Energizing Plan
If there are some mornings when you can't summon up the energy to get up and go, or you just feel tired and lethargic all the time, then this is the plan for you. In as few as three days, you can reinvigorate your body, improve your energy levels and bring back that lost enthusiasm for life.
About energy and toxins
Energy is created in the body from food. When we eat, our bodies break down the ingested food into glucose, which is the main sugar that we use for fuel.
It can do this from any food: doughnuts, rare steaks, plates of spinach topped with lemon juice. Healthy or unhealthy, the body can use food as energy. However, its favourite sources are carbohydrate foods like fruit, vegetables, bread, pasta and rice, because these are easy to convert. When the food has been broken down, it is combined with oxygen. This 'burns' the sugar and turns it into a unit of energy called adenosine triphosphate, which the cells then store and use as they need it. In a healthy, fatigue-free body, this process works with no problems and, as a result, we spend each day fully functioning and raring to go. But if the energy process breaks down this is when we start to feel tired.
There are a huge number of things that can interfere with the energy process, but what follows are details of the four main reasons.
You don't have enough nutrients to trigger energy conversion. Like everything in the body, energy production is powered by vitamins, primarily the eight B vitamins and the antioxidant Q10. Also vital are minerals - particularly calcium, magnesium, iron, chromium and zinc. Lack of nutrients can occur because you don't eat the right foods, or because toxins like alcohol or stress destroy them.
You don't have enough blood sugar to produce energy quickly and cleanly. Some carbohydrates are too effective at creating glucose in the body. Refined carbohydrates such as white bread, rice and pasta, or sugary foods like biscuits and cakes, create sudden peaks of glucose in the blood. If large quantities of these are eaten the body panics and, instead of using the glucose for fuel, it hides it in the liver or in fat. Next time cells need energy they have to pull stored glucose out of the liver, which fatigues the body.
You don't have enough oxygen in the system. Without oxygen, the body can't burn glucose. Many of us are deprived of oxygen because we breathe so shallowly, but oxygen deprivation can also occur through poor circulation or if our red blood cells (which are the part of blood that carry oxygen) aren't in perfect shape. You don't have enough mitochondria. Mitochondria are the constituents of cells that turn glucose into fuel.
If the levels of these are low, they can't perform as well and toxins, particularly those found in pesticides, actually destroy mitochondria. What the Energizing Plan aims to do is counteract all these problems. For best results, you should carry out the Lighten-up Plan (see page 44) for at least three days before you start the Energizing Plan.
This will remove any immediate toxins hanging around the system, allowing your body to respond more effectively to the energy boost. If that's not possible, at least skip alcohol and excess sugar while you're on this plan. If you're under stress, it would be a good idea to use some of the 5-minute fixes (see page 71) to help relax you, because stress saps energy.
The Energizing Routine
Suggested Lunch Menu
Suggested Evening Meal Menu
Living The Detox Life