Ep. 80 - How Women Can Boost Energy Levels Naturally

Your energy doesn’t disappear for no reason. If you’ve been feeling unusually tired, foggy, or flat, especially in those low dips that seem to come out of nowhere, I want to help you sort through what’s actually happening and what you can do next. We start with the most important foundation: making sure you rule out medical causes with your doctor, because hormone changes in your late 30s, 40s, and 50s, low iron, and other health issues can absolutely affect fatigue and energy levels.

Then we get practical. I walk you through how nutrition impacts energy, from blood sugar spikes caused by highly processed foods to the crash that follows, and why inflammation and “empty calories” can leave you feeling drained. You’ll hear simple examples of balanced meals that support steadier glucose, better mood, and more consistent focus, plus realistic strategies for busy weeks so healthy eating doesn’t feel like an all-or-nothing project.

Hydration is the next lever, and it’s bigger than most people think. We talk about dehydration, digestion, brain fog, and easy ways to hit your water goal earlier in the day so you’re not chugging at night. I also share why electrolytes like magnesium, potassium, and sodium can matter for energy, aches, and recovery, along with smarter options that don’t pile on sugar.

Finally, we name stress for what it is: a silent energy thief. I share calming tools you can use right away, including movement, mindfulness, grounding techniques, and breathing exercises, plus why hobbies are not a luxury when your nervous system needs a reset. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s been running on empty, and leave a quick review so more women can find these tools.

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Transcript

Welcome To She Can Heal

Why Your Energy Feels Low

Rule Out Medical Causes First

Nutrition That Steadies Your Energy

Hydration And Electrolytes Basics

Stress As The Energy Thief

Small Action Steps And Wrap-Up

Share Review Subscribe

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Hello and welcome to the She Can Heal Podcast, a podcast aimed at helping women heal and thrive emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I am your host, Kayla El Dia. I'm a licensed therapist and a self-care advocate that is passionate about helping women take back their power and help them realize they're important, worthy, and deserve the care and attention they give to those they love most in their lives. This show is meant to help inspire you on your healing journey, no matter if you're in the discovery phase and are just realizing that you have unhealed wounds, habits, and mindsets that are keeping you stuck in your life, or you've been on this journey for a while and are looking for inspiration, encouragement, andor new tools to help you continue on your healing journey. My goal is to help you realize that you can heal from all that light has thrown at you and are capable of evolving into your healthiest and happiest version. On this show, I will provide you with resources, tools, and insights to help you heal and thrive emotionally, physically, and spiritually because you deserve all of that. So if you're ready to ditch the guilt and make yourself a priority, then you're at the right place. Because the truth is that you can't pour from an empty cup, even though most of us do this on a regular, and we really need to stop that nonsense. So get ready to be inspired, motivated, and equipped to truly thrive. Hello my friend, welcome back to another episode of the She Can Heal podcast. I hope this episode finds you doing well. And in today's conversation, we're gonna talk about how we can feel more energized, especially if you've been experiencing low dips in your energy. And one of the reasons that I'm talking about this today is because this is exactly what has been happening to me is that I've been noticing that I have been having times of in the month, sometimes it's days, where I'm feeling just really low energy, really almost fatigued at times. And I have been really doing a lot of research on what's really happening in my body and what can I do. And one of the things that comes up over and over and over is different specific things that we just need to change up our habits, how we eat, how we move. And today I wanted to share that with you because a lot of times these are we think that this is common sense, but it really isn't because sometimes we think something's really wrong with us. And before I get into the areas that I'm gonna talk about, the most important thing for you to understand is that if you are in your late 30s, 40s, 50s, you definitely want to make sure that you're getting checked up with your doctor because we are going through some changes with our hormones, and so that could be something that can really be affecting your energy levels. And in order for you to check on that first, right, you want to make sure that your hormones are good, you want to make sure that you are taking care of yourself and getting checked up because it could be hormonal changes, it could be other things, right? It can be maybe you're low on iron, maybe there's other things going on. So, number one is always get checked out in your by your doctor and make sure that like your health is okay, making sure that you get those things out the way so that you're not ignoring something important that you can address with your doctor. So always check with your PCP, your gynecologist, always check your medical first. Um, that's just something that we always want to do first because we don't know if there's something else that's going on. Maybe you have, maybe it's your hormones, maybe, maybe you have a low estrogen, maybe a lot of that has changed, maybe it's something else that you haven't that you didn't know that you had. And so you always want to make sure that you are checking with your doctor first so that you know it's not something else, something medical that's going on. All right, so in today's conversation, I'm going to identify three areas that you can really look into if you're having low energy. And these are areas that I would say are really important because when it comes to our energy levels, a lot of it is how we feel, it has a lot to do with how we're taking care of ourselves. Um, so again, right, we took care of the medical part, or we're gonna take care of that, and so we know it's not anything medical, a lot of it has to do with how we are caring for ourselves. So the first area that I'm gonna talk about is nutrition. Yes, what you eat matters and has so much to do with your energy. And I tell you this by my personal experience because when I started noticing that my energy dipped, it's usually when I'm not doing a good job at eating healthy whole foods. And I remember a couple weeks ago I was feeling really tired all the time, like I just didn't have my usual energy. And when I started to really think about it, I noticed that it's because I was eating a lot of high sugary foods or processed foods, I was just I just was not eating the good food for some reason that week. I just didn't really like make time to like meal plan and plan my meals, and I was just eating things as they come, and that really affected my energy levels. So I am telling you right now that once I changed and I flipped a switch and I said, All right, let me go back and eat the foods that usually right make me feel good, the energy levels have been doing really well, and so your food intake is so so important. So, number one, I would say is eating highly processed foods is one of the biggest things that depletes your energy. So, what does that mean? It means that most of these foods, which are foods that are usually packaged, frozen, anything that is not a whole food, a lot of the foods that we eat is really highly processed. Anything that comes in a package, anything like that, those foods don't have any fiber and they are loaded with sugar. So these sugars enter because and also because they have no fiber, the sugars, which is the carbs, carbohydrates. So let's just use an example like chips, right? If you just eat chips, there's no fiber in them, and they're filled with sugar and salt. And what happens is when you eat these foods, they enter your bloodstream very quickly, which causes your blood sugar to spike. Then what's gonna happen is your blood sugar then is going to crash, which is going to lead to fatigue, brain fog, irritability. You're just gonna feel not good. You're gonna feel really tired. If you think about it, when we eat really high-processed foods at restaurants and things like that, think about how tired and sleepy and lethargic you feel afterwards. Number two is that these foods have a they they're loaded with seed oils, and these oils cause inflammation in your body. This causes your immune system to be on alert because it thinks that there's something wrong. And then all your energy is diverted to your muscles and your brain because your again, your body is in high alert, which again leaves you feeling depleted and fatigued because your body is working really hard, it's taking all the energy and it's focusing it on getting you ready to either run or fight, right? Because it thinks that you are in danger, and that is going to deplete your energy. So instead of the energy being towards your thinking and you know just functioning on the day-to-day, it's depleting all of that energy because it thinks that you are in danger. Another thing that happens is that your body is using stored vitamins to process these empty calories. Again, your body is working really, really hard to process these foods, especially if they if you're not if you're putting food into your body that doesn't have these vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to function. What you're doing is your body is pulling vitamins that it stores to then process and to digest these foods, which again leads to fatigue, it leads to feeling tired, if we it leads to feeling depleted, and your energy is going to completely dip. Another reason is because a lot of these foods are really high in sodium and they're very high in calories. So your body again has to work extra hard and use extra energy to digest these foods. And so, again, because we're using we're eating foods that don't have a lot of vitamins, that don't have a lot of nutrients, they don't have a lot of protein, they don't have a lot of healthy fats, they don't have a lot of fiber, your body is having to work so hard to really process these foods. And it's almost like your body is having to do extra work, extra work because you are putting stuff into your body that really has no benefits. This is all leading you to have depleted energy, to feel lethargic, not to focus, you are just not feeling well. That's exactly how I was feeling that week. All right, so what do we do instead? And I know this is I understand this because this is what happens, right? Is that we can become overwhelmed. But what I'm not saying is that you have to like eat 100% whole foods because that's not realistic, right, for a lot of us. But what I'm saying is that in order to avoid these crashes, right? These sugar spikes, and in order to avoid your body working really hard, you want to change the way that you eat. So that means that when you're eating foods, the goal should be to eat as much unprocessed whole foods as possible. So usually we would say 80% of your diet should be unprocessed whole foods that really combine lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and fiber. This is gonna slow down your digestion digestion so that you can get a slow and consistent release of glucose. So, what that means is that you wanna, when you are eating your meals, you want to make sure that your meals are balanced. So that would be instead of eating a sugary cereal or donut or like a bagel in the morning, you might want to think about having something like eggs, cottage cheese, and berries, or like something like overnight oats with chia seeds and berries, that alone is going to keep your blood sugar stable. You're going to feel energized and you're not going to experience that crash after eating something really sugary. Like for lunch, instead of eating a pepperoni pizza or burgers and fries or something like that, right? Chips, you might want to think about having something that is balanced, like maybe a chicken salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, chickpeas, or ground beef with sweet potatoes and avocado. Again, it's all about having balance. And I would say one of the tips that I would give you that works for me is thinking about the foods that you really enjoy eating. So if you enjoy eating more like Mexican foods, there's tons of really healthier options that you can aim for when you're thinking about having a balanced meal. Like I love having Southwest bowls, which is like chicken, you put black beans, you put corn, you put tomatoes, avocados, um, you could add some lettuce or spinach, you could have, you know, about you know, half a cup of like rice, and you but put all that together and you're having a really balanced meal. And again, I know that many of us are really busy, so cooking can be really, really hard. But I would say I always say if you are really trying to be healthier, you can learn how to make the time for that. And there's a lot of really easy ways for you to do that. There's ways that you can like cook your proteins ahead of time, or you can aim for prepared meals. It's something I wanted to try, like a delivery option, like factor or hungry hungry root, where they deliver meals that are already done for you. I don't know about Hungry Root too much. It sounds like it's a it's a delivery service that delivers everything that you need. Um, but factor, I know that it's one that it's completely a meal. So you are, and they're not frozen, they're fresh. Um, so you might want to opt for one of those if that's something that you're thinking of. Or sometimes, like what I like to do is think about how many days a week can you, you know, make something to eat versus eating out, right? You can set those goals for yourself. But the idea is that making these types of changes are going to help your energy levels. You are definitely going to feel more energized when you are putting good food and good nutrients into your body and you're not feeding it so much sugar and oils and you know, just like crap because your body does not do well under those circumstances. And you are if you are in a phase of your life where you want to feel energetic, you want to do all the things because for me, it was affecting my ability to want to be active and go work out and go for walks. I really was feeling so like just my energy was not there, and I was really, really like, what is going on? What is going on? This is not normal for me because I'm a pretty energetic person. But the other thing is that as you continue to age, right? We could get away with that in our 20s, maybe even like your early 30s. But once you start hitting, you know, your middle 30s and up, your body does change, and we need to treat our body differently. It's not like it was before. So, nutrition is important, nutrition does matter, and nutrition will affect the way your energy levels are. Number two is right behind nutrition, which is hydration. So, not drinking enough water will deplete your energy. Again, telling you from experience, this is something that I experienced myself when I started going on my health journey. One of the things that I needed to work on was drinking enough water. Number one is that when you don't drink enough water, you become dehydrated. And when you become dehydrated, this is gonna cause an overall loss of fluid in your body because again, our body is about 70% water. So if you're not drinking enough water, now your body doesn't have enough liquid in it to do everything it needs to do. So now you have, you know, you don't have that much fluid, so now your blood volume is going to decrease and it's gonna cause pressure on your heart to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your organs, including your muscles. Again, your body is having to work extra hard to do what it normally does because you're not giving it enough water, and so that's going to make you feel tired, it's going to make you feel depleted. Also, not drinking enough water means that your digestion is going to slow down and it's going to lead to things like constipation, which are gonna make you feel lethargic and low energy. If your digestion is slow, if your digestion is not doing what it needs to do, you're not gonna feel good. You're gonna feel bloated, you're gonna feel tired, you're just not going to feel good. And another thing is that because you're not giving yourself enough water to all your organs, including your brain, this is going to also decrease your focus, your concentration, and it's gonna make you feel really like have brain fog. All of that together is not gonna make you feel energized, it's not gonna make you feel like good enough to do everything that you need to do. You're just gonna feel tired, you're gonna feel sluggish, it's not a good thing. So, something as simple as drinking enough water makes a huge deal. So, what you want to do is you want to, I guess the rule of thumb is aim for 50% of your weight in ounces. So, if you weigh 150, that would be 75 ounces. Another way you can start too is what the recommendation really is, which is just start with 64 ounces, which means a eight-ounce glasses of water. So either either of those would work. Of course, we want to aim for 50% of our body weight, but you can always start with 64 ounces if that's something that is difficult for you. And what I would say is tip would be drink your water early. So as soon as you wake up, aim for 16 to 20 ounces of water. So before anything else, get yourself a nice glass of water, get in that many ounces so that at least you start your day and you already are pretty hydrated, especially before you put anything into your body. Another tip would be try to get at least half of your ounces by noon. So, again, if we're going for that 64 ounces of water, if I can get at least 32 ounces by noon, I'm gonna be more successful at getting my ounces in before the end of the day. You don't want to wait until the end of the day because you want to slow down your drinking as you get closer to bedtime so that your kidneys are not working while you're sleeping and you wake up to use the bathroom. If one of the things that affects your drinking water is that plain water doesn't taste good because I know that's something that happens to me. There's different things you can do. You can add fruit, you can add lemon to your water for just give it that little taste. There's like sugar-free water flavor enhancers that I usually buy that you can add to your water. Another thing is if like if you just don't remember, because that's something that also happens to me. I put reminders on my phone. So I usually have at least three to four reminders of just drink, you know. I think mine says 20 ounces three times a day. So I think by like 7 a.m. it says drink 20 ounces, 12 a.m. Yeah, 12 p.m. 20 ounces, and I think by 4 p.m. 20 ounces, and it's just little reminders throughout the day to remind myself that's right, I need to drink my water, or you can get yourself a water bottle and just keep it with you. I like to have a 32-ounce water bottle, it just makes it easier. I know that if I fill it up in the morning, I have it done before by noon, and then I refill it and have it done by dinner. Another thing with drinking enough water is electrolytes are key. So sometimes water just isn't enough. We need electrolytes like magnesium, potassium, and sodium, and this is gonna help your body absorb the water and maintain energy levels. It also is going to help you reduce aches and pains. Again, this is something that happened to me recently that when I started to have low energies, I also started noticing some aches and pains in my lower body, and I started to research and say what's going on. And a lot of was drink electrolytes. You need magnesium, you need potassium, you need sodium. And so getting yourself some electrolytes to also pair in with your water would be a great thing to do. One of the best things you can do is get coconut water because coconut water has a lot of um really good electrolytes in it. You can also add lemon and sea salt to your water. That's another great way to help you get some electrolytes. Um, you can also get electrolyte drink options, but just be very mindful because a lot of them are really high in sugar and that is not something you want. So make sure that you are make paying attention to that. But honestly, it's very simple to just add some lemon, add a little bit of sea salt to your water, get some coconut water, and again make sure that the coconut water that you are picking is a good brand and has doesn't have a lot of sugar as well. Okay, so now we're gonna move on to number three, which is something that we probably don't think about when we're thinking about energy levels, and that is your stress. Believe it or not, stress is often described as the silent energy thief because your body is working overtime to stay alert, which drains your energy. Stress can also disrupt your sleep, which means that your quality of sleep will dip, leading to low energy and a hard time focusing. Stress is definitely something that your body is also mostly your brain, right? It sends signals to your body that something's not okay, your body gets flooded with adrenaline and cortisol, and you are basically exhausting your body, you're exhausting your mind. So, stress is another big one. So, I'm gonna go over a couple different tips that I would give you for managing your stress that can help you to feel a lot more energized and don't feel so depleted. Number one is I want you to think about engaging in physical reset techniques. Again, when we are really stressed, our energy levels are going to dip because we're we're our body's working so hard to send cortisol, adrenaline. And so, what you want to do is you want to engage in activities that are gonna help your body to relax, to help your body to to release the stress from your body. So, something like yoga stretches are a good one. That is something I usually do when I'm feeling really stressed. It just helps your body, your muscles to feel more relaxed, it releases tension, and it just makes you feel more relaxed. Something else you can do is walking or exercising. So, again, what you're doing is you're just engaging your body in some form of movement, walking, especially outdoors where you're getting fresh air, sunshine. You are just moving your body, and nature is one of the best things you can do. But exercising, lifting weights, doing jumping jacks, doing any type of exercise is going to disperse those stress chemicals and really help your body to feel more relaxed. Mindfulness practices is something else that could be really helpful in managing stress levels. And I would say things like journaling exercises, doing grounding techniques, such as the 5-4-3-2-1 technique. Um, and that one, what you're doing is you are picking five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. That is a really great technique when you're trying to just ground your body into the moment and remove yourself from whatever is stressing you out. Breathing exercises can be really helpful. I usually like the 4-7-8 technique, which is you breathe in for four seconds, you hold for seven seconds, you breathe out for eight seconds, and this is another great one that can really help you shift into the more relaxed state, helps your body to become more kind of calm, relax, release all the tension. So, mindfulness practices can be really, really helpful. I would also add mindful walks in this area as well. So, going for a walk where it's just you on your walk, you're not listening to anything, all you're doing is you're just taking in all the nature, you're kind of letting your thoughts just kind of wander, and it could be a really great way to reset yourself as well. Another area I would suggest in the area of stress management would be engaging in a hobby. So, engaging in a hobby could be a great way for you to distract yourself from the day and also give yourself like that little time just for you to just settle in and do something that's enjoyable. Different things like reading. I know reading is big right now. I hear a lot of people talking about starting to read different books right now. So reading could be good, or listening to an audiobook, doing some type of art like painting or coloring or drawing, whatever is your thing. Baking is another one that I've hear people do a lot, and people really enjoy baking. If that's something that you really enjoy, could be really great to just again unwind yourself. Crocheting, I know, is really big right now. But again, anything that you can do to again distract your mind and focus on something that's actually enjoyable, that brings you joy, that just helps you just to be in the moment. All of these things can be really, really helpful to reduce your stress. I know one of the things that comes up when we're talking about hobbies is time. We are always going to have time for the things that matter to us. We just have to really structure our days to incorporate that. I know I've done other episodes, I believe it was like either that episode last week or the week before where I talked about the myth that we don't have time for self-care. Because the truth is that there's many ways that we can incorporate self-care into our day, especially when it's something like hobbies. It would be swapping things out, it would be delegating things, it would just be saying to yourself, maybe on Fridays is a good day for me to do a hobby because Fridays are such a legacy end of the week, and I just want to relax at the end of the night, right? And so then maybe that's a day where you don't cook, you just maybe you guys order out and you engage in your hobby. So that could be something that you can definitely do to incorporate some type of hobby because you literally can make time for it. You just have to kind of shift your schedule around and your intentions so that you can get it done. All right, my friend, that is all for today's episode. Those were the three areas that I wanted to really share with you. I'm sure there's tons of other ones, but these are the ones that I feel are the easiest, the ones that impact us the most when it comes to our energy levels, because again, it's all about how we take care of our body and our minds, and ultimately how we show up for ourselves. So, again, right, what you eat absolutely matters and it does make a difference in your energy levels. Hydration is absolutely essential for helping ourselves, our bodies, our organs, our brain, everything to work well, and so it doesn't have to work extra hard and deplete us and our stress because I know right now stress can be really high for a lot of different reasons, and so it's our opportunity to really say, I'm feeling really stressed lately. What can I do to feel better so that I can feel just more like energized and more focused in my day? An action step for you is to really like think about what are the areas that I've just talked about that you feel are the areas that you really struggle with. Maybe it is your nutrition, maybe you're saying to yourself, I am right now eating a pretty high-process diet. And so, what changes can I make in order to start eating better whole foods? Maybe you're noticing that you have been a lot more stressed lately because of work, family, finances, whatever it is, and maybe you can engage in some stress management techniques so that you can feel a lot more relaxed and calm and feel better. No matter what it is, I would say start small, just start. Sometimes it could be small little steps. Maybe this just saying, you know what, I'm just gonna focus on drinking more water. Maybe I'm gonna start in the morning drinking 16 to 20 ounces and I'm gonna set a plan to drink more water in my day. Whatever it is, as long as you do something, it's gonna make a difference. Don't just listen to this and say, This is too much work, or I'm not doing none of that. But again, if you're really looking to feel better, if you're really looking to feel more energized, I know that's something that I have thought myself I'm not feeling good, I'm not feeling energized. And I literally said, Let me start eating better and really being very mindful of that I'm drinking enough water so that I can feel better, and it has definitely made a huge difference. I've been feeling so much better. So I I would encourage you to do the same. Again, if you really resonated with this episode and you know someone that you wanted to share this with because she also needs to learn this information because health is important and sharing is caring. So if you know someone that could really benefit from this episode, don't forget to hit the share button. And again, if you have found any value in my podcast, I would be so grateful if you would just take a couple of minutes and leave me a review. I would be so happy. And I will talk to you again next week. Take care. Thank you so much for joining this conversation today. I hope this episode was helpful to you on your healing journey. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode packed with valuable tips and insights designed to empower you. If you found value in this episode, I'd be so grateful if you left me a review wherever you're listening from and share your thoughts and feedback. This really helps me to reach more women just like you. Thanks for listening.