# I'm So Effing Tired by Amy Shah - Blinkist

What’s in it for me? Transform your energy levels by changing your diet and lifestyle.

Do you often feel overtired and overstressed?

If you’re constantly drained of energy and can’t see a way out, you’re not alone.

It turns out that your energy levels depend on the relationship between your hormones, your immune system, and your gut – otherwise known as “the energy trifecta.

” Since these systems are so interconnected, it’s common for them to tip out of balance.

And when that happens, your energy levels crash hard.

Luckily, you can combat chronic fatigue by making changes to your lifestyle.

In the following blinks, you’ll learn exactly why your energy levels become depleted – and you’ll find out how to bring them back up again using a practical diet and a plan to manage stress.

In these blinks, you’ll discover  why fasting for up to 18 hours a day is good for you; how a five-year diet plan improved the health of study participants; and why nature walks can boost energy more effectively than intense workouts.

Boosting your energy requires balancing your hormone levels, immune system, and gut health.

Maybe you wake up each morning feeling exhausted.

No matter how many cups of coffee you drink, you can’t seem to raise your energy levels.

During the day, it’s hard to focus on your work.

When a colleague addresses you with a simple question, you snap at her, only to feel guilty immediately after.

Why do you feel this way?

What’s going on?

If you’re utterly sapped by life’s daily demands, you’re not alone.

According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 percent of women and 10 percent of men regularly feel drained of energy.

The good news is, you don't have to settle for exhaustion!

The key message here is: Boosting your energy requires balancing your hormone levels, immune system, and gut health.

So how can you reclaim your energy?

Well, the author – a medical doctor and nutrition expert – discovered that you can boost your energy levels by tapping into the interconnected relationship between your hormones, your immune system, and your gut, or what she terms the energy trifecta.

When you feel drained, it’s usually because the energy trifecta is out of balance.

Women tend to be more susceptible, in large part because of periods.

Periods cause hormonal fluctuations, which, in turn, result in low energy levels.

You may be familiar with hormones like estrogen or cortisol, but there are many more, and each performs an important role in how good and energetic you feel.

When faced with constant exhaustion and stress, the resources that enable your hormonal system to function at full capacity become depleted, and this makes you more susceptible to getting sick – a fact that underlines the connection between hormonal inflammation, disease, and energy.

Meanwhile, there are 100 trillion microbes in your body, the bulk of which live in your gut; these constitute your microbiome.

When your microbiome is in balance, your hormone and immunity levels also improve.

Everything is connected, so fixing one system benefits the others, and your energy levels shoot up.

You now know that balancing the energy trifecta will help you ward off over-exhaustion and infection.

[slight pause] But how do you achieve that balance?

The author used research around hormones, inflammation, and the gut to put together a two-week strategy designed to combat fatigue by rebalancing the energy trifecta.

It’s known as the WTF plan – as in “Why the eff am I so tired?

!

” – and the most important element involves a change to your diet.

A change of diet may greatly improve your hormonal balance and gut health.

Sylvia, one of the author’s patients, didn’t know what it felt like to not be tired.

She would go to bed after a late dinner, only to reawaken at 3:00 a.

m.

When she finally managed to drift off again, it was time to get up for work.

During the day, she would experience strong sugar cravings, usually in the afternoon.

The vicious cycle repeated daily, getting worse right before her period.

While Sylvia’s ailments seem fairly disparate, they share a common culprit: hormonal imbalance.

Let’s look at Sylvia’s problems through the lens of hormonal activity.

She goes to bed on a full stomach, which causes an abnormal spike of the cortisol hormone that startles her awake a couple of hours later.

By the next afternoon, her cortisol levels crash, inviting profound fatigue.

Desperate to stay alert at work, she reaches for a sugary treat.

Meanwhile, the hormonal fluctuations associated with PMS exacerbate these symptoms.

Here’s the key message: A change of diet may greatly improve your hormonal balance and gut health.

Hormones are the body’s signal system; they regulate most of its basic functions.

In addition to being complex, the hormonal system is also incredibly delicate.

Even the smallest wobble of what’s called the hormonal axis – which can be caused by anything from poor diet to insufficient sleep – can throw your body out of whack.

If left untreated, hormonal imbalance can lead to a range of unpleasant symptoms, from mood instability to weight gain to chronic disease.

Yet, unfortunately, there is currently no reliable testing for hormone imbalance.

While tests for checking hormone levels exist, the complex nature of the hormonal system means it remains impossible to make an accurate diagnosis.

So the best way of testing whether your hormonal axis is in order is simply to see how your energy levels are doing.

For instance, when your hormones are not in balance, you may feel drained, distracted, or constantly stressed.

As difficult as it is to diagnose hormonal imbalances, it is possible to correct them.

According to the author, all you have to do is adopt some simple lifestyle changes.

First and foremost, you need to watch what you eat.

For many people, certain foods can increase inflammation.

Remember that sugary treat Sylvia reaches for every afternoon?

Well, it’s not helping her cause, considering that sugar triggers hormonal imbalance in estrogen and progesterone.

Luckily, since gut health and hormones are so connected, she can positively influence her hormonal balance by changing her diet – and so can you.

To improve your energy levels, eat lots of vegetables, high-fiber foods, and only natural sugars.

Are you familiar with the PREDIMED trial?

It lasted for five years and involved more than 7,000 participants.

All were between the ages of 55 and 80 and had a high risk of heart disease.

Some of these participants followed a special diet rich in fruits, vegetables, fiber, and natural sugars; they didn’t consume any processed foods like refined sugar or red meat.

At the end of the study, the researchers reassessed the participants’ health.

The results were impressive.

Those who’d followed the food plan were 30 percent less at risk of heart attacks and strokes compared to those who hadn’t.

Much like this food plan, the WTF plan recommends a “plant-based” diet, which is proven to both reduce risk of heart disease and lower cholesterol, while also boosting your energy.

The key message here is: To improve your energy levels, eat lots of vegetables, high-fiber foods, and only natural sugars.

The WTF plan suggests eating lots of vegetables – between 6 and 8 servings per day.

Why?

Well, for one, vegetables contain hundreds of phytonutrients, or plant hormones.

These have a hormone-balancing effect in the human body.

Plants are also the best source of fiber, which has been shown to decrease heart disease and lower cholesterol.

Indeed, the WTF plan recommends integrating as many fibrous foods into your daily diet as possible.

Fiber is full of prebiotics that are crucial for gut health, yet most Americans only get 10–15 grams of fiber a day.

That’s much less than the 25 grams needed for a woman and 35 grams for a man.

Vegetables that are high in fiber include broccoli, asparagus bottoms, kale stems, sweet potatoes, leeks, and legumes.

The WTF plan also calls for reducing – or cutting out – inflammatory foods like dairy products, meat, and processed sugar.

If you don’t want to stop eating these entirely, at least limit them to 10–15 percent of your overall food intake.

For example, have eggs or an organic, grass-fed burger once or twice a week, and rein in your sugar intake to 1–2 servings of dark chocolate chips per day.

Instead of processed sugar, it’s better to opt for natural sugars from fruit and nuts.

By changing your diet from high sugar to high fiber, you’ll quickly start to see improvements in your energy and sleep patterns.

But, as we’ll see, it’s not just about what you eat – it’s also about when you eat it.

Increase your energy by doing “intermittent fasting” according to your natural rhythms.

You may have heard about intermittent fasting.

One of the most popular diet trends of the decade, it involves limiting all your daily food intake to a specific span of time – often an eight- or ten-hour window, such as 12:00 p.

m.

to 8:00 p.

m.

Inspired by intermittent fasting, the author suggests a variation called circadian fasting, which serves as the foundation for the entire WTF plan.

Here’s the key message: Increase your energy by doing “intermittent fasting” according to your natural rhythms.

Every cell in your body runs according to its natural circadian rhythm.

Problems arise when we mess with this natural rhythm through irregular eating schedules and sleeping patterns.

Fasting has been proven to effectively reset the body’s natural clock to healthier rhythms – partly because it allows your gut a much-needed break each day, which improves its ability to fend off stress and disease.

For a practical example of circadian fasting, let’s look at the author’s routine.

On three days out of every week, she fasts for up to 16 hours, and for at least 12 hours during the rest of the week.

She also incorporates the plant-based diet we discussed earlier.

To bring it all together, here is an example of the author’s diet plan in a day:  At 10:00 a.

m.

she has a morning snack that includes a bag of pistachios and a high-probiotic kombucha drink.

At noon, she has a big bowl of lentils, nondairy yogurt, and Indian-style sweet potatoes with spinach.

For dinner, at 5:30 p.

m.

, she has a Mexican black bean bowl with a whole avocado and cauliflower rice.

For dessert, she treats herself to a handful of chocolate chips or a few pieces of dark chocolate.

After that, she doesn’t eat anything until the following day at 10:00 a.

m.

But what works for the author may not suit your rhythm.

Remember, the key to circadian fasting is to do what works for you.

Over the next two weeks, slowly test your boundaries to avoid burning out.

Start with a 12-hour fast for three nonconsecutive days a week.

Slowly work your way up, until you can reach long fasts of 15–18 hours.

The more you fast, the easier it will get.

Rest is just as important as exercise for maintaining healthy energy levels.

Sara, a 45-year-old physician with three kids, found herself lacking the energy required to keep up with her demanding responsibilities.

She’d read in a magazine that exercise improves energy levels, so she decided to go for it.

The only time she could afford to exercise was in the morning before work, so she set her alarm for 4:30 a.

m.

and headed to a CrossFit class.

She did this six days a week.

On weekends, she did weights or some form of aerobics at home.

She thought she was making positive changes to her life, but she ended up feeling so exhausted that she came knocking on the author’s door, asking for help.

The key message here is: Rest is just as important as exercise for maintaining healthy energy levels.

Exercise is a crucial part of keeping your body functioning.

In fact, it can be hugely beneficial to exercise before you break your fast in the morning, as working out flicks on the metabolic switch that turns fuel sources into fat-burning molecules.

But, as important as it is to exercise, you should never underestimate the role of rest.

Each time you exercise, you are making your body stronger for the next workout.

In other words, you are training your body’s ability to handle more stress – but there must be recovery time.

In fact, it’s during recovery that your muscles get stronger.

If you don’t take the time to recover, it prevents your body from benefiting from the exercise; at worst, it can lead to injury and exhaustion.

To help Sara overcome her fatigue, the author recommended she cut her morning workouts to two days a week, and allow herself four days to sleep in.

She was also prescribed a daily 20-minute nature walk to stay active, but not to the point of overtiring herself.

To make the most of your own fitness routine, the WTF plan similarly recommends limiting high-intensity workouts like CrossFit to three times a week.

During the rest of the week, walking 8,000–12,000 steps a day is a really simple way to incorporate exercise into your routine.

Especially when you’re doing long fasts, avoid workouts longer than an hour, and go for low-intensity activities like gentle yoga instead.

When trying to regulate any type of hormonal imbalance, it’s always best to go easy on your body.

Reduce stress and sleep at least eight hours per night for optimum health.

Before taking up the WTF plan, the author was constantly feeling fatigued and overwhelmed.

In other words, her cortisol levels were off the rails, worsened by limited sleep and stressful days at work and at home.

It wasn’t until she found a way to incorporate a healthy sleep schedule, meditation, and yoga into her routine that she began to feel the energy trifecta come into full balance.

Here’s the key message: Reduce stress and sleep at least eight hours per night for optimum health.

Managing stress is key to keeping your system functioning properly.

Excessive stress, on the other hand, releases too much cortisol, which ultimately drains you of energy.

Even if you’re doing everything else right, chronically elevated cortisol could be the hormone sabotaging your energy levels.

Luckily, small adjustments can be a huge help in regulating this imbalance.

As we’ve seen, fending off inflammation is mostly about eating the right food, but it’s also about actively reducing stress and getting sufficient rest.

Getting out in nature and breathing in fresh air is not only good for the soul; it has been shown to counteract cortisol.

In other words, it can alleviate stress and improve sleep.

Creative outlets like writing, volunteering, and teaching can also help you tap into those “feel-good chemicals" that regulate cortisol.

Meanwhile, aim to reduce the stress factors in your life as much as possible.

For instance, the author used to work out at a gym far from where she lived.

But, in the end, she realized that the stress of the commute wasn’t worth the benefit of the exercise.

You should also evaluate what’s really worth fretting about, and reduce negative stress where possible, for the ultimate benefit of your blood-sugar levels.

Finally, to optimize the energy trifecta, you’ve got to get enough sleep.

Getting at least eight hours of sleep per night has been shown to significantly calm hormonal blockage and imbalance.

In fact, a 2010 study from the Emory School of Medicine found that individuals who reported getting fewer than six hours of sleep had the highest levels of inflammatory hormones.

So, if you can, try to sleep 9–10 hours a night instead of just 6–8, and see how you feel after a period of time.

Getting more shut-eye makes the fasting go by a little quicker, too!

Think of your new diet and exercise plan as a lifestyle change rather than a quick fix.

The first two weeks of the WTF plan are crucial.

After two weeks of circadian fasting, eating a plant-based diet high in fiber and low in sugar, and establishing a healthy exercise and sleep routine, you’ll likely notice huge improvements in your energy levels, your mood, and your gut.

But there’s no need to stop there.

After all, what’s the point of boosting your energy trifecta for two weeks when you could have that energy for the rest of your life?

The key message here is: Think of your new diet and exercise plan as a lifestyle change rather than a quick fix.

Once you’ve completed the first two weeks of the WTF plan, the author recommends continuing the plan for three months before checking in with your energy levels again.

If you like what you see and how you feel, do it for another three months – and repeat ad infinitum.

Your three-month plan will look different depending on your lifestyle and experience.

For example, it could involve fasting for between 12 and 16 hours for four days a week, and fasting for 16–18 hours for another two days.

This would leave one day completely off.

Of course, your “forever plan” may look totally different.

Just as the purpose of circadian fasting is to get your whole body healthy again, the WTF plan is meant to be optimized to your life, for your benefit.

If you’re stressed about your fasting schedule, then you are defeating the purpose.

Keep in mind that it’s OK to occasionally adjust your fasting routine to better suit your schedule – especially on weekends.

For example, if you’re going to a party on Friday night, you can push back when you start fasting by one hour, and end your fast an hour later the following morning.

Or, if you’re going out to dinner one night, you can adjust your breakfast time the next day accordingly.

While you’ll quickly experience some positive results, not all transformation happens so early in the diet.

Studies show that practicing intermittent fasting long-term is really when major changes in your health begin to show, including reduced levels of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and weight loss.

So remember: the longer you stick to the plan, the more you’ll get out of it!

Final summary

The key message in these blinks: Boosting your energy requires balancing your hormone levels, your immune system, and your gut health – what’s known as your “energy trifecta.

” You can tap into your energy trifecta by combining a plant-based diet with intermittent fasting.

To ward off exhaustion and infection, make sure you exercise mindfully, reduce stress, and sleep at least eight hours a night.

Actionable advice: Meditate a little each day.

Incorporate a short, simple meditation into your day.

Start by taking three long, deep breaths – six counts in, six counts out.

Try not to think about anything but the breath coming in, and then going back out.

Do this microbreathing meditation three times a day, every day.

This way, you’ll practice cultivating inner calm, which in turn will positively influence your energy trifecta.

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