Probably all of us would agree to that, however the reality is usually very different: we feel tired and sluggish and all we want after a hectic day is to put our feet up! If you belong to this ever increasing number of people who are suffering from regular fatigue and low-energy levels then it might be time to turn this around and get your body fully re-energised and revitalised again!

A daily intake of ‘green drinks’ will do the trick! They can instantly help to get rid of sluggishness and fatigue by giving your body all the vitamins, minerals and enzymes it needs to work efficiently. This in turn will significantly boost your energy levels and hence improve your overall health and quality of life.

Give your body a real kick-start and long-lasting energy with green drinks – probably the most nutritious drink on the planet! We promise that you will notice the difference!

In the following article we are therefore going to look at some of the factors causing fatigue and low-energy levels, briefly outline what green drinks actually are, what they contain and what their core health benefits are. Following that, we are going to look at how green drinks can actually increase our energy levels and give a quick overview of the best energy-boosting green drinks.

What are the Key Factors Causing Fatigue and Low-Energy Levels?

When we speak to family members, friends and work colleagues about our general state of health, vitality, fitness levels, etc, a very common feeling that we seem to share is that we often feel quite tired, exhausted and sluggish. The reasons for these feelings are varied and can stem from a variety of external and internal factors, such as work-related- and/or emotional stress, lack of sleep, low levels of exercise and importantly an unhealthy diet- and lifestyle.

Especially in our western hemisphere where we often tend to turn into ‘couch potatoes’ and a significant part of our diet consists of processed, unhealthy and therefore acidifying foods, this so-called ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ is unfortunately very common.

In this article we will particularly look at internal factors causing this and hence it is very important to look at the acid/alkaline state of our body, as this is very crucial in getting to the bottom of the internal factors causing low-energy levels and fatigue. Generally we can say that our body always strives to maintain an acid/alkaline balance in order for our body functions to work efficiently and prevent us from disease.

All of our body’s internal mechanisms such as circulation, digestion and even breathing are constantly working hard in keeping this balance. If our body gets out of balance, caused by an over acidification of our tissues and body fluids, we are laying the grounds for illnesses and diseases. Common symptoms are flu and colds, headaches, skin problems and allergies.

These syndromes increase and appear more frequently the longer our body is in such an unbalanced state. The reason for this is that our body starts to pull alkaline minerals out of our tissues in order to compensate for this imbalance. In the worst case our blood cannot balance the acid overload anymore and hence excess acid is dumped into our tissues. Our immune system must therefore neutralise what it can and getting rid of everything else.

Dr Robert Young, the alkaline diet expert, calls this “getting rid of” acid from the tissues and transporting them right back into the blood a vicious cycle, as in such an instance our body needs to draw even more alkaline minerals out of our tissues stressing our organs and bodily functions. An acidic body produces toxins which reduce the absorption of minerals, proteins, and other nutrients. This weakens the body’s ability to produce enzymes, hormones and various other chemical components, which are essential for organ activity and cell activity.

Over-acidification and therefore imbalance of the body is caused by too much acidic waste such as yeast, fungus, bacteria, viruses and moulds. They deplete our supply of B-complex vitamins, iron and other minerals. Their toxic waste is the main culprit for syndromes like chronic fatigue and low-energy levels.

The key problem and according to Dr Young the “fatigue vicious circle number one” is that low energy levels encourage overgrowth of harmful microforms, which in turn cause even lower energy levels and so on…!

How can we therefore prevent this over acidification of the body and therefore common syndromes like chronic fatigue?

The simple answer is to keep our body in an acid/alkaline balance!

As we have mentioned above, there are also very important external factors like high stress levels, negative emotions, lack of physical activity, etc which determine the acid/alkaline balance of our body and therefore these need to be addressed too. Concentrating on the internal factors, we need to keep our body in an alkaline state so that our bodily functions can work at their most efficient level, increase our overall health and therefore also boost our energy levels.

This can be achieved by giving our body the right ‘fuel’ in terms of providing our body with all the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and nutrients that it needs to functions at its best. We can give our body this ‘fuel’ with the foods we consume, which means that we should firstly include as many alkaline-forming foods as possible in our diet and on the same token cut out as many highly acidifying foods as we can.

Alkaline-forming foods are generally all green vegetables, fresh herbs, seeds, sprouts, low-sugar fruits and healthy oils. Highly acidifying foods on the other hand are processed foods, high-sugar foods, meat, caffeine, alcohol, dairy products, pickled foods and high-sugar fruits.

Besides a healthy and alkaline diet we can also supply our body with these nutrients and therefore keep an alkaline state in form of so-called ‘green drinks’, which we are going to look at more closely next.

What are ‘Green Drinks’, What do they Contain and What are their Core Health Benefits?

Green drinks vary in terms of ingredients, however the majority of them are a blend of highly alkalising and nutritious ingredients like green vegetables, herbs, green grasses, sprouts and low-sugar fruits.

All the ingredients are dried at a very low temperature in order to keep all the enzymes viable and sold in either powder or capsule form. They infuse our body with easily absorbed minerals, vitamins and amino acids.

Green powder mixed in good quality alkaline water is rich in electrons and very effective in keeping our body highly alkaline.

The core health benefit of green drinks is that they help to alkalise our body by eliminating all the acidic waste stored inside. They therefore play a crucial part in keeping our body in balance and therefore preventing our body from becoming overly acidic, which is according to Dr Young “the cause for illness and disease”.

Hence green drinks can drastically reduce the amount of excess acidic waste such as yeast, mould, fungi and toxins in the body; they can help ward off illnesses and reduce the amount of infections and inflammations in the body.

They can also reduce our cravings for acidifying and high-sugar foods and very importantly give us an instant and sustainable energy boost, which we will look at in more detail below.

To put it in a nutshell, green drinks are some of the lowest-sugar, lowest-calorie and most nutrient rich foods on the planet!

How can Green Drinks give us a Real and Long-Lasting Energy Boost?

Most green drinks are a blend of ingredients which can provide our body with over 125 easily absorbed vitamins and minerals, amino acids (protein) and fibre.

In particular, green vegetables are extremely nutrient-dense and provide us with all the minerals, vitamins and micronutrients we need. They are full of fibre, which act like a sponge soaking up all the acidic waste and also full of enzymes, which are required for every chemical activity in the body. Enzymes get destroyed by cooking vegetables at a heat of over 50C, which is why the green drink is a fantastic source of viable enzymes. Vegetables are also rich in so-called photo nutrients, which are highly biologically active and according to Dr Young neutralise or eliminate excess acids.

Besides green vegetables, the other main ingredients of green drinks are grasses like wheat grass and barley grass, which are both particularly nutritious. They are generally even more nutrient-dense than vegetables which makes the list of their health benefits go on and on…! Wheat grass for example includes every mineral, trace mineral and every vitamin in the B-complex family, has one of the highest pro-vitamin A contents of any food and is rich in vitamins K, C and E. Barley grass is extremely high in vitamin B1 and vitamin C.

One of the key components of green drinks is chlorophyll, which produces the green colour in vegetables and plants and helps them absorb light. Dr Young calls it the “blood of plants”, as its chemical components and molecular structure is very similar to that of our human blood. Its molecular structure is similar to that of haemoglobin, the substance in red blood cells that gives them their red colour and helps them transport oxygen. Chlorophyll is the same with the exception of the central atom, which is magnesium rather than iron. It also has the same effects in the body as iron and thus cleanses and builds our own blood naturally.

The core benefits of chlorophyll are that it cleanses the blood, helps the blood cells deliver oxygen throughout the body, and makes stronger blood and thus stronger blood cells.

Due to stronger blood and higher oxygen levels chlorophyll is nature’s most effective energy booster giving you instant and long-lasting energy.

Green drinks which are rich in vitamins, minerals, fibre, chlorophyll and electrons therefore have a highly alkalising effect on our body and thus help our bodily functions to work as efficient as possible. They contain all the raw materials to power our cells, which means that our blood does not need to pull alkaline minerals out of our tissues or leach them from the bones or muscles.

The overall effect is that green drinks help our bodies to function like a well-oiled and serviced machine, which always performs at its peak!

The important point to stress is that green drinks give us long-lasting and sustainable energy in contrast to ‘quick energy’ which e.g. foods high in sugar provide us with. Although sugar instantly raises our blood glucose (and give us energy), it falls very quickly and can leave us feeling sluggish and tired.

So if you want to start to feel awake, vitalised and re-energised every day then give these green drinks a try and feel the instant energy boost!

Which Green Drinks are the Most Powerful Energy Boosters?

As I have mentioned above, there are a variety of green drinks available on the market with slightly different ingredients and tastes. These ones below are some of our favourites at the Energise HQ, which are all very high-quality and highly effective green drinks.

• Dr Robert Young Doc Brocs Power Plants: This is Dr Young’s latest and of the most potent, alkalising and nutrient-dense green drink on the market. One 1lb tub contains 20lbs of fresh grasses, vegetables, low-sugar fruits and other plants at a concentration of 20:1! He also calls it a 4th generation green drink, as it carries an electrical charge which energises your body functions naturally.
• Perfectlyhealthy Mega Greens with MSM: This is a highly concentrated blend of 34 superfoods, 17 amino acids, vegetables, vitamins, minerals, omega oils and enzymes providing you with all the alkaline ingredients your body needs for maximum energy, renewal and cell support.
• pHion Green Superfood: This green drink is packed with over 30 different highly alkaline foods such as barley grass and wheat grass. It also contains Cerecalase® a patented blend that makes the nutrients in Green 48% more bio-available (absorbable by the body) than the greens in other products.
• Inner Balance Pure Energy Greens: This is Anthony Robbin’s latest green drink, which is a specially formulated blend of fresh and alkaline-forming dense green vegetables and natural fibres, which increases energy levels and helps to restore a healthy pH balance.
• Young pHorever ChloropHeal – Liquid Chlorophyll: ChloropHeal is the world’s most concentrated, unrefined, natural source of chlorophyll developed by Dr Young. This supplement gives you instant energy, whilst alkalising your cells, detoxifying your body and boosting your immune system.

This article has highlighted the fact that green drinks are not only extremely healthy, but are also an easy and convenient way of providing our bodies with all the nutrients that will help us feel fully revitalised and energised!

Why not give these green drinks a try and help your body to really boost your energy levels?!

Each fortnight we’re putting the best alkaline diet questions we receive from you to our Alkaline Diet Expert, Dr Young trained blood analyst and highly qualified nutritionist – Gareth Edwards.

Gareth is right at the very top of his field, so these answers are absolutely the best you’ll find from arguably Britain’s most qualified expert in this area!

Q&A With Gareth Edwards

Question One – What is the Best Type of Natural Sweetener on the Alkaline Diet?

I know all kinds of sugar and artificial sweeteners are bad. What options are left if I want to sweeten my herbal tea?

1. Chicory powder: Dr. Robert Young recommends it in his book. Has anyone tried it? What is it like? Where can you get it?

I’m surprised he recommends it as a sweetener, because chicory is quite bitter. Maybe it becomes sweeter when roasted. I’ve had quick trawl on the internet and the smallest quantity I could find being offered was 5 metric tons!!! Maybe ask a friend going to the States to see if they can pick it up in a health food shop there. Be sure that it doesn’t have any sweeteners added.

2. Stevia: Dr. Young doesn’t mention it in his book. Do you know if it is acidic or alkaline? Is it OK to use it? Is there a difference between brands? Is there a difference if I use tablets, powder (crystals) or the actual leaves (died or fresh?) of the plant?

Dr. Young does recommend using stevia, but maybe references to it have been removed from the British edition of the book. Sale of stevia has been banned in the UK and Europe because of safety fears. I think this was a single incident where someone using it had fertility challenges. I am not sure that the cause and effect link was categorically proven.

3. Any other option that I might not even know yet?

You could try cinnamon, but I don’t know how that would work with herbal teas.

Question Two – What turns Food into Healthy Blood? How does Alkalising Work?

Hi Gareth – to quote you from last week “So it is not the bacteria and the enzymes that help turn food into healthy blood in the intestine, they are the by-products of the digestive processes.” So what turns food into healthy blood?

There are two main elements to digestion, mechanical and chemical. The crucial mechanical part, starts in the mouth with chewing, accompanied by the chemical action of saliva. A combination of the two goes on until the “waste” matter “exits”!

After the mouth, most of the mechanical aspect is a series of worm-like muscular contractions that move the chewed up food through the digestive tract (called peristalsis). There is also quite vigorous muscular “churning” in the stomach – a sack like structure that food sits in before entering the intestines. This movement allows the food to be thoroughly mixed with sodium bicarbonate (not hydrochloric acid!) that is released in the stomach.

As the food passes through the intestines, more bicarbonate salts are released from the gallbladder and pancreas, which further promote the transformation of food into red blood cells.

The more acidic the food or drink, the greater the demand for alkalising salts (such as youngpHorever pHour salts).

Question Three – I’m not Feeling the Energy yet? What’s Wrong?

On your site it says that “Many people also report feeling wide awake upon rising and are able to get up far more early in the morning.”

Tony Robbins says he only needs 6 hours of sleep per night and he still wakes up feeling energised. I need at least 9 hours per night (usually 10 hours) to feel like I’ve had enough sleep – anything less and I get tired. Does that mean there are some acids/toxins in my blood that mean my body needs more rest to get rid of? Why is this I am a young male, I swim and am in good shape and have no medical health issues.

It depends how young! If you are still growing, remember that happens mainly when you are asleep. Generally speaking though, you probably can rest and repair your body more efficiently when you are in a healthy alkaline state.

A lot of “de-toxifying” takes place while sleeping. The “hangover” is a classic example of just how groggy you can feel when your body is having to work hard to remove the effects of excess acidity.

Your food and hydration choices and the way you exercise can all leave make you more acidic and needing more sleep. Try eating earlier in the evening (longer before you go to bed). That can help you to wake up earlier, feeling more refreshed too.

Question Four – Does Metabolic Typing (MT) affect the Alkaline Diet?

I trained as a nutritionist myself back in 1989 with Patrick Holford and remember well the lecture we had on acid alkaline balance. However more recently I did a training in metabolic typing which states that some people metabolise their food differently according to whether they are sympathetic or parasympathetic dominant and whether they are fast or slow oxidisers. They quote many case studies where people haven’t improved with the alkaline approach and have in fact responded to the high protein diet.

As always I am sitting on the fence on this one and suppose I believe that both your way and their way can be successful. My main contention with the metabolic typing approach is that it is very difficult if not impossible to follow for the majority of people. They maintain if you don’t follow it you won’t get well.

Given that there is likely to be some truth in the metabolic typing assertions I wonder if there is any place for this thinking within your regimes, i.e. do you encourage people to fine tune their diets and find a compromise that suits them – do some people actually do better with more protein than others. The old adage one mans meat is another mans poison does seem to have some relevance in the nutrition world so how do you account for these biochemical individualities?

I am really keen to find a regime that I personally feel comfortable with. I have some minor chronic health problems such as fungal toenails that I would love to find a way of dealing with and if an alkaline diet is a possible way forward then I am very interested. (I say minor because they don’t cause me any problems but I am aware there may be more deep rooted issues here that I am unaware of).

My friend – who I mentioned in my blog post comment – has also been down the metabolic typing route and is keen to find something that isn’t simply one extreme to another. I think your diet could help her in a way that metabolic typing didn’t.

Ross has passed this interesting question to me. I too studied with Patrick Holford at ION, graduating in 1998. After experimenting with protein and vegetable regimes, based on the Zone by Barry Sears, I found myself ….. unwell. Starting to read Dr. Young’s book “Sick and Tired” was a huge turning point for me, for the better.

I am not fully aware of the principles involved in metabolic typing, but your outline is succinct. At an ideological (rather than scientific level) I struggle with the concept that eating animal meat can be a route to human health. If you push aside that (slightly sentimental!) view, I think that an observation of other animals might give some pointers around these issues. I would imagine that metabolically cows, horses and guerrillas have just as much potential to be sympathetic or parasympathetic dominant as we do as humans, and yet they all eat grass or largely plant based diets.

I don’t fully understand the science behind why one person may need more protein than another, but it is totally possible to achieve very high protein (such as youngpHorever HempH ProFi) intakes from plant protein sources. The bundles that it comes in have the added benefit of also providing phytonutrients, healthy fats (such as the Udo’s Choice Ultimate Oil Blend) and fibre.

I think that the miraculous health transformations that I see in my clients, myself and Dr. Young’s patient testimonials provide powerful support for his interpretation of the method to achieve alkalinity in our body fluids and tissue. I am sure that metabolic typing enthusiasts might make similar claims.

As you are a nutritionist, I would strongly recommend that you read Sick and Tired. The science and history of development of the Western World’s health perspective is both compelling and empowering.

Fungus and mould simply cannot survive in an alkaline terrain. Finding a way to maintain that environment in your body chemistry is an exciting and enlightening challenge.

Question Five – I use Filtered Water – Do I need pH Drops too?

I use the green drinks which I understand raises the alkalinity of the water – why do I need to use pH drops too? Also, I use a Britta filter – is this enough or do I need the pH drops too?

OK – great question. The greens (such as Dr Young’s Doc Brocs Power Plants) don’t actually raise the pH of the water that much. They are alkalising, but their principle nutritional function is to provide chlorophyll, phyto-nutrients, minerals and fibre. These are all essential “building blocks” that your body needs.

The real shift in pH however, comes from the drops (such as the youngpHorever Puriphy drops). They should raise the pH of the fluid up to somewhere near 9. This provides an important “therapeutic” benefit. By drinking highly alkaline fluids you should start to “wash” acids out of your body (through urine) and help to maintain the natural pH of your body fluids, without having to call on your body’s mineral resources to achieve balance.

The Britta filter is unlikely to change the pH. It just removes toxic elements and some heavy metals. From The Brita website: It “reduces limescale, chlorine, aluminum, certain heavy metals like copper and lead and other impurities”.

Another set of great questions and great answers! If you have a question for Gareth – leave it in the comments below!