Snack Ideas to Boost Energy

As a follow-up to my preceding post — reasons for your 3pm energy slump and what to do about it — I wanted to share some insight about what you can snack on to help boost your energy when you’re at work and sleepiness hits.

Ready?

*clears throat*

YOU SHOULD NOT NEED TO EAT FOOD TO BOOST YOUR ENERGY.

I know, I know... food is fuel. But, other things are fuel too, and you have ample versions of available fuel stored in and on your body to energize your (let’s be honest) relatively sedentary work day endeavours.

If you’re wondering what to eat to get a little zap of energy, maybe the question to ask instead is, “Why isn’t my body tapping into my stored fuel to keep my energy relatively level and predictable all day?”

BTW I’m not just talking about people with extra fat to lose. Even a very lean person has tens of thousands of calories of stored fat on them (which is not to speak of glycogen, and ketones, and all of the other fuel substrates available to us without needing to eat).

Remember when the fitness industry told you that an extra 3500 calories eaten = 1lb of fat gain (and the inverse: to lose 1lb of fat you needed a 3500 calorie deficit)? That math has always been a little too neat-n-tidy for me, with no room for nuance, but let’s go with it for a sec.

A 140lb woman at a pretty lean 15% body fat has 21lbs of fat on her body (140 x 0.15 = 21). This works out to 73,500 calories of stored energy (21 x 3500 = 73,500).

Here’s the plot twist: even if you’re carrying fuel around in your body (which... you are, I promise you), your fueling *system* might be broken, leading you to the conclusion that you need to eat to bring in fuel in real time. Been there: when I was metabolically effed, I needed to drink OJ *while I was exercising* otherwise I’d black out... even though I had a BUNNNCH of fuel stored right around my midsection.

It might feel true to you that food gives you the energy you were lacking, but in an ideal scenario, your body would handle that for you without you needing to micromanage it with strategic snacking.