Foods to Fight Ageing and Energy Loss

The other day I almost fell asleep driving home, after a stressful two weeks at work and energy sapping gardening and home maintenance work on the weekends, I was paying the price.

I used to ‘burn the candle at both ends when I was younger, and I was resilient, and full of energy. I miss those days, well not all the facets of those days, but definitely the energy.

As we get older, we lack that ‘energy on tap’ we had when we were younger, so what can assist us in sustainable energy? I am not talking about the caffeine hit or the Red Bull spike and drop, but that lust for life energy, that ‘ I am so vital’ energy. That energy that reverberates through our body when we awake, shouting ‘I can’t wait to start the day.’

I had a friend at university who was a bodybuilder and I always remember him eating his steamed broccoli and brown rice and chicken breast. He would eat that every day for lunch, while the rest of us ate the canteen food (mostly junk food.)

This friend of mine, Craig, was a super intelligent and highly efficient person. He was studying finance and law, a double degree and somehow found the time to prepare healthy foods and hit the gym.

Don’t you just hate people like that? Super intelligent, strong and successful, we stood in awe of the guy. And yes, later in life he utilised his finance and law degrees to enter the corporate world of mergers and acquisitions and the last I heard he was living the dream, so to speak.

I used to ask him if he got bored with the same lunch every day. He said, not really because it was part of his nutrition plan. Little did I realise at the time just how healthy his diet was. He didn’t need it at that age, and he probably did not know he had an anti-aging recipe in his daily lunch.

We were all twenty something, so why would we care about energy levels and ageing? We didn’t, but I do now.

Everything about our health has to do with cellular health, our cells are our building blocks of life so it makes sense that if we have healthy cells, we have a healthy body and mind, because our minds too can only function properly if we have a healthy functional brain.

There is a compound that is involved in almost all energy functions in the body. This compound influences ageing, energy production, immunity against cancer and even fights metabolic diseases.

Here is an excerpt from a Science Direct study.

‘Emerging evidence implicates that elevation of NAD+ levels may slow or even reverse the aspects of aging and also delay the progression of age-related diseases. Here we discuss the roles of NAD+-synthesizing and -consuming enzymes in relationships to aging and major age-related diseases.’

We have mitochondria in our cells, known as the energy powerhouses. They are key to energy production, and NAD is key to this energy production process that occurs in the mitochondria.

Okay, so now we know we have this magical compound that can protect us and give us vitality and energy, so how do we get it? Well, we could take NAD supplements, but I am ‘old school’ with my personal health. I prefer to look for food sources.

I believe our bodies are designed to absorb nutrients from food, and so I have looked into what types of foods will assist us in our quest.

If I had to choose three foods to eat, to increase NAD levels, then I would eat chicken breasts,broccoli and brown rice. If you like beef liver, then pan cooked beef liver is an excellent source of Niacin, which provides NAD to our cells.

Cooked salmon, Turkey breast, canned tuna and pan browned ground beef are also good sources to assist with NAD levels. Have a baked potato if you prefer that to brown rice.

You can take NAD supplements, but even better than supplements is exercise, resistance training, to increase NAD levels.

Fasting naturally increases NAD levels. I usually skip breakfast. I know of others who skip supper. It’s all dependent on your lifestyle. Why not try it?

This one I cannot do, but they have shown that going to bed at sunset and waking at sunrise also helps. It is a little difficult when working full time and attending to a family, but if you can, do it.

Saunas are also good, apparently heat stress can assist with NAD levels too.

Avoiding radiation from Wi-Fi and cell phones and computers, etc. Can also assist, but who can do that these days?

We have to do what we can; I am definitely going to be consuming a lot more broccoli and brown rice. I like chicken, so already do that, but I will add canned tuna, and pan fried salmon to my weekly menu. I will also add baked potatoes and ground beef. Resistance training is part of my morning routine, so I’ll stick to that. And it is very important to eat a lot of vegetables, green leafy ones like spinach and kale for antioxidants and health.

My disclaimer. This is not nutrition advice. I am merely stating what I do, and what seems to work for me and the adjustments I am going to make, based on what I am learning about NAD.

Let me know your thoughts.