By Jenny Eden Berk, MSEd

About This Session:

Discover practical strategies for sustained energy that go beyond "just exercise more and eat better." In this presentation, you'll learn the crucial difference between physical, mental, and emotional fatigue, and why most people are addressing the wrong type of tiredness. Perfect for sensitive souls, empaths, and anyone who feels drained despite getting enough sleep.

What you'll discover:

• The specific foods, vitamins, and adaptogenic herbs that actually boost energy (with a focus on what works, not generic advice)
• "Circadian eating rhythm"—how when and how you eat impacts your energy as much as what you eat
• Why short movement breaks beat hour-long gym sessions for sustainable energy
• How to identify your "energy vampires" vs. "energy fillers" and protect your reserves
• Quick wins you can implement today when you're feeling depleted

You'll walk away with:

• A clear understanding of whether your fatigue is physical, mental, or emotional
• Actionable strategies that work even when you're already exhausted
• A free "Power Up Your Day" workbook with fatigue-fighting recipes, meal plans, and shopping lists

My name is Jenny Edenburg from Jenny Eden Coaching.
And I'm really excited to be here with you today to talk about powering up your day.
So we're talking about strategies for sustained energy, something that I know all of us need more
of.
So I just wanted to say hi for a second before I share my screen and pop the video off just so you
know who is speaking to you today.
And I will pop back on at the end.
So let me share my screen and we'll get it started.
All right. Hopefully you can see this.
I'm going to shut off video and there we go.
So again, welcome to POWER UP YOUR day.
Strategies for sustained Energy.
Just a little bit about myself before we dive in.
I have a master's in psychology and education from the University of Pennsylvania.
I have 20 years of experience as a coach and clinical health educator in various locations.
I have a certificates in culinary nutrition and eating psychology along with mindful eating.
I'm also the bestselling author of the book Body Image Blueprint, which you can find on Amazon.
And what we're going to cover today is the different sources of energy that we can have that we
feel that we, you know, lean into, and that is physical, mental and emotional energy.
We're also going to talk about the best foods, supplements, herbs, and even adaptogenic herbs
that may support your energy management as well as.
And we're going to dive in a little bit beneath the surface to discuss not just what you're eating, but
also how and when.
We're going to discuss mindful eating tips, circadian eating rhythm, and other things that can really
make a difference for maintaining energy through nutrition.
We're also going to go even deeper, peel the onion layers even more to kind of understand, like
beyond nutrition, where else can we get energy sources from or who can drain our energy, you
know, so we're going to look at what your energy vampires are and also what really lights you up
and gets you excited and feeling motivated, which is, of course, part of the energy experience.
We're also going to talk about what else causes fatigue and things to look out for.
Plus some quick wins to boost your energy throughout the day.
I just wanted to start with this little graphic here because I know that I feel like this almost every
morning.
And my morning definitely includes 10 minutes of me, I wouldn't even say sitting down.
I'm pretty much lying down in my bed thinking about how tired I am and how I don't want to start
my day.
If you feel like this too, and you're resonating with this, then you're definitely in the right place.
I just want to take a few minutes to talk about the different types of energy and fatigue that we
may experience.
Because a lot of us, including myself for a long time really wasn't able to differentiate between a
mental load, like not having emotional or mental bandwidth, versus actual body fatigue or muscle
fatigue.
So the first one is obviously physical energy.
So when we talk about physical energy, we're talking about feeling well rested and strong and you
have endurance or stamina.
You feel like you can, you know, run a marathon or you can do a sprint, or you just sort of feel, you
know, strong and able to tackle the day, so to speak.
But physical fatigue, on the other hand, often includes drowsiness and soreness, inflammation,
muscle soreness.
Sometimes you just feel this malaise, like just, just full body physical fatigue.
Sometimes that's associated with being sick.
Sometimes it's other things, including some conditions like fibromyalgia and also chronic fatigue
syndrome, et cetera, which have both mental and physical symptoms.
The next one is our mental capacity or our mental energy.
And here what we're really talking about is our ability to stay focused throughout the day, our
ability to use executive functioning to be motivated to do tasks and to fulfill the responsibilities that
you have throughout the day.
It's often described as being in flow, but you're also alert and you are clear headed.
On the flip side, of course, of that is mental fatigue, which often happens when we make a lot of
decisions throughout the day.
We're having some brain fog.
Perhaps Mental fatigue is associated with irritability, with feeling, a lack of motivation and so much
more.
I think there's so many of us could really understand that feeling of just mental heaviness and
fatigue.
And then on the next level we're looking at emotional energy.
And so here we're looking at the capacity to hold space for other people or for yourself, or for joy
and excitement and connecting with others in a deeper way, maybe you know, even through
nature, or again, compassion for yourself.
On the flip side of that, emotional fatigue often is, comes about from being with people who may
drain your energy, people who don't see you perhaps for who you are, lack of boundaries in your
life where you allow people to, you know, say or do things that you're really actually not
comfortable with.
Or perhaps it's having too many feelings all at once and feeling overwhelmed, or having emotions
that have never really been processed, including traumas, both big traumas and little traumas from
our childhood, which can manifest as a Chronic emotional fatigue.
I want to address all of these different types of fatigue and give you some tangible and actionable
tips to really learn how to power up your day, to be able to determine what type of fatigue that
you're experiencing and how you can take and implement steps to help you feel better almost right
away.
So let's start with food, because, you know, what we take in, what we consume, what nourishes us,
is going to make a very big difference about how we feel throughout the day, including our energy.
So the types of foods that best support energy management are of course, unprocessed foods,
packaged foods that contain a lot of ingredients or emulsifiers or added additives or artificial
sweeteners.
Those types of things often can drain us and can make us feel very fatigued, not to mention create
inflammation and other types of illnesses over time.
In terms of supporting energy management, it's often important to look at fermented foods which
help kind of fortify your gut microbiome and your gut bacteria, which then can support your
manage your energy management as well.
It's important to have complex carbs.
So, you know, instead of looking at white rice, perhaps we're looking at, you know, brown rice, or
we're looking at wild rice, or you're looking at things that have a bit more fiber content in the type
of carbohydrate.
Fruits and vegetables are also complex carbohydrates.
Those are going to fill you with energy as well.
Foods with iron, hydrating foods like watermelon and cucumber.
It's important to look at all the different types of proteins you're eating, but also understanding that
not every protein has the same nutritional density and profile.
So really being clear on what are the types of proteins that make you feel really energetic, that
give you that sense of satiety and makes you feel really good.
I really think that having some sort of lean protein in the morning especially can help with blood
sugar, which then prevents crashes throughout the day.
And also that like really, really like crushing fatigue that you may feel at the end of the day.
Other types of proteins, plant based proteins like nuts, seeds and legumes, things like bananas
which have not only potassium and other, you know, other types of minerals and nutrients in it, but
also as a very quick energy source because it's so sweet.
It also has resistant fiber.
In bananas, you're getting that additional fiber as well.
Same thing with oats, chia seeds.
Really important to look at omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids.
So avocado, almonds, your leafy greens, Spinach, eggs, quinoa, green tea, and then of course,
beans and legumes.
So if you're wondering about the specific vitamins and nutrients that are, that are associated with
those types of foods, I wanted to kind of home in on these specific energy producing nutrients that
you can really be focusing your meal planning on, which is making sure you have all the B vitamins
in your food.
Carnitine, CoQ10, creatine, iron, magnesium, protein and potassium.
I would say these are the most important that you're looking for when you're looking to create
some sort of sustainable energy management through the use of food.
And I'm going to make sure you have these slides as well and I'll have it as a PDF form because you
can click on these and learn more about them and how to eat more of those.
Now the next thing I want to talk to you about is adaptogenic herbs and supplements.
Now these can be somewhat controversial.
I would always consult with your own medical doctor or professional before consuming them to
make sure that they're not, you know, interacting with any other medication that you're on.
I also, I have a little bit of, I wouldn't say, I would say I'm skeptical a little bit with these, but I like to
talk about them because they're fun to sort of play around with and try.
And I always feel like having more resources is always better than not having enough. Right.
So these are things that you can take with a grain of salt, but perhaps they may work for you.
And that includes ashwagandha, which you can get in powder form and they're often in a lot of
teas or they're in protein powders and things like that.
Green tea, which has L. Theanine, which is an energy promoting molecule that is found in certain
foods.
Ginseng, Eleuthero.
I don't know how to pronounce that.
Holy basil.
Which I can, I take in a tincture form that you can get from Gaia herbs, you can get them from
Mountain Rose.
Lots of other places that you can get tinctures of different adaptogenic herbs and supplements.
Shivarti root, root.
A lot of the reishi.
I'm sorry, a lot of the adaptogenic mushrooms are really good for energy management like reishi,
turkey tail, lion's mane, things like that.
Maca root, rhodiola, peppermint and cinnamon.
I love to put cinnamon in my oatmeal every day and even in my yogurt and things like that.
Excuse me. So going a little bit deeper now, I want to Sort of delve into some of these other less
focused on strategies to help you with not just kind of getting through the day, but learning how to
manage your hormones and manage your circadian rhythm in a way that kind of builds a long term
strategy for you feeling your best at all times.
And circadian rhythm really is just about being able to go to sleep and wake up at roughly the
same time every day.
And that often includes allowing yourself to be in bright light first thing in the morning, preferably
with the sun, if you can even look out of a window for two minutes or go outside and take a walk or
just have a happy light that you can put in front of you in the morning if it's the dead of winter.
And what that can do is helps to increase cortisol production in the morning, which sort of jump
starts your metabolism for the day.
And it just helps you kind of recalibrate those circadian rhythm.
If you've had, I don't know, like perhaps you're a new mom and you've been up, you know, feeding
your baby or you are a student and you're up and you did an all nighter working on a paper or you
just have a lot of sleepiness during the day and you're having trouble sleeping at night.
So starting the day with a big glass of water is also an indication to your metabolism like, oh, okay,
we're up, we're going to get started and it's going to give you that immediate ener energy boost to
start your day.
And as I said earlier, eating protein, eating a really rich protein breakfast within an hour of waking
is also going to support circadian rhythm hormones.
I also, I work a lot with clients on mindful eating and I think this is such an important part of not
only nutrition and digestion, but also for energy management.
Because we, when you are eating mindfully, you're able to tune in more to what your body is
experiencing.
And there's often this like sweet spot where you are full but you, but you actually feel energy, you
actually feel energetic.
Sometimes when we go over that we end up feeling that, that like tiredness after eating, that
fatigue that like, oh, let's go take a nap, let's have a siesta.
But you know, if you really work on mindful eating and, and slow down while you're eating can
really help you find that sweet spot to know exactly when to stop eating, both in terms of comfort
and satiety, but also in terms of energy.
It also really goes a long way in terms of reducing Stress and as I said earlier, supports better
management and your overall gut health.
I want to put a quick word in about exercise and movement because often this is a charged
subject.
If you're tired, you're not going to want to exercise, right?
And if you exercise, that can make you tired.
So having done this for 20 years and worked with all kinds of people with all different types of
lifestyles, including I've worked with somebody who was a truck driver, I've worked with night
nurses, I've worked with stay at home moms, and everybody needs to find their own personal
protocol for exercise and movement.
And I'm really a big proponent of finding what works for you and not letting outside forces
determine what is the best type of exercise.
But we all know that, you know, well, maybe we don't all know this, but you know, success begets
success.
And what I have found is when you even take that first step, let's say to even just doing a five
minute walk, very often that small step forward is a catalyst for motivation and energy and wanting
to do more of it.
So I have a client right now who, you know, there's a, there's a strong hesitancy with exercise.
There's a, there's a lot of resistance that she has.
So we've been working on having her just do 10 cat cows.
Like that's easy enough, right?
You can do 10 cat cows or do some stretching.
And so you want to start with where you are and some ways that you can kind of build these little
energy or exercise snacks throughout the day is to start in short bouts.
So short bouts to offset sitting time during the day, you can set your alarm and literally just pace
back and forth, go up and down some stairs, do some stretching.
Also remember that sometimes less is more.
So when I first was learning about my health and exercise, I was incredibly obsessed with doing
tons and tons of cardio.
And I was like very, very like rigid about it.
And I realized over time that I actually need to offset that with yoga and things that are less
intense.
Not only is that better for your mental health at times, but it's also better for your gut health,
believe it or not.
So really offsetting some of those cardio sessions and weight training sessions with things like
qigong or yoga or tai chi or stretching and things like that.
Also sometimes H I T or HIIT training, high intensity interval training, sometimes that's even better
because the times where I have decided to do like 20 jumping jacks and like 10 jump rope, I feel
more energetic than when I have Decided to take a nap.
And when I wake up with sleep inertia and it doesn't feel good, I could be sitting at my desk feeling
really drowsy.
And I have two choices.
Go take a nap or do some head training.
Time and time again, the times that I do hit training, I feel more energy.
And you're not going to believe it in the moment, but just reminding your future self that you will
feel better sometimes when you take the action, that's going to expend energy, believe it or not.
So, moving along, I have a couple of journal prompts that I would love for you.
If you're watching this, you can pause the video, take a few minutes to just fill out on a piece of
paper and a pen, answer these prompts, and then come back and we'll go to the next one.
But I personally feel that a lot of my own fatigue is not physical.
It's not mental.
I'm not always drowsy or, like, physically tired, but I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted.
And I know that there are things and certain people that drain me more than others.
And as a highly sensitive person, you might be as well.
I have to be really careful about that so that I don't burn out and I don't get so exhausted that I,
you know, feel like I need a break for a week or something.
So the first prompt that I want you to consider and I want you to think about is who or what fills up
your cup during the day?
Who or what makes you feel seen, makes you feel heard, makes you feel understood just as you
are?
What are the, you know, hobbies or activities that you do that make you feel excited, happy, like
yourself?
Because those are the very things that are also going to give you some energy.
So pause now and answer that and then come right back.
Hi, and welcome back.
So journal prompt number two is who or what drains your energy and reserves, leaving you
completely depleted Again.
Who or what drains your energy and your reserves, leaving you feeling depleted?
Just having an understanding of those isn't going to make everything better, but having an
awareness and understanding where those pitfalls are and what actually creates this.
These energy vampires can go a long way in terms of you creating and cultivating a life that fills
you up and that provides energy for you as much as possible in as many ways as possible.
Some other things that cause fatigue that you may not be thinking about or even aware about are
seasonal allergies in the spring.
Oh, my gosh, I get so exhausted from rubbing my eyes and sneezing and Like I'm allergic to pretty
much everything.
And it's very hard at times and maybe you can relate to that.
Of course, if you are battling Covid or you have a flu or you have a virus, you're going to feel tired.
And oftentimes you're going to feel tired way after even the illness has abated.
When I had Covid, I was really tired for about four to six weeks after.
And I had to really manage my energy and commit to fewer things and to create boundaries so that
I didn't, you know, overextend myself.
Of course, you want to check with your doctor if there are underlying medical issues.
Diabetes, anemia, thyroid issues, underlying medical issues that may explain why you may be
feeling fatigue.
There are also numerous sleep disorders such as restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, other types
of things, teeth grinding.
All of these disruptions within your sleep can create long term daytime fatigue.
And it's definitely worth looking into if you suspect that you have one of those having low vagal
tone.
So this is not a workshop on vagal tone, but if you look it up, it's basically this bidirectional nerve
that goes all the way from the base of your skull all the way to your digestion, digestive system
and back up, and is the nerve that activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
So the more that you can activate that and have it reverberate, the more you're going to be able to
get into a rest and digest phase, which then makes it easier to heal.
It gives you that energy because you're actually letting your body get into a healing state.
If you're in a chronic state of fight or flight and you're always stressed, it's going to be very, very
hard not to feel exhausted all the time.
Lack of movement or exercise, leaky gut, as we talked about, you know, really fortifying your gut
flora with, you know, fiber and fermented foods and other measures are incredibly important.
Managing emotional overwhelm, learning how to have regulation with your emotions and learning
how to feel your feelings so that you can complete a cycle of emotion.
A lot of times people will hold in their emotions or they'll compartmentalize or they won't really
expel some of the negative emotions and things that are swirling in your body to then kind of feel
the relief and then of course, the energy that could come from that as well.
Processed foods and then we're not going to get into a lot of these.
But of course, some environmental toxins can also make us really, really tired.
In the long run, including mold and things like that.
So before we finish up, we're going to talk about some quick wins for sustained energy.
These are things that I do when I'm noticing that I'm drowsy or like I'm zoning out.
I'm feeling like just I want to go to sleep.
When I'm noticing like I'm having an energy drag.
Some of the things that really help include positive self talk. Yes. Affirmations. You got this.
You know, just finish this up and then, you know, give yourself permission to take a nap or
whatever it is that you're needing to affirm in yourself.
This is a great time to just say it out loud, write it down, think it, whatever is the best way that you
can create some positive self regard.
Hydration, Hugely important.
Hydration always, always helps you kind of flush out whatever is going on and gives you that extra
sense of boost and vitality.
Let's say I like to take 5 minute mini movement breaks.
So like I said, I pace back and forth or like I'll put a kettle on for tea and I'll walk around for five
minutes or two minutes until the kettle goes really being creative about how you can fit in some
just these like little snack bites of movement throughout the day, Trying to reduce decisions
throughout the day.
So I like to sometimes make a plan about all my food decisions throughout the day so that I'm not
in a moment of being drained when I'm like, well, should I have this or should I have that?
Or like what do I have in the house?
Like, I know it's silly, but it really can make a difference when you reduce the decisions in your life
or pre decide those decisions.
Especially at the end of the day when you're exhausted, you don't want to be facing a lot of extra
decisions.
Aligning your life with your values.
Listening to energetic dance music with headphones.
It's amazing how certain music can just completely activate me and get me in this mood to dance
or to be active.
Really, really recommend you playing around with that and seeing what type of music does that for
you.
I also, you know, being in nature is just like a huge way for me to get that boost of like, oh, there's
more than just the stressors in my life.
There's something bigger here and getting all that extra oxygen and just sunlight and you know,
being in nature and observing animals is incredibly healing for me and perhaps something could be
very much for you as well.
Connecting with friends and people who really get you are so important.
Assessing Bright light in the morning, happy lamps if needed. We talked about that.
Something you may not know about is hormetic stressors.
So like taking a cold shower, putting ice on your face, or even like a bag of peas, frozen peas from
the freezer is just like a quick jolt to your system that gives you that extra energy.
A lot of people who say they do like sauna and then a plunge pool or a hot tub and then a plunge
pool gets this effervescence from it that can really last for quite a while. Throughout your day.
We have talked about clearing emotions.
So like completing the cycle of emotion.
Letting yourself clear, cry, letting yourself be angry, not talking yourself out of having an emotion.
Taking short power naps if needed.
And then there are actually are certain types of breath work like breath of fire, which can also
activate energy as well.
I hope you're as fascinated about all this as I am and that this has been really, really interesting for
you.
I hope you got some valuable tips and some ideas to try.
And the next steps for you is to grab the freebie that I have associated with this workshop.
It's the power up your day workbook with fatigue, fighting recipe bundle, meal plan and shopping
list.
I would love to keep in touch.
You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using the handle coachjennyeden.
And I also have a substack called Just one more bite with Jenny Burke and I'd love to have you in
there as well.
Thank you so much for listening today and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day.
Bye.