Why am I always tired?

‘I want to have more energy’ is something that is commonly said by clients. Clients usually come to see a nutritional therapist two reasons: losing weight and having more energy. Most of the time, these two objectives are linked. People who want more energy tend to eat sugary foods and drink tea/coffee/soda, which only gives them a surge of energy but also triggers weight gain.

If you want to have more energy here are my top tips:

• Have a good night sleep, consistently. Sleep helps you recover from everything that happened during the day. If you don’t sleep enough, your body has to do it while you are awake, redirecting the energy so that you can’t use it.
• Cut all sugary foods and stimulants. They only work for a short period of time and trigger a lot of nasty side effects. It is hard to find alternatives to change habits but it's the only solution for the long term.
• Eat real foods i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, seeds and nuts. The more processed the food, the more energy your body needs to process it. Again, that’s energy you won’t be able to use.
• Drink more still water. Indeed, water can help you have more energy. Dehydration is a cause of lack of energy. So try having a glass of water before anything else and see if this works.

Now if you have already made these changes and still feel tired, the cause might be somewhere else. Below is a list of common causes that may need to be considered depending on the severity and the length of the symptoms of tiredness. All can be tested for a proper diagnostic, and nutritional therapy can help improve the symptoms:

• Food intolerances.
• Coeliac disease and other auto-immune diseases. Coeliac disease is a reaction to the ingestion of gluten, the protein of wheat and a few other grains.
• Anaemia, an iron-deficiency.
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis).
• Hypothyroid, an under activity of the thyroid gland.
• Diabetes.
• Glandular fever.
• Depression.
• Anxiety.