If there’s one thing I wish I could have more of when the days feel long and exhausting, it’s energy. How many of us are utterly exhausted at the end of the day, only to realize that we’ll have to wake up and do it all over again the next day? Whether you have a demanding job, a busy family life, or just struggle with low energy levels in general, feeling energized every day can seem like an impossible feat.
This is why I’m asking the experts for their insider tips. Dana Hunnes PhD, MPH, RD is one of those experts. She let me pick her brain for her #1 tip to feel energized every day, and I’m excited to share it with you.
Here are her answers to my questions, which are so valuable.
What do you do for a living?
I’m a clinical dietitian at UCLA Health. I work with some of the best physician and nurse teams in the world to take care of some of the sickest patients in the world – those who are waiting for organ transplants (heart, liver, kidney, lung) or who have part of their gastrointestinal tracts (parts of their intestine, or their pancreas, or even stomach) removed due to cancer or other ailments.
In my role, I teach individuals how to eat healthy, get stronger, or provide themselves with nutrition if they can no longer take in foods by mouth. As such, I’ve learned the necessity and importance of eating the healthiest diet I can and staying as physically active as possible.
What’s your #1 tip for feeling your best?
My number one tip for feeling my best is to move my body every day—whether that be going for a swim, a jog, a bike ride, or running stairs—and to fuel those physical activities with the healthiest diet I possibly can—a whole-foods, plant-based diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and plant-based proteins.
I feel my best when I can do all the things that I want to do, whether that be trekking the Inca Trail in Peru or training for a race. I also feel my best when I can do all the things I need to do, such as being present for my 10-year-old son and my family.
Is it really that simple?
Dana recommends exercise and eating well. Wait… there’s no magic pill or answer that she wants to share? I asked. Isn’t there a secret food or exercise she’s keeping from us? This is how she replied:
I’ll be honest. There is no specific “food” that makes me feel my best. It really is the quality of my diet, which is whole food, plant-based, and foods that come from the Earth (so to speak), so I cannot really be more specific than that about a certain “food.”
When it comes to the physical activity part, running/climbing stairs or swimming a mile makes me feel my best in different ways and for different reasons.
For example, swimming makes me feel my best because it’s a time when I can focus and have the quietness to think in peace. Some of my best thinking occurs while I’m swimming! Some of my most motivational ideas come when I’m swimming. The book I published with Cambridge University Press, I came up with the Foreword when I was swimming! So, to me, that is empowering and refreshing all at the same time and helps me feel my best.
As for stair running, that helps me feel my best because it is quite literally one of the hardest exercises I’ve ever done. It makes my heart rate higher than any other exercise; it’s true HIIT, and when I complete a workout, I’ve hit muscle fatigue that I know there is nothing more I could do in that workout! There is something so empowering in knowing you can DO it.
How Can Someone Get Started?
What makes me feel my best can also help you to start feeling your best! These are things you can start today – eat more whole, plant foods that provide you with the nutrients and anti-inflammatory compounds your body wants and needs, and initiate daily gentle bodily movement that, over time, will become part of your daily routine.
When you do things like these that are good for your health and your body, you begin to feel a little better first and then a lot better later.
You heard it straight from an expert: baby steps are the way to sustainable change. You don’t need to make a massive change tomorrow, but you do need to get started.
JayDee Vykoukal is a writer, author, mom, and Doctor of Physical Therapy. She has been writing about everything motherhood and health-related since 2018 when her first daughter was born, and she wanted to stay home. She loves to research new topics and fun facts with her kids to teach them about the world.
