydrates (starches) found in potatoes and grains (such as rice, oats and wheat) as energy sources.

When blood sugars are low, you feel irritable and drained. Insulin is secreted in response to the presence of glucose in blood derived through food. Cells respond to insulin by grabbing glucose from the circulating blood. During respiration, cells harness the energy stored in glucose by breaking its molecular bonds. 

Diabetics and non-diabetics alike may experience peaks (sugar high) and lows (hypoglycemia), when the diet is not balanced with natural simple sugars (also called simple carbohydrates) and complex carbohydrates. The symptoms of Type II diabetics disappear when the appropriate balance is maintained, whereas Type I diabetics must inject insulin, space meals throughout the day and use natural simple and complex carbohydrates to prevent extreme peaks and drops in blood-sugar levels.

Science shows that all simple sugars and carbohydrates are not created equal - the body is more energy efficient when utilizing natural sugars and carbohydrates as opposed to processed table sugar, corn syrups and pasta. Natural sugars are those found in fruits, vegetables and honey. The body converts most of these sugars to glucose before using them.

Visit Your Health Practitioner

Regular visits with a licensed health practitioner are an important, proactive measure in diagnosing conditions that influence well-being. For example, routine blood tests can reveal hormone imbalances, bacterial infections and chronic fatigue viruses. Physicians can treat breathing disorders and dentists can decrease chronic pain caused by temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ) - both measures can help improve sleep so that you are appropriately energetic during waking hours. Gynecologic exams help diagnose and manage fatigue from conditions like premenstrual syndrome and anemia caused by abnormal menstrual bleeding, as well as pregnancy.

Health issues causing non-specific insomnia - such as restless leg syndrome or excessive nighttime urination from an overactive bladder, prostate inflammation or diabetes - can make you tired the next day. By keeping a close eye on the body's general health with regular exams, many of these and other scenarios can be resolved.

Letting Nature Help

Ultra violet rays found in sunlight and some light bulbs energize those prone to chronic fatigue and seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Yoga stretching, meditation, power naps and exercise all provide a second wind to help finish out the day. Colors that reflect nearly all the light in the visible spectrum such as white and yellow are arousing, as are other high energy, bright colors. Citrus aromas (orange, lemon and lime), the smell of cut grass and flower nectars heighten the senses as well. Activities including journaling, reading, conversation, recreation, hobbies and crossword puzzles help to maintain mental activity. Herbs such as ginkgo biloba and ginseng improve overall alertness and memory. Healing relationships with yourself and significant others adds meaning and zest to life during the holidays.

Bryan Flournoy, a pharmacist, medical intuitive and metatelepath, promotes the in-person and radio/internet workshop called Making It All Click! (MIAC!). MIAC! creates a collective intuitive experience through which we perceive and interpret all kinds of energy impressions as practical, higher-purpose information for daily guidance. Visit www.making-it-all-click.com or call (419) 260-2195.