How to improve energy levels to reverse declining health?

March 26, 2015 8:02 AM

I have health issues that cause fatigue. Exercise could lessen these, but I lack the energy to do so. What dietary changes can I make to get the energy to exercise?

I'm a mid-40's man recently diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I'm overweight but not incredibly so. I take paxil for depression, hydrocodone occasionally for pain and hydroxazine for sleep. My job requires about equal amounts of brisk walking and desk work, but I come home exhausted and seem to stay that way. In the past year I've made a lot of changes to my health pattern, switching from smoking to e-cigs a year ago, significantly reducing my soda intake, and eating a salad at least every other day. I need to add exercise to my regimen but when I get home I just want to lay down and recuperate. Short of methamphetamine, is there anything I can add to my diet that will help my energy level?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (17 answers total)

Don't add things: cut carbs. Especially bread and potatoes. Especially at lunch time.

Start slow on the exercise. You probably want to push yourself to do a lot because you have a lot to do, but that's just a plan for hitting a wall and getting frustrated. Just walk around the block the first couple of days, then a half mile, then a mile. Maybe start C25K if running regularly is your goal.
posted by sparklemotion at 8:07 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Can you drink caffeine, or does that interfere with your sleep? That might help. Otherwise, exercise itself will boost energy, if you can force yourself to take the first steps. Maybe start with just walking, and as your energy increases, you can up the intensity.
posted by three_red_balloons at 8:07 AM on March 26, 2015

It might be worth looking at what your balance of (certain) carbohydrates to protein is. I'm not about to suggest some Atkins or Paleo nonsense, I'm talking about high glycemic index foods. Spiking your blood sugar can lead to a crash and feelings of tiredness. Maintaining, and eating lower-index foods, can help smooth out your energy levels. And, try eating salads every day if you can.

On top of that, I was on Paxil for a while when I was a lot younger and it made me mainly a zombie. Dialing in the time of day to take it was hell--too late in the day and I couldn't sleep, too early and I couldn't stay awake. So that might be worth looking at as well. When I was on Wellbutrin I had virtually no side effects and my energy level was good, even 'normal.'

Also worth doing a full workup with your doctor to double check for anemia, thyroid, vitamin deficiencies if you haven't already.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:11 AM on March 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

If I come home from work and sit down, I'm done for. If I stay standing (putting away groceries, prepping dinner), I find the energy to follow through on what I need to do. I wonder if you could try something similar, like maybe taking a walk immediately upon getting home (or even before you leave work), or going directly to the gym. Exercising in the morning may be another thing to try.

I also find that I'm the most tired at the end of the day if I've consumed sugar (at all) or caffeine (after noon). The crash is no longer worth it for me.
posted by jaguar at 8:14 AM on March 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

Hand weights and a timer. When you get get home, give yourself 15 minutes of crash time. Set a timer. Use the 15 minutes to clear your head and do that relaxation technique where you focus on every part of your body for a minute to relax the muscles. Then do a 15 minute hand weight workout. There are tons of videos all over the Internet, keep looking until you find one you like. For the first week, do a 15 minute rest, 15 minute workout, and another 15 minute rest as soon as you get home. Second week, add another 15 minute workout at the end. After a couple of weeks, add five more minutes to your workout sessions. And maybe drop five from your rest time. That's one hour a day you are committing to your overall health. If you commit to doing it for one month, I bet you will see a huge difference!
posted by raisingsand at 8:15 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh, and good point about the Paxil. I believe it's considered a "sedating" anti-depressant, which means that it's helpful in treating anxiety and agitation, but it may be worth asking your MD about whether it's too sedating for you right now, especially since you're taking other sedating medications.
posted by jaguar at 8:20 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

My job requires about equal amounts of brisk walking and desk work....

That suggests that you are walking briskly for about 4 hours a day, or around 12-15 miles a day. We tend to overestimate how long and how far we walk, so you might want to verify it by measuring (with a smartphone app or simply with a pedometer that counts steps). But if it's accurate, it's completely understandable that you're tired - you're already getting plenty of exercise at work. You might still want to do make sure you exercise on weekends and perhaps do some weights (including bodyweight exercises), because that will give different results. But you should rest in the evenings if you've done 15 miles of brisk walking during the day.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:23 AM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

Are you getting enough restful sleep at night? Is it possible that getting more rest at night would give you more energy to do exercise? Conversely is it possible for you to exercise in the morning before work?
posted by mmascolino at 8:46 AM on March 26, 2015

A few things to look into:

Drink more water. http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/19/bad-mood-low-energy-there-might-be-a-simple-explanation/

Get your iron level checked, if it is low get a supplement. Take the supplement with vitamin C for better absorption, and a b-complex vitamin. (Don't take iron if you're not low, but still take the C & B-complex.)

CoQ10 (aka ubiquinol): http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/938.html
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 8:58 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

You are going be tired when you get home from work. You are going to want to relax. These are forces of nature beyond the control of humankind. So move your schedule around to get up early, go to the gym or take a brisk walk and then go to work. It is so much easier to make it part of your day if you schedule it in with no wiggle room.
posted by munchingzombie at 9:09 AM on March 26, 2015

I will second co-q-10. Take it in the morning. If you take other fatty supplements (like vitamins A or D), take it with them. Some people report that makes a difference. People tend to be deficient in co-q-10 as they age. It is the co-enzyme for melatonin and it wakes the brain up. I took it in part to support my heart, lungs and other vital organs as I healed.

I'm a mid-40's man recently diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Glutathione is an important powerful anti-oxidant that supports the liver. IIRC, you cannot supplement it directly, but you can take supplements that will boost its presence in the body. I took milk thistle for a long time to boost glutathione and support my liver while healing. It's been a long while since I did this and searching is not getting me the info I want. Some people don't tolerate milk thistle well, but it seems to be the most common supplement for increasing glutathione in the body and a lot of people take it as liver support.

I also worked hard on removing stressors from my life in order to take some load off my liver. I am very sensitive to chemicals. I went to real extremes to remove things like particle board furniture from my apartment. My genetic disorder creates a bottleneck in my system, so I just worked hard to not put my body under stress to start with and just not expose myself to anything that would make my liver work harder.

You might also google up articles on diabetes and inflammation. My condition is an inflammatory condition and it often leads to pancreatitis. I have reversed a lot of my systems by eating an anti-inflammatory diet. There are books out there on anti-inflammatory diets. I didn't follow any specific anti-inflammatory diet. I read up on stuff and figured out which foods were problematic for me in specific and altered my diet accordingly.

Speaking of which, I strongly suggest you start a journal. Write down absolutely everything you eat and include details, like what spices were in it and was it organic and what kind of oil it was cooked with. Read labels, read labels, read labels. Try to list times and places and just a lot of details about what you eat AND how you feel that day. Give details about your physical state.

Then start looking for patterns. From what I have read, it is really common for people to have a delayed reaction, coming a day or two later, to problem foods. Delayed reactions are hard to notice if you aren't keeping a journal and actively looking for patterns. They are a lot easier to spot if you have a record. I commonly have a bad reaction about 48 after certain things happen. So I try to record anything I think is a significant difference from my routine and I try to look back to "what happened two days ago?" when I am having an especially bad day.

However, I will note that the process of improving your baseline health takes time and energy. So, most likely, if any of this stuff helps, you will initially find yourself sleeping MORE, not less. You should see gains in energy during the day, but healing means putting energy and resources into rebuilding damaged tissues. It's quite resource intensive. It does pay off, but it tends to be a case of short term costs for long term gains (the exact opposite of what most people want, which is why we take so many drugs that do long term harm but, hey, they get results we can see TODAY).
posted by Michele in California at 11:26 AM on March 26, 2015 [3 favorites]

Oh, I meant to say that one of the ways I took stress off my system was by trying to eat "clean." This meant being super picky about meat and skewing towards organic/kosher foods, at least until I got better. (I am not Jewish, but kosher meats are one of the things I found was really high quality and didn't cause me problems.)
posted by Michele in California at 11:36 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Agree with munchingzombie about exercising before you get home from work, though I'm not a morning person so I prefer to build my exercise into my journey home: Go to the gym on the way home; walk or cycle some of the way; walk/cycle round the block before you drive home. Then once you get in you can relax.
posted by penguin pie at 12:12 PM on March 26, 2015

I have health/medication-related fatigue, and the thought of exercising when I felt fatigued in order to boost my energy levels used to fill me with horror. Reducing wheat helped clear some of the fog, but the main thing that's made a difference has been doing ten or fifteen minutes of beginner's yoga in the mornings before I go to work. I use a free guided app on my phone (Daily Yoga), and it's a short enough time and low enough intensity that I can deal with the idea of doing it even on mornings when I'm low on energy. It's also massively increased my strength and flexibility, and I started noticing improvements there within a week of beginning. My bones hurt less, and I have more energy throughout the day.
posted by terretu at 1:30 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Agreeing that if you're walking briskly for half the day you're probably getting enough exercise. Get a pedometer or a step counting app and see. If you're way over 10000 steps, there's probably a good reason you're tired.

But if you're never getting your heart rate up, or lifting anything heavy, it'd be good to add that in. Caffiene just beforehand helps me, assuming it doesn't keep you awake. Also, just not sitting down until it's done.
posted by kjs4 at 3:36 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

If you live in a Northern Hemisphere: my husband has had similar issues and was diagnosed with low D vitamin and then a couple of years later, low B12. I can tell you from personal experience that low D makes you very tired at this time of year. Please do not go by what they say on the news or in my case, I was at 31, which is at the low end and my doctor at the time was not concerned. I know how I feel, and it feels like the word is always wanting to get me, cloudy days suck, etc. Then in May, I am super fine! But between those days...

That's when I know to double up the 5,000 IU of Vitamin D that I take every day. Because this is the WORST time of year for those of us who live North of the Mason-Dixon line. Our D levels are low, we can't get out into the sun to replenish them, and it causes all kinds of havoc. I want to be more energetic, the light is there, I feel it, I get up and I do things, but I am so fucking tired all the time. It's maddening. I want to exercise and do things, but I am so tired..

So I'm doubling up my Vitamin D to 10,000 per day.

What else I am doing is starting the day with a high protein smoothie with Greek yogurt, peanut butter, milk, 1/2 a banana and a few chunks of mango, plus a B-C vitamin, in the Magic Bullet. Add spinach for making it green. Then taking the D vitamins after that, as D needs some fat to absorb. And drinking lots of water, and eating lightly until dinner (hummus on whole wheat toast, cottage cheese, protein drink, almond polenta cake, etc.).

From my experience: coffee, bathroom, yogurt protein shake or yogurt with berries and nuts. Go exercise.

Lunch: turkey or chicken plus some sort of greens and/or something like beans or quinoa. Bread or carb of your choice.

Supper: protein with some veg and whole grain. Dessert with dairy like pudding or panna cotta.

But: get your D and B12 levels checked and go from there. If you live up North, like we do, you might just be low on it. Sucks for sure.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 3:38 PM on March 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

I notice having more energy when I cut out sugar. Sugar gives me a little burst of energy, but leaves me feeling wiped out. Times when I've cut it out, I've noticed more consistent energy throughout the day.
posted by sam_harms at 3:15 AM on March 27, 2015