Energy is awesome.  Feeling energetic… even better!

As a Christian, the personal benefits of feeling energetic are numerous.  But not only are they plentiful, the benefits of feeling great are powerful and even potentially eternal!

Consider these benefits and advantages:

• Feeling physical energy makes you happier.  When you are happier, you will naturally smile more and laugh more.  Smiles and laughter are attractive and contagious (no matter what your worldly appearance may be).
• Being energetic helps you be more active.  Believe it or not, more activity creates more energy.  It’s a powerful, positive cycle that becomes self-motivating.  And, of course, more activity equals better health!
• Your mind thinks more clearly and intelligently when you experience high energy.  When your mind is clear and intelligent, you are more productive, positive, and naturally lift more people’s spirits.
• Greater energy equals greater confidence!  Confidence helps you achieve more (even with small, daily activities), speak more, reach out and influence more.  Again, confidence attracts people who need strength and support, which leads to opportunities to be a shining example of Jesus Christ to the world.

Energy is powerful.  And because of the natural opportunities that being energetic attracts, possessing high levels of energy can have eternal rewards.  Now, obviously as Christians, we have to respond to this higher energy appropriately when God places opportunities in front of us, but we are going to assume, for this article, that your heart is filled with the desire to be like Christ in everything you can do.

So… possessing high levels of energy is important for our health and potentially for the eternal future of someone God places in our path.  The question, therefore, is this:  what can we do to get it?

Consistent, high quality energy comes from 3 sources:

1. God, through Him, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit
2. Temple Fuel
3. Activity

So that this article doesn’t turn into a literal book, you can get a quick overview of the first and third source in the article “Spirituality and Weight Loss Made Simple“.

For now, though, let’s look at the second source:  Temple Fuel.

I can hear some of you now:  What in the world is “temple fuel”?  Well, temple fuel is food!

Since our bodies are the temple for the Holy Spirit within us, we must look at food in a whole new light.  The food that we put into our mouths is literally fueling the temple of the Holy Spirit.  When you truly stop and think about that concept, and if you can even begin to fully realize the gift that has been given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through His sacrifice and resurrection, the impact of the concept of “Temple Fuel” can be nothing short of absolutely powerful.

In fact, it should be life-changing.

Our nutrition has a tremendous impact on our energy levels.  And while books and books have been written about the topic, the idea of nutrition changes when we look at its potential impact on eternity.  When you look at nutrition in the light of heaven, you realize the importance of steady, consistent energy levels.  The status and priority of nutrition is elevated when you take into account the impact that both your daily actions and your longevity have on your experience in eternity.

Nutrition just became a whole lot more important to you, didn’t it?

Now that you are truly aware of the benefits of healthy Temple Fuel, here are 7 tips for creating consistent, high-level energy.

1. Eat your breakfast!  Time and time again, real-world experience and scientific research proves that people who eat a healthy breakfast have more energy, burn more calories during the day, achieve and maintain weight loss, and are simply healthier.
2. Eat protein at each meal.  Protein revs up your metabolism in 2 ways.  First, it actually takes more calories to digest protein than it does to digest carbohydrates or fats.  In addition, protein helps maintain and repair your muscles, which are responsible for the vast majority of our daily metabolism.
3. Eat fibrous vegetables at each meal.  Fibrous vegetables all have a few things in common.  First, they all have high levels of vitamins, minerals, and/or antioxidants.  Next, because they have a higher fiber content, they excel at making sure you have a nice, slow, steady release of energy from your meal!
4. Fuel your workouts with carbohydrates.  Eat most of your carbohydrates around your workouts.  They will provide Temple Fuel for a high-energy, productive workout, and they will also help refill your carbohydrate stores after a workout.  If your carbohydrate stores in your muscles are at least moderately filled, you should have no problem providing enough fuel to your brain, as well, so that you feel energetic all day long!
5. Avoid simple carbohydrates.  Simple carbohydrates like flour and sugar cause a sudden rush of energy… followed by a drastic LOW in energy.  All those simple carbs cause a surge in insulin levels, which initially helps refill carbohydrate stores.  But, it happens so fast that TOO much carbohydrate is pulled from the blood stream (and either stored as glycogen or fat), and we experience lower blood sugar levels.  Our brain will respond to low blood sugar with feelings of lethargy, laziness, and our ability to concentrate and be positive and productive suffers.
6. Eat healthy fats.  Healthy fats are tremendously important for our energy levels.  Since we are avoiding simple carbohydrates and timing our healthy carbohydrates around our workouts, the balance of our calories should come from healthy, energy-creating fats.  Fats also have a dramatically important role in proper hormone production, which, when factored in with our calorie-burning furnaces of muscle, combine to directly influence the amount of calories we use and energy we “feel”.
7. Drink a gallon of water throughout the day.  Water is essential to every system and chemical reaction in our body, either directly or indirectly.  When our bodies are running optimally, we have and experience the feelings of being energetic.  When our bodies are missing ingredients like water, calories, vitamins, minerals, and more, we are tired, depressed, dull, and down.  Water is a HUGE factor in your energy levels

Look at the concept of nutrition in a new, heavenly light.  In fact, from this moment onward, it would be best for you to acknowledge nutrition for what it truly is:  Temple Fuel.

Take care, and God bless,

Jeremy and Alissa Nelms

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Related posts:

1. Spirituality and Weight Loss Made Simple
2. The Simplicity of Nutrition for Christians