Are you always tired? The reason can be found on the plate

Constant lack of energy is exhausting. If you eat too little or too rarely, you run out of energy and your thoughts stop. The fact that you eat enough and often enough is important for coping.

Food rhythm is always more important than individual food items. It can have devastating effects on your ability to cope: you will be refreshed, able to concentrate, sleep better, stay healthier and even avoid the flu.

– Eating regularly keeps the blood sugar level stable, so the brain receives energy evenly. I feel refreshed and my ability to concentrate is good, says the nutritionist Anu Jockey from the University of Helsinki.

Morning and day are naturally the time when the body’s energy reserves are filled. When you eat in the morning and throughout the day and not just in the evening, your digestive system can rest at night.

From regular meals, your body also gets enough of the nutrients it needs, which help maintain immunity. It would be ideal to eat every 3-4 hours, i.e. five to six times a day. The day includes breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and evening snack. If breakfast does not keep you hungry until lunch, you can eat one snack already before lunch.

– Children are often given snacks, but adults don’t necessarily eat them. However, it is with snacks that you can break up long meal breaks. When your body gets steady energy, you can cope better.

Palelu indicates a lack of energy

Many people think they can do well without snacks or with fewer meals if they don’t feel hungry. However, hunger is not the only sign that the meal interval has stretched too long.

– Even an adult can get a hunger pang when blood sugar drops. Small things start to irritate in an inexplicable way. Headaches, dizziness and cold fingers and toes may also indicate that your body needs energy.

When you eat often enough, you become more sensitive to listening to your body’s messages. Then you should eat appropriately.

– Regular mealtimes also promote psychological well-being, because there are breaks in the day. The mood improves when there is a group at the dining table or during a coffee break. This also gives you more power and energy in everyday life.

Stamina from carbohydrates

When you’re hungry and tired, you tend to choose foods that are high in energy but low in nutrients. On the other hand, I don’t feel like grabbing vegetables in the store or at the table. You could get vitamins from them. Many vitamins are water-soluble, which means you should get them daily.

In addition to endurance, it would also be important for recovery and resistance to eat a varied diet. But what does that mean in practice?

– If you want to eat versatile, nothing beats the plate model. It’s a simple way to build a dose that helps you cope and from which the body gets everything it needs. I resort to the plate model myself, says Anu Joki.

In the traditional plate model, half of the plate is filled with vegetables, a quarter with protein and a quarter with carbohydrates. Then the body gets nutrients in the right proportion and enough vegetables, fiber and vitamins.

You can also use the plate model to prepare soup meals, hearty salads, breakfast, snacks and evening snacks.

– You can consider whether your meal includes the building blocks of the plate model: vegetables or fruits, whole grains and protein, which can be, for example, a low-fat dairy product.

Many people already know that protein suppresses hunger and increases the feeling of satiety, but fiber-rich whole grains also do that. From whole grains and vegetables, you get carbohydrates that keep you refreshed and help you cope with everyday life and sports activities.

– Fiber also slows down digestion and raises blood sugar evenly.

You don’t have to eat according to the clock, but each of us can prepare the day’s meals in our own way, as long as we eat versatile and feel good.

– The most important thing is that there are not too many rules. They only incite stress and anxiety. Eating is supposed to increase well-being, not weaken it. ◆

Nutrition researcher Anu Joki, University of Helsinki, as an expert.

This article has appeared in Hyvä tervey magazine. As a subscriber, you can read all issues free of charge from the digilehdet.fi service.