The easiest way to more energy? Your mouth.

What an incredible time to be alive. There’s a lot of not-so-incredible stuff going on, too, but thanks to technology we’re making leaps in agriculture, medicine, communication, and, well, you name it. The world is our drumstick! (My husband reminds me the saying is actually “oyster”, but I’ll take turkey any day.) 

In fact, modern technology is so amazing that we can use it to live better lives at home every day! After all, where would we be if we couldn’t Google things like “best energy hacks” and “am I sleep deprived?” and “is this what growing up feels like?”

Hold up. What’s wrong with this picture? 

We’ve figured out how to harness electric energy from the sun, water, and wind, but we’ve lost touch with how to make good, clean energy in our own bodies? What a bizarre fact. 

Here’s another one: Americans are the least healthy we’ve ever been.

In fact, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research, the average American’s diet is made up of highly-processed foods. This penchant for processed means we’re eating fewer essential nutrients—including protein, fiber, vitamins, and calcium (or as we like to call, it “the good stuff”)—and overloading on sugars, saturated fats, and carbohydrates.

It’s not hard to see how processed foods have taken over. They’re a quick fix: faster to prepare, often last longer in the cupboard, and are easy on-the-go. That we can enjoy a canned fruit cocktail and 10-minute mac and cheese is a pretty strong sell. (Did somebody say mac and cheese? Hey, wait a minute!)

Convenience is king, and it turns out he’s not the benevolent ruler we’d hoped.

But it’s not just his fault—science is to blame, too! Companies that sell highly-processed foods work with bona fide scientists to perfect their ratios of salt, fat, and sugar, cooking up highly addictive “foods” that are purpose-built to trick your tastebuds (and your brain) into continuously eating food that isn’t actually satisfying for your body.

Come on now, guys. With great science comes great responsibility!

No wonder you feel a little down. But there is at least one tried-and-true tip for boosting your energy. 

Eat good food—clean and simple!

To super-charge your energy, balance your body, and feel better overall, our lads and ladies in lab coats are telling us what our friends in aprons have known all along: that eating whole foods, minimally processed grains, lots of veggies, and some responsibly raised turkey here and there (just saying…) is not just an answer, but the answer. Eating better = feeling better. Now there’s some math you don’t need a lab coat to understand. 

I could go on and on about how we practice what I’m preaching (er… typing) in my own family, and it’s my blog, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. 

Everything we eat at our own dinner table is easy to identify, and the list of ingredients used to make it is even shorter than Tom Cruise. (Low blow? Not so fast; at just 5’7, a “low blow” is the only kind of punch he’s capable of. Zing!)

In other words, our canned tomatoes are actually just tomatoes in a can (Novel, right?) Ingredients that don’t roll off the tongue don’t get a spot on the menu. And dear fillers and space-agey preservatives, don’t let the door hit you where the chemists split you. 

And as important as it is to us to eat this way, it’s important to us we give you the opportunity, too. It’s why we raise our animals with no antibiotics, animal by-products, or chemicals. Contains: turkey. And love. And sometimes salt. You get the point. Because what you see should be exactly what you get. A turkey sandwich shouldn’t be hiding any nasty secrets. It’s a sandwich, for Pete’s sake! (Unless you made it, and your name’s not Pete. Then it’s a sandwich for your sake. Enjoy it!)

The transition back to cleaner eating might not be so easy for ol’ America. For some of us, it comes down to understanding what we really value. For others, it might be a little more difficult: We need to make clean food more affordable and accessible, but that’s a whole other topic for another day.

At the end of the day (or the beginning or middle if it’s breakfast or lunch time), if you want to feel better, instead of spending two hours on your phone, which has been shown to make us feel unwell, spend two hours in the kitchen preparing a good, home-cooked meal that has the potential to make you feel very, very well. 

At worst, you’ll wind up with a nourishing meal that’s packed with all of the nutrients you need to power through your day feeling awake, refreshed, and ready for anything. (And if you do it right, you’ll wind up with a wildly Instagrammable entree, which you can post up on your feed at your discretion. No judgement.)

Heidi Diestel