Hi,

We’ve talked before about how important it is to boost your energy. Not just the spiritual kind of energy (that’s important too), but good old-fashioned physical energy. If you don’t have physical energy, it’s like tying your own hands – and a way to guarantee yourself bad moods, negativity, and a cynical outlook.

With physical energy, you become a warrior for our own cause. Your thinking stays sharp, you are able to be objective and stay positive in the face of challenges. When you fill up on good foods, you hunger for life.

Not all food is created equal. Some have spectacular results. These are the Superfoods, and include some of nature’s superheroes (like garlic, one of the most powerful antibiotics on the planet).

There are hundreds of superfoods, but after my experience with this season’s little agent of change, let’s talk about a subset of these foods… Superfruits!

Fruit is basically a powerhouse of nourishment. It is the thing a plant uses to feed the seed inside it when it falls from the tree. That seed is not yet able to grow roots and leaves of its own – and as fruit breaks down, it releases everything that a seed needs to flourish in its first weeks of life. Imagine how powerful that fruit needs to be to kick-start a whole new tree. And you can eat that power.

There are some fruits that are even more powerful than others. These go above and beyond the normal selection of apples and bananas (although these are great too). Here are a few of my favourites:

Blueberries
Loads of nutrients and a sweet (or tangy) flavor, and yet low in calories. A multivitamin in a delicious package.

Blueberries are packed with everything you need to fight off aging. We’ve all heard of antioxidants, but if you don’t know what that means, think of these two every day examples, like when metal rusts (oxidation of iron), or how a bitten apple browns when you expose it to air. This is also what happens as we age – our cells rust…

…Your cells get exposed to chemicals called free radicals that chip away at our protective coatings until there’s nothing left. This is where antioxidants come it… antioxidants ‘repaint’ your cells with protective coating. Result: we stay younger and healthier, longer.

Blueberries are said to decrease the chance of cataracts, varicose veins, peptic ulcers, and heart disease. They have also shown promise in protecting against macular degeneration and improving digestion. With a simple blueberry!

Cranberries
You probably know cranberries can reduce the chances of urinary tract infections. However, did you also know that these berries have natural compounds called proanthocyanidins that can “disable” certain harmful bacteria in your body so the bugs don’t stick or spread?

Cranberries too are packed with antioxidants. They are also red. Not just pretty, red is the color of betacarotene, the chemical our body turns into Vitamin A. This vitamin keeps our eyes in top shape, and has been strongly associated with good moods, good physical balance (like standing on one leg) and muscle strength. If you are strong, you stay vibrant, so including cranberries in your daily diet is a simple way to add years to your life.

Golden Berries
These are delicious when they’re fresh or dried. Easy to scoop and eat and also have some nice health benefits. Golden berries are an an amazingly powered superfruit packed with bioflavonoids.

Bioflavonoid are kind of like a vaccine against cancer. They are the bricks that rebuild our cell walls and give the powerhouses inside those cells the fuel they need to keep running smoothly. Countless studies have shown that bioflavonoids possess antiviral, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antihistamine and antioxidant activities. Makes me wonder if this superfruit can help any ailment in the body?

Also, name a vitamin, and golden berries probably have it: A, C, B1, B2, B6 and B12, for feelings on well-being, stress-busting and fast healing. Golden berries are great for vegetarians too, as these little babies are 16% protein.

Goji
Goji’s are a little bit like sultanas. This fruit from the eastern world contains carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins, fats fiber and nineteen types of amino acids. Most people prefer to eat them mixed with something else – a handful of nuts, in cereal, or with cheese – as they are sweet.

Goji’s have a hundred benefits, but the main ones are their polysaccharides: These feed the sugar needs of your body’s cells, making them rev up to power you through your day (hence its popularity on the sports field). Polysaccharides also encourage quick and strong cell growth, which means they reproduce more often and make stronger copies of themselves. In other words, you stay young longer. More youth means more energy.

Figs
These Mediterranean delights are called Nature’s Meat by vegetarians. They are high in protein, and loaded with potassium. Potassium is ‘brain food,’ and is also a bit of an antidote to sodium, or salt. We all tend to eat too much salt, and potassium balances it out.

Figs are sometimes called the Diabetics Fruit, because they contain properties that increase natural insulin production. This is especially effective for preventing diabetes. Figs are packed with fiber too. Fiber is a weird thing. It has no calories, and yet it makes you feel fuller for longer. A high-fiber diet is almost guaranteed to make you eat less, and still feel the same levels of satiety. And figs taste so good. By the way, did you know that fig leaves are also edible?

Lychee
Lychees aren’t so common in the United States, but they are available everywhere in other Western countries, Europe, and of course Asia. Lychees have been determined to be the second best fruit for polyphenols, which help your heart. They have 15% more polyphenols than grapes and are able to help prevent degenerative diseases including cancer.

When I’m at the fresh market, I pick up a few bunches. Their light, sweet, tart flavor is wonderful by itself, on ice-cream, or in a mixed fruit salad. Lychees are full of antioxidants, and some other things that scientists haven’t really identified yet – they just know that they’re good for us!

Noni and Acai
These are great in smoothies. Both are packed with antioxidants.

I understand Noni is from tree related to the coffee tree. It has a long use as a traditional medicine in Polynesia, Tahiti, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Hawaii. Taken by itself, it’s pretty pungent and bitter so I mix it with another juice or add it to a smoothie.

Acai berries are another one of nature’s heart helpers: they’re loaded with Omega-6 and Omega-9, which are fatty acids that optimize the walls of the heart, lungs and brain. I get it frozen and you can also get it in powder form. Either way, you get plenty of carbohydrates, dietary fiber and protein. Acai also shows promise for preventing cancer development, alleviating menstrual cramps in women and treating various urinary problems.

Well, there you have it.

When looking for energy from your foods, the idea is to get a lot of variety. I know that grocery shopping is easier on automatic pilot – when you get into the rhythm of reaching for four kinds of vegetables and three kinds of fruit.

But when you find out things like how a serving of Omega 3 each day can increase a child’s IQ by up to five points, a teaspoon full of brewer’s yeast taken with a calcium supplement each day increases your metabolism by 15%, and the folic acid in green leafy vegetables decreases behavioral problems, it makes a little extra thought worth it, don’t you think?

What are your favorites?

Ciao!

Taylor

Have you ever felt life dealt you a bad hand? Times when you wondered why it had to be so hard, times when you wished for it to get easier?

Reflecting on those times, it’s a lot clearer now why I felt that way. I was putting my body through a wringer and it was worn out. And actually my mind was too.

If you look back on such occasions, you too might realize why you were having a rough time, why things had a certain rhythm.

And it’s a lot easier now to understand that things would have indeed gotten easier if I had asked myself a better question, one like “How can I give myself the strength to get through this?”

Not surprisingly, the answer often boils down to energy, and finding ways to boost your energy level.

When your body is filled with vibrant energy, it becomes so much easier to breeze through adversity, realize your goals and master the key seven areas of your life.

In fact, your health IS one of the seven key areas of life. A well cared-for body is essential to becoming fulfilled in the other six. Your body really is your temple – it is the place you inhabit every minute of every day. You are worth a clean and well-cared-for environment, aren’t you?

And a healthy body is a powerful friend… It gives you feelings of courage, and physical strength to face challenges. It also gives you more choice, and a calm and positive outlook on situations.

As Lao Tzu said: “We do not see things the way they are. We see things the way we are.”

In other words, when you give your body the tools it needs to think clearly and be lighthearted, we can see being stuck in traffic as a wonderful chance for some ‘me time’ instead of a big hassle. Or the late notice on the phone bill will be seen as a chance to work on our fear of negotiating, instead of reason to panic and lose sleep.

At a certain level, emotions are chemicals that your body produces as responses to situations. These chemicals race through your body and make you feel emotions like joy, sadness or anger.

To me this spells good news because it means you can supply your body with the ingredients it needs to help you feel calmer, happier, more confident. And in most cases it is free, or just a few groceries away.

For example…

Milk contains casein, which is a mood-stabilizer. Did your Mom ever give you a glass of warm milk at bedtime? Without knowing it, she was being a good food scientist. The casein in milk slows the breathing and relaxes your muscles, inducing a sense of contentment – and helps us drift off to sleep. A small piece of cheese can have the same effect.

A twenty or thirty-minute walk, at a good pace, produces endorphins. Endorphins are like a body’s natural ‘joy chemical.’ They literally give you a sort of high, making you feel ten feet tall. One similar kind of natural chemical is phenylethylamine (also known as PEA), which is responsible for those kick-up-your-heels, feeling on-top-of-the-world sensations that love and attraction can bring. And wouldn’t you know PEA is found in chocolate? Goes a long way towards explaining those cravings, doesn’t it?

If you feel like the glass is half empty – drink it. Dehydration can be responsible for feelings of failure, your bad moods, sleepiness, lack of concentration and headaches. Keep in mind that when you take a headache pill, often it’s the water you wash it down with that acts faster than the drug. So why not go ahead and keep a large water bottle near you at all times during the day and make sure it is empty by the afternoon. Little and often is the key.

The “little and often” principle applies to food too. Regular, small intakes of a variety of foods will help you keep your blood sugar stable, which also keeps your moods stable.

And remember variety is important. Thankfully as a child all I knew was a Mediterranean diet. Heaping salads, olive oil, fish, not too much red meat, and loads of fresh vegetables. I’m grateful for these early lessons in healthy eating habits. Today I love other foods too, and I have a deep understanding of how important variety is.

Food science is not as advanced as we think it is. Different foods work together in ways that we know about, but often don’t really understand. We do know that it is good for your body (and your spirit) to regularly try new flavors and experiment with new foods. Isn’t there a saying, “Variety is the spice of life”?

And although the idea of eating healthy and nutrition  is now firmly planted in my psyche, it’s easy to get out of whack. This is where being aware of the signals (see earlier post on warning signs) is helpful, because if you’re feeling sluggish, tired, moody and unmotivated, then maybe it’s time for you to go back to energy basics…

When you feel like the world is ending, it is amazing how something as simple as a quiet space, a good meal, a stretch and a nap can completely alter your perception.

A stretch? Yep, a stretch…

Stretching lets blood flow into cramped muscles, and with blood comes oxygen, sugars, minerals and nutrients. A two-minute stretch of your neck, arms and a couple of leg muscles can be as invigorating as a half hour nap.

Also, remember to breathe. Sounds silly, I know, but think for a minute about how shallow your breathing probably is right now, and how a slumped posture cramps your lungs. A full inhale and exhale should take 10 seconds and push your belly way out. Try it now. Feels better already, doesn’t it?

Energy is the source of life, and fuel for your dreams. So next time you wish for things to get easier, just say “Hold it! How can I give myself the strength to get through this?”

Boost your energy and you give yourself the gift of unlimited potential.

Ciao!

Taylor