5 foods To Lift Our Mood and Help With Energy
But some days we need an extra lift to help us through our day or even our training sessions and often times we turn to supplementation to help us lift and mood. But as you know by now we always take the “food is best” approach before supplementation here at ignite.
So we have compiled a list of foods to help when you’re feeling down and some of them might be surprising to you
#1: Blueberries
Anyone that knows me knows I Love Blueberries. Beside the fact that they are packed with antioxidants they also have serious health benefits. Great for endurance training(hi to all you runners) as they help reduce oxidative stress and have been shown to be great post workout to reduce muscle soreness. Not only that…They Taste Delicious.
#2: Coffee
OK OK we all knew this would be on the list but did you know that drinking coffee 30 minutes pre workout has been shown to increase performance by up to 25-30%.
Coffee or more precisely Caffeine excites the nervous system which help with fatigue and helps with endurance. Don’t go overboard though, try get your energy form Food and limit your caffeine intake to 1 or 2 Americano coffees a day. On non training days cut it out completely.
#3: Dark Chocolate
Something you may or may not know about me is, I used to work in Cadburys. In fact I worked there for 4 years training as a apprentice electrician so I learned a lot about Chocolate, from its origins to being delivered to our shops. There are a lot of studies out there on the benefits of dark chocolate as cocoa is packed with antioxidants that improve blood flow and help lower blood pressure. 1 to 2 squares is perfect.
#4: Nuts
As Nuts are predominantly a Fat based macronutrient you would need very little to get a lot energy wise as they are very nutrient dense. Take Almonds for example, packed full of antioxidants, Omega 6 fats, with vitamin E, magnesium, manganese, copper so you could add 1/4 to 1/2 a cup a day to help give you loads of energy.
#5: Bananas
Ever watch Wimbledon when a game goes into the long sets? What’s the first thing they reach for? You’ve guessed it…Bananas. They are a great source of carbs that can help endurance and have also shown to help with sleep as they help increase melatonin(the chemical the body produces to know when it’s time to sleep and wake up)