Food For Energy And Strength/Carbohydrate

For anybody looking to lead a healthy lifestyle or the people who hit the gym trying to improve their bodies, or indeed for professional athletes, what you put into your body is just as important as how hard you train or work out.

In this article, I will tell you the foods to eat that will give your body the highest amount of energy.

That's right Carbohydrates are where you get your body's energy from, but will you ingest enough if you are on a strict diet or tough workout programme, possibly not that's why I will tell you which types of foods contain the highest amounts and also a few recipes to combine these foods to make the most out of them.

Most foods have a good mix of carbohydrates and fat with a little protein etc but I will let you know which foods are predominantly carb based and will give you that extra energy to go out and do that extra half hour in the gym.

Complex Carbohydrates are staple foods such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and starchy vegetables and cereal.

If you can make these the main ingredient to most of your meals then you are on the right track to increasing your energy.

If there was the words Power Foods in the dictionary, then right next to it would be a picture of potatoes, they are the epitome of power foods and also rather tasty however you eat them. They help fight fatigue and give you a real power boost and also contain iron and calcium.

Baked Potatoes are delicious and can be eaten in a variety of ways, if you eat the skin too you will gain an added fibre boost. Try to limit the amount of dairy products that you add such as butter.

Low Fat Oven Chips: Cut the potatoes into very thick chips and put a tablespoon of vegetable oil into a bag then mix the chips in with them and give them a shake, bake in the oven then sprinkle with pepper and serve.

New potatoes served with fish can give you a nice low-calorie dinner and served with veg will compliment the meal nicely.

No, I don't mean it's OK to go out and devour a huge curry, but if you use a low-fat sauce and brown rice accompanied with fresh skinless chicken breasts it will still be a very healthy meal and will give you that energy boost that you need.

Risotto: Served with brown rice and seasoned to add taste

Any skinless chicken breast with spices and rice will add to your energy levels

Pasta is one of my favourites and can be used in so many dishes it's hard to pick some of my faves.

Pasta with a simple sauce added after cooking is a quick and easy way to load up on carbohydrates before expending lots of energy.

Chicken penne: An easy dish to make simply use skinless chicken breast and coat them in a spice then when cooked chop and add to some freshly cooked penne pasta.

Lasagne: Not exactly the healthiest option but loaded with pasta it is brilliant for a simple energy boost, this one is my favourite and if it is a genuine Italian lasagne then I'm happy

I don't really know any bread recipes as such but it is supposed to make up around a third of your daily intake so my advice would be if you are to eat bread make sure it's wholemeal as it is far superior although any bread is good.

The above are just used as a guide to increase your intake of carbohydrates,getting a good balance of the basic foods will definitely make you feel more energised and ready for the day ahead.Remember everything in moderation and try not too add lots of butter or high fat high sugar sauces to those meals as you may end up with not only more increased energy levels but a bigger belly too.Look out for my follow up to this hub called Food for energy and strength/protein.