Getting your energy back as a Dad can feel like a fleeting thing. And sadly, most of us resort to quick fixes, or worse, lean on our vices to keep us from drowning in our day-to-day responsibilities.
If you’re lacking energy, most assume they need to address their nutrition.
If that’s you, you’re partially right. The bigger picture is that you must think of the body as an interconnected system, e.g. great nutrition, will not make up for a lack of training, poor sleep, or no sunlight exposure.
Most people get nutrition so wrong it’s painful to see. They overcomplicate it, or worse, follow completely unsustainable practices like fads, diets, and crazily counting calories.
Let’s fix that by solving one piece of the puzzle, by learning how to get your energy back with the right nutrition.
why do you lack energy as a dad?
If you have a lack of energy, your body’s systems are not functioning at an optimal level.
If you feel tired all the time, have spikes of energy, feel weak, can’t sleep properly, can’t keep up with the kids, or have no libido for your wife – These are all signs as to which systems are not working as they should.
It’s important to understand that your internal state (your physiology) is in a perpetual state of stress if you don’t get your health under control. Much of your good work will be undone if you don’t harbour a great environment for growth and repair.
what does good nutrition feel like?
Nutrition should be so simple that eventually, you don’t have to think about it. Once you learn the process I use with my students, and some of the simple principles I follow, this will be you too. You’ll stop feeling guilty about what you consume, and start having a healthier relationship with your food too.
You’ll eat together as a family, where everyone eats the same thing, no special meals for the kids. You and your wife are on the same page, both getting and feeling healthier too, which will help you feel more connected, energised, and present with each other.
Your body will start to show noticeable changes. Getting nutrition right will reduce your body fat, but won’t magically build muscle. This is where Martial Arts and Functional Strength Training come into play. Get this combination of the right training and the right eating, and you’ll look your best, feel your strongest, and your kids will have a Dad they can always look up to.
You want to be able to eat until you are full, feel satisfied, and enjoy tasty foods. So you’re never dieting, you can even eat the kid’s leftovers (as I do), and you can even have desserts, without feeling like you’re going to get fat or blow up the scales. In essence, your nutrition becomes a way of life, and you don’t have to worry about it ever again, you just follow the principles, and you’re good to go.
Before I share the principles, a quick backstory which helped me arrive at them.
the time i got really sick and had no energy
You might think I have had no issues with nutrition, being in the Martial Arts and health and fitness world since I was 4, but that’s unfortunately not true.
I ran many experiments on myself, which had tough consequences.
The main one being when I decided to go Vegan for nearly 8 years.
Towards the end of being Vegan, I was sick, tired all the time, bloated, woke up with open wounds due to painful eczema, was bed-bound and was being injected with vitamin B12 shots to desperately try and boost my energy.
I was also going through ‘depression’ and questioning my life’s purpose, so that contributed too, but Veganism for sure didn’t help.
After I had enough, and finally sorted myself out, I went back to animal-based nutrition, and haven’t looked back since.
Now, I can stay in shape without much effort, hovering around 10% body fat year round, whilst building muscle easily, and keeping up with the kids is no problem.
In many ways, at 33 I am in much better health than 23.
If I can do it, you can too, so here are the simple nutrition principles you can adopt today, so you never have to feel low on energy again.
simple nutrition principles to get your energy back as a dad
These are some of the simple nutrition habits that my students and I use to stay in shape year-round, without ever going on a diet.
There are plenty more, but if you get these right, they set the foundation for the more particular habits you can build into your lifestyle later on:
Eat animal-based nutrition.
These are the most optimal foods for humans; meat, organs, fruit, honey, and raw dairy. You can also have sweet potatoes and rice for complex carbohydrates.
Instead of counting calories, adopt portion control.
Eat 1-2 palm-sized portions of protein, both in width and thickness with every meal. Choose protein-dense foods such as meat and eggs.
Eat 1 cupped handful of carbohydrate-dense foods like potatoes, fruit, vegetables, and rice.
Eat 1 thumb-sized portion of healthy fats with every meal. Include fat-dense foods such as animal fats, oils, butter, and avocado.
See the image below for a visual reference.
Assess your state of hunger.
Use the rating system in the image below to understand what you should be feeling and when.
Remove tap water.
The right water is essential, but today it is a toxic tea with 100s of carcinogens. Having toxic water with chemicals, heavy metals etc. depletes your body of vital nutrients. Make sure it’s properly filtered. I use a Berkey. Do not use a basic filter like Brita, as they don’t make that much of a difference to the quality of the water.
Remove seed oils.
These oils are all full of high amounts of Linoleic Acid, a pro-inflammatory Omega-6 Fatty Acid that accumulates in your body. It causes increased membrane permeability, impaired metabolic function, and adipocyte (fat storage) dysfunction. Change your oils to butter and ghee (grass-fed), organic coconut oil, and organic extra virgin olive oil.
Remove highly processed foods.
This will come as one of the hardest for many due to the way we eat in the modern world. Cut out buying anything with more than 4 ingredients. Drop the cereals, breakfast bars, sliced bread, carton fruit juices, snacks etc. It doesn’t mean you can’t eat sweet things like cakes at all, it just means you’re better off making them at home, plus they taste better too.
Beyond these habits, there is a lot more to optimise.
But unless you know what you are doing, or are willing to go through a long trial and error period (which can be many years without the right direction), getting the right blood tests done will check for key biomarkers (your vitamin, mineral, and hormone levels) that are too low or too high.
For example, if your vitamin D is too low, you can see the best ways to get more sunlight, and natural light exposure to your eyes. Or if your testosterone is too low, you can add more testosterone-boosting foods, and habits like doing Martial Arts and Functional Strength Training into your routine – Don’t even think about Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT), it’s not worth it…
the simple dad's guide to nutrition
In essence, the more you eat like your great-grandparents the better.
They didn’t have access to the modern sickness-inducing foods we have now, and they were much better off for it.
To wrap up this letter, this quote summarises it well, “Eat like your ancestors, not like your doctor.“
And if you’re ready to implement some simple changes…
I use blood tests for my students and myself which test for 55 biomarkers. I then help you interpret the data into actionable lifestyle changes which get you the results you’re looking for. This radically speeds up the process of getting you back to your prime. If you want some help with this, then book a call with me here.
