The best foods to reduce tiredness and fatigue

Are you feeling tired and lacking in energy and motivation to do anything?

Surya WrightMarch 08, 2022

vitamin b12 vitamin b6 vitamin c riboflavin niacin pantothenic acid folate iron magnesium

I was chatting with a friend last night and we were discussing the fact that although we’re out of lockdown and the pandemic seems to be behind us, rather than feeling full of energy and get go for the future, we’re both feeling tired and lacking in energy and motivation to do anything.

How about you?

Are you looking at the door that’s covered in fingerprints or the wall that could really do with a new coat of paint and thinking, I’ll just watch a bit more TV or play another game?

Join the club!

So, what can we do about it?

Well, as always you can rely on me to check out what nutrition might help.

Did you know that there are actually a whole load of nutrients that have been sanctioned by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which: Contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue?

Brilliant, just what we all need...

A quick note first: I’ve just listed the top meat, pescatarian and veggie option for each nutrient, but if you want to find more foods, simply click on the nutrient, scroll to the bottom and check out the food highest in that nutrient. You can filter by pescatarian, veggie and vegan. So, everyone can an find the best foods for them. (RDA = recommended daily amount) So here they are…

Nutrients that contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue:

Folate (B9)

Chicken liver 169% of your RDA - Edamame/soy beans - in pods 50% of your RDA – Fish roe 16% of your RDA

Iron

Calves liver 126% of your RDA – Cockles 107% of your RDA – Soya mince 63% of your RDA

Magnesium

Buckwheat pasta 63% of your RDA – Snails 61% of your RDA – Rock lobster 31% of your RDA

Niacin (B3)

Turkey breast 144% of your RDA – Sardines, whole 136% of your RDA – Natural yeast extract (natural marmite) 61% of your RDA

Pantothenic Acid (B5

Calves liver 201% of your RDA – Avocados 26% of your RDA – Cooked salmon 45% of your RDA

Riboflavin (B2)

Lambs liver 481% of your RDA – Whole crab 105% of your RDA – Eggs 41% of your RDA

Vitamin B12

Calves liver 2040 of your RDA – Octopus 1012% of your RDA – Eggs 68% of your RDA

Vitamin B6

Turkey breast 77% of your RDA – Squid/Calamari 56% of your RDA – Potatoes w/ skin on 36% of your RDA

Vitamin C

Here I’ve gone for the first easiest available ingredient, as there are a lot of exotic fruit first.

Fresh orange juice 91% of your RDA – beef sausages 22% of your RDA – fish roe 12% of your RDA

Conclusion

As you can see some foods are repeated more than once, so eating those will really help boost your immune system for the winter.

Meat eaters, as you can see there’s a lot of liver on the list here. So, if you’re not a liver fan just click on the nutrient and see which other meats come up first, or do what I do and make some pate.

All of these nutrients will also do much more for you than just reduce tiredness and fatigue, so don’t forget to check out the pages to see what else you’ll be boosting 😊

How can you know how much you’re eating?

To make sure you’re getting enough of all the essential nutrients to keep you healthy, not only the ones to reduce tiredness and fatigue, you should also keep a food diary. One that not only tells you your macronutrients, you know the proteins, carbs etc. but your micronutrients - every vitamin and mineral as well.

The food diary on CheckYourFood does just that, is really simple to use and cost less than £4 per month. That’s less than 2 coffees!

Go on, use what you’re saving on coffee’s in the lockdown and put that money to good use - to get healthy, increase your energy and motivation!

You can even give it a go for free with our ‘Free for Life’ account . Just click below to get started.

I’d love to start my ‘Free for Life’ account now!

Surya Wright

Co-founder, production manager

I'm our communications and marketing person, dealing with social media and copywriting. I also work with Matt and Ric overseeing the design and strategic management of the site. I'm also the author of the Eva the Hungry Amoeba children's book series (only one so far). You can find it on Amazon. My favourite foods, shepherds pie and smoked haddock!

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