NOTE FROM CASSANDRA:
We work with many successful professionals (including busy Moms!) and help them systematize their wardrobe. At NLW, we believe that you can systematize other areas of your life as well, including nutrition, so you can spend your energy on the things that matter to you the most.
I’m excited to have Coach Nagina Abdullah, from Masala Body, on the blog to share with you how to do that. She is an Entrepreneur Mom herself, has worked at big consulting firms and has helped over 1,200 professionals increase their energy naturally by adding and combining foods to boost their energy.
For 20 years, I worked in one of the most demanding careers out there: management consulting for Fortune 500 companies around the US. I managed big client projects, worked 12-plus hour days, and had no routine.
I am a mom of two, and having energy for my kids on the weekend became a wish and seemingly far-off goal.
Working these long days and facing repeated fire drills during the day made my energy levels plummet— I always put myself to the back, with other urgent priorities glaring at me throughout the day. I relied on coffee and quick sugar rushes to sustain myself through frequent low energy days.
Over time, I realized that I felt a continuous sense of exhaustion and lack of energy, and that my productivity was taking a hit at work. I didn’t want to do fun things with my children when I wasn’t working, because I preferred to sleep or catch up on relaxing. As I looked out into the future, I realized I could not be the active, energetic mom I wanted to be if I felt so tired and low-energy as often as I did!
I blamed low energy on age, but given I have a degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley, I knew that there was more scientific research that could help to increase energy naturally at any age. This research pointed to balancing blood sugar, boosting metabolism and eating the right foods as natural and significant contributors to experience more energy and less lethargy.
I put my research into practice, and within the first week began to experience clear boosts in my energy, including feeling more awake in the morning, experiencing less bloating which was leaving me tired, and increased mental focus.
Not only did I feel so much better, but over the following nine months, I lost 40 lbs that felt like they melted away! I felt more confidence, balanced energy, and had more creativity than I had felt for years. I started hiking, swimming, and snowboarding with my children! Life was fun again, once I had energy.
I’m now the founder of MasalaBody.com and an online weight-loss coach for CEOs and professional women, and help women to experience high levels of energy while living a sustainable healthy lifestyle. I’ve been featured in Business Insider, written for Forbes, and been featured by People and Time.
I’ve teamed up with Next Level Wardrobe to bring you a system to fuel yourself and present the best version of yourself to the world, inside and out.
By learning these simple methods to increase energy combined with the NLW Style System, prepare to wow colleagues and stakeholders when you walk into a room with a natural glow, endless energy, creative ideas, and a stylish and structured wardrobe. You will blow clients and colleagues away!
Let’s go!
A Simple Framework to Eat for More Energy
As a professional and/or CEO, it’s part of the lifestyle to be pulled in multiple directions. That’s why having a simple framework to follow can make it realistic and effortless to have high levels of energy. The Energy-Boosting Food Framework, helps to stabilize your blood sugar, boost metabolism, and maximize brain and mental clarity.
With the Energy-Boosting Food Framework, it’s typical to feel balanced, high energy throughout the day, and be satiated without needing sugar, coffee, or other energy zapping foods for a pick-me-up.
Eating the right foods and combining them in this way will increase your energy and mental clarity, and it’s easy and natural to do.
The Framework highlights adding protein to every meal, along with either half a plate of low-sugar fruit or veggies. Healthy carbs and healthy fats help round out each meal.
As a personal weight-loss coach, I help clients create metabolism-boosting meals that feel easy and are based on foods they like using this framework. As a result, they feel instant and sustained energy which provides the core foundation to live their lives even more fully.
Now, I’m going to share 5 specific ways you can add and combine foods and ingredients for a sustainable high energy lifestyle.
5 Simple Ways to Feel More Energy Naturally
1. Drink Infused Debloating Water
Add one glass of this infused debloating water when you wake up in the morning to hydrate you, reduce inflammation and toxins, and help curb cravings that lead to sugar and energy highs and lows.
Here’s the science on why this water is so healthy for you:
– Water: It hydrates you, increases digestion, and helps eliminate toxins.
– Lemons: Lemons contain micronutrients with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
– Cucumber: A cucumber consists of around 96% water and contains important electrolytes that help reduce sodium and reduce water retention.
– Mint: With mint, the magic is all in the scent. Due to its strong aroma, mint is a natural appetite suppressant that can be used to keep sugar cravings at bay and prevent overeating at lunch and dinner.
Drinking water when it’s infused makes it more interesting and tasty to drink than plain water and is a great alternative to other higher sugar drinks. You can also drink this water at any other time in the day.
Here’s the recipe for my clients’ favorite Infused Debloating Water:
You can reuse the lemon, mint, and cucumber as you refill your pitcher with water and to change it out after 3 days.
You’ll physically feel lighter and more energetic due to the combination of the lemon, cucumber, mint, and water. This combination also helps you reduce sugar cravings which often can lead to ups and downs in energy.
2. Add a Daily Protein MORE Breakfast to Feel Sustained Energy Through the Morning
Protein helps you feel full, and keeps your energy stable so that you do not crave sugar or other foods to give you a boost of needed energy. That’s why it’s a core component of the Energy-Boosting Food Framework.
When you eat enough protein, starting with breakfast, you will feel satiated and have an even energy for longer. This one change alone has skyrocketed the energy of hundreds of professionals.
There are many forms of protein you can add even when you’re in a rush or on-the-go.
Breakfast Protein Options
Here are some protein options you can add to your breakfast:
– Greek Yogurt
– Cottage cheese
– Cheese sticks
– Hard-boiled eggs or egg muffins made ahead of time
– Eggs any way when you have time
– Smoothies including protein powder or Greek yogurt
– Leftover meat/protein from dinner night before
Below are 3 examples of high-protein, complete breakfasts that will give you high energy until lunch:
A green smoothie with protein powder or Greek yogurt for protein is an excellent morning energy boost for your body and easy to take on the go.
Photo credit: Canva
Greek yogurt with berries is a high-protein, quick breakfast.
Photo credit: Canva
Eggs with veggies or fruit is a high-protein warm breakfast. You can also make egg muffins or hard-boiled eggs ahead of time for a faster egg breakfast.
Photo credit: Canva
3. Add This Spice to your Coffee to Reduce Energy Lows
Cinnamon, a sweet, natural spice, stabilizes blood sugar and helps the body be more sensitive to insulin, which helps your body utilize the energy from your food in a healthier way. Adding this spice to your coffee or tea in the morning or at other points of the day will help you experience more even energy throughout the day, which will free up your mind to do its best work.
Another way cinnamon benefits you is by mimicking the sweetness of sugar, so that if you have a sweet tooth, you feel satisfied without going through a sugar up and a sugar crash that negatively impacts your energy.
One of the easiest ways to integrate cinnamon into your day is to add it to your coffee, in place of sugar, or with a reduced amount of sugar or artificial sweetener than what you usually use. You can also add it to tea, smoothies, and on top of fruits to also give you a sweetness while helping to stabilize your blood sugar.
I add cinnamon to my coffee everyday to avoid sugar crashes.
4. Combine Foods Like This To Experience Balanced Energy and Avoid Cravings
If you feel like you’re eating healthy, but you’re still feeling low energy, it could likely be that you’re either not combining your foods for higher energy, and/or you’re not eating enough to sustain you.
When blood sugar rises and then drops back down quickly, it manifests instantly with more dramatic feelings of lethargy, mental exhaustion, and hunger to get one’s blood sugar back up. Fat storage also increases during quick blood sugar spikes and valleys.
The Energy-Boosting Framework takes all of the combinations into account and helps you keep your blood sugar constant throughout the day.
When eating sugar, fruit, and/or carbs, combine it with a healthy fat and/or a healthy protein. You will find that your blood sugar stays more constant, and you will not feel low in energy as often.
Here are more examples of food to avoid having alone:
– Fruit
– Crackers
– Bread
– Pasta
Here are some combinations that work better for stable energy:
– Fruit and nut butter, nuts, or cheese
– Crackers and cheese
– Bread with nut butter or butter or ghee
– Pasta with meatballs or another protein
5. Utilize the “Action Before Attitude” mindset to create these new habits and transform your energy in 2023
Professor BJ Fogg from Stanford, creator of the Fogg Behavior Model and founder of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab, suggests three things need to converge at the same moment in time for behavior to happen: Motivation, Ability, and a Prompt.
Photo credit: BJ Fogg’s Behavior Model
He shows above if you’re motivated, for instance, like you may be right now to increase energy, take action immediately. Implement actions regularly while you’re motivated, because your motivation will decline. Then, the action will become easier to do, and it will become a habit, instead of an effort.
It’s important you take action and do not let emotions get in the way, to create lifestyle changes and habits. If you choose to make a protein more breakfast or drink infused debloating water, do it even if you don’t feel like it.
In other words: Action before Attitude.
Photo credit: Canva
Which one of the strategies shared above is something you can take action on to take the first step toward a higher energy lifestyle?
I challenge you to find one of the strategies I talked about in this post and put it into action as soon as you can. I’m excited for you to feel more energy starting now!
To Join Nagina’s 5-Day Live Metabolism Boost where she teaches you personalized methods to integrate high energy principles and create a sustainably healthy lifestyle. You can get your spot here.
Nagina Abdullah is an online weight-loss coach for women and professionals and founder of the website MasalaBody.com. She coaches women to boost metabolism naturally and simplifies creating a healthy lifestyle, even if they have tried everything. Nagina has a degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley and has helped over 1200 professional women successfully lose from 10-80 lbs and create a sustainable lifestyle change.
