Simple Steps for More Energy and Article of the week Feb 26 to March 2
a Review in Cell Anatomy
In this article of the week I'd like to take you back to your grade 10 Biology class from high school. Chances are you studied cell biology and you learned that your body is made of trillions of cells. Cells are the building blocks of tissues which are building blocks of your various organs. Inside your cells are the small microscopic parts that make the cell work. These parts are referred to as organelles, and one of the most important organelles is the mitochondria.
Mitochondria are so important because they are the powerhouse of your cells and their main responsibility is to take the nutrients from the food that you eat and turn them into energy. All your cells require energy to function, and the ones that require more energy have many mitochondria (2-3000) and the ones that require less energy have fewer. One of the more common comments I hear from patients is that they continually feel tired or lethargic or are lacking energy. There are different reasons why you may be feeling tired, but poorly functioning mitochondria is one of the most common.
Fortunately there are things you can do that not only improve the function of your mitochondria, but also increase the number of mitochondria in your cells. When you increase your energy demands through exercise, your body responds by making more mitochondria. Yes, expending energy will actually leave you with more energy in the longrun! Another effective strategy has to do with giving your body short breaks without eating, and more specifically, not eating for 2-3 hours before bedtime.
The word fasting is used to describe going periods of time without food, and for many people this word carries a negative connotation. Fasting doesn't have to involve going weeks or even days without food. It could simply involve reducing the number of hours that you eat throughout the day. One particular fasting strategy that I use, particularly on weekends, is to restrict my hours of eating to 8-10 hours per day. That means that if I had something to eat at 7 pm on Friday evening, I will wait until 11 or 12 the next day before my next meal, so my digestive system will have had a chance to rest for 16 hours. A study showed that the average person has 15.5 separate eating events throughout the day, and this has a lot more to do with food availability than energy requirements. Our bodies were actually designed to go for periods without food as this is when your body does most of its repair and recovery. One caveat to this recommendation is if you are an insulin-dependent diabetic - you should definitely consult with a health care professional before experimenting with eating less often.
The most important supplement for the health of your mitochondria is CoQ10, also known as ubiquinol. If you take a good multi-vitamin you may want to look at it's contents to make sure that it contains C0Q10 or ubiquinol. This is a supplement that I personally take every day to help provide the nutrients required to provide me with optimal energy levels throughout the day. It is recommended that if you have not been in the habit of taking CoQ10, you should take 250 mg per day for the first two weeks, at which point your blood levels will have plateaued and you can decrease your daily dosage to 100 mg per day. If you are taking cholesterol medication (known as statin drugs) it is even more important to be supplementing with CoQ10 as these drugs deplete C0Q10 even further.
Wishing you a week with abundant energy,
Dr. Tim
Grace Chiropractic – 1-3230 Monarch Drive – 705-323-9100 – http://gracechiropractic.ca