Help- tips needed for eating for energy and health

[Questionsquestionsquestions]

I'm mid forties, with a term-time job which leaves me exhausted in the evenings-no energy to eat well. During these holidays I want to do a reset and get ahead so I have things in place- I feel I'm in a vicious cycle of having no energy, so eating badly, then because I'm eating badly the food doesn't give me the energy which leaves me tireder etc etc.

I don't have loads of spare cash, and everything I Google seems to suggests ingredients or habits that are either expensive or time consuming. Or websites contradict each other about what exactly you should or shouldn't be eating -every time I search I come away more confused about what I should be doing.

I might be looking for the holy grail -but essentially what recommendations do people have for easy, relatively inexpensive things I can do to boost my health and energy levels during the week, with what I eat? (bonus if it assists with being ever so slightlly overweight...)
I feel if I can change a few things at time, I might get to a place of sticking to something eventually, rather than trying a big overhaul all at once where I'll just give up!
All tips and ideas that have worked for you are very welcome-thank you!

When I was very overweight I used high energy spices in a homemade soup, froze a load of them, so always had a meal ready for next day I had so much energy I felt like I had the zoomies, I lost 5 stones, I feel embarrassed to tell people that. Now I still add spices to soya sauce when I have noodles, to sauces eg Mayo gives it a nice flavour. Google high energy spices, I used cumin, ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, coriander, lentils turmeric, (fenugreek in the soup with onion as it can be very bitter without)

Sometimes you need a boost to give you the energy to start eating better, which in turn gives you the energy to exercise.

Start off with a decent multivitamin and iron. Most of us are deficient in Vitamin D over winter which can give us quite bad fatigue and bone pains.

I know people hate it on here but I batch cook
On Sunday I’ll go to Aldi at 9.30am when it’s quiet, I’m home by 10.15am. I make a batch of one meal so say cottage pie with lots of veg in, and portion into glass containers and freeze
The next week I make something different
I also keep in frozen mash and frozen steam bags of rice and veg
That way if I’m shattered, I can pull a meal out the freezer in the morning and just heat it up
I try and cook everything as a one pot thing so loads of veg in stuff to make life easy

Currently I have
soup (lentil and roasted veg, it’s lovely!)
cottage pie
beef stew
meatball and cannellini bean casserole
pasta bake
sausage and mash

I also take a multi vitamin every morning (the well woman one with omega 3) plus extra vitamin D as most people are deficient

Thanks for the ideas. I had no idea there were high energy spices!

There is lots of help for this sort of thing on the internet - you could also use chat gpt to make a meal plan. I suggest a weekly meal plan and shop. So a really easy dinner could be a halloumi tray bake with sweet potato, chickpeas, onions, peppers and harissa. Or, if too much chopping, use frozen Mediterranean veg and frozen butternut squash. The batch cooking suggestion above is excellent. Do you have a slow cooker? You can make 'dump bags'. Have a look at the Batch Lady, BBC Good Food, Taming Twins. You basically need to spend some time planning and think about ways to get extra veg - especially green veg. Frozen spinach is so easy to chuck into curries towards the end of cooking for example.

Hi OP,
What sort of thing do you eat at the moment for breakfast, lunch and dinner? How many people are there in your household or can you cook for just yourself? (This will make it a bit easier).
Apart from the food, lets look at other areas that will impact your energy levels. Are you sleeping enough? Do you do any sort of exercise? A short outdoor walk of 5 minutes can be a real energiser. Or listen to a 5 or 10 minute meditation online.

I have been trying to do the same and I’ve got some good ideas from this site. It’s American so somethings don’t work but some things are really good. I found a tuna and white bean sandwich filling which I love and some good ideas of how to incorporate more veg and beans into meals.
https://www.eatingwell.com/7-day-high-protein-meal-plan-for-more-energy-8729994

Thank you, really helpful stuff -especially the Eating Well website.
If I wanted to start the day with an energy booster, do you think those smoothie drinks you can buy are just a marketing con full of sugar, or are there ones that people actually find help, and aren't really bad for you?!

Good questions- I cook for 4 (2 teens) and don't exercise, though I know I should and that would help with energy levels. I think I need something to kick start me, and then hopefully I'll get into a good rhythm.
Sleep is pretty rubbish, but I've always struggled with getting to sleep. I try all the tips for relaxing/winding down, but nothing stops my brain from working at night!