Alternatives for Midday Energy Pick-Me-Ups

How to Increase Energy Without Sugar, Coffee, or Energy Drinks

Jun 17, 2009

Here are three easy ways to combat the midday energy slump: drink more plain water throughout the day; even out blood sugar levels; and perform simple, mild exercise.

Sugar and caffeine are addictive drugs. Here are three suggestions on how to increase energy without ingesting drugs, unhealthy coffee, or toxic and addictive energy drinks.

These natural energy pick-me-up suggestions are safe, non-addictive, healthy, and easy to incorporate in a daily routine.

Increase Energy Levels by Drinking More Water

A dry mouth and throat is the body’s absolute last resort, last desperate cry for water.

Your Body’s Many Cries for Water: You Are not Sick, You Are Thirsty by Dr. Batmanghelidj explains how drinking plain water throughout the day can increase energy levels, help with weight loss, prevent disease, and even cure many mainstream and prevalent diseases common today in America.

Fluids do not count as pure water, according to Dr. Batman: “...thinking that tea, coffee, alcohol, and manufactured beverages are desirable substitutes for the purely natural water needs of the daily 'stressed' body is an elementary but catastrophic mistake. It is true that these beverages contain water, but what else they contain are dehydrating agents.” (p. 6)

That midday or mid-afternoon slump in energy is the body’s cry for water, not hunger. Low energy is often mistaken for the need for food-- carbohydrates or protein as a “pick-me-up.” The vast majority of Americans have an underdeveloped thirst mechanism, mistaking thirst for hunger. The body is not hungry, it is thirsty!

For sugar sensitive people, blood sugar levels are a struggle to control. Regular meals, more frequent meals, and foods with more complex carbohydrates help even out the extreme sugar peaks and valleys.

A spike in energy can be due to the body chemistry overreacting to simple sugars. This results in a corresponding dramatic crash in energy. A normal blood sugar curve has its ups and downs, but the normal peaks and valleys are less dramatic than those of sugar-sensitive people, hypoglycemic people, addicts and recovering alcoholics.

Kathleen DesMaisons, Doctor of Addictive Nutrition, explains in detail how to regulate blood sugar levels, energy levels, and eliminate mood swings in her book, Potatoes Not Prozac (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1998). Dr. DesMaisons’ book addresses recovering alcoholics, recovering addicts, and sugar-sensitive people.

Even Mild Exercise Increases Energy and Metabolism

No time to work out at the gym? Here is an alternative to time-consuming workouts and expensive memberships to fitness centers.

Take a walk around the block during a work break, or walk up and down a flight of stairs for mild exercise. Fifteen minutes a day of increased heartbeat is enough to qualify as mild aerobics and leads to an overall increase in metabolism. There is no need for overexertion to the point of panting or gasping for breath. An increase in heartbeat can be achieved through a pleasant, brisk walk around the block.

Incorporate these three healthy habits into your daily routine to increase energy levels without harmful, toxic drinks. It takes just three weeks for a new habit to take hold, so give it sufficient time for the habits to become part of the natural flow of the day.

Be mindful, too, of the three to ten days of detoxification of the toxic chemicals from coffee, energy drinks, and sugar to leave the body. Increased water intake flushes the system, but the effect is subtle, powerful, and not immediate.

Sources and Resources

Potatoes Not Prozac: Are You Sugar Sensitive? by Kathleen DesMaisons, PhD. Addictive Nutrition (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1998)

Your Body’s Many Cries for Water: You Are Not Sick, You Are Thirsty by Dr. Batmanghelidj (Global Health Solutions, Inc., 1992)

The copyright of the article Alternatives for Midday Energy Pick-Me-Ups in Substance Abuse Recovery is owned by Angela Schnaubelt. Permission to republish Alternatives for Midday Energy Pick-Me-Ups in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.