FATIGUE
Feeling drowsy, sleepy, short of breath, or having weak muscles, is not called fatigue - though it's often confused with it.
There are two main types of fatigue: emotional and/or physical.
There are two main types of fatigue: emotional and/or physical.
If the morning finds you raring to go but it’s downhill from there, the problem might be physical.
If you wake up tired in the morning but start feeling better as the day goes on, things might be bothering you emotionally.
If you wake up tired in the morning but start feeling better as the day goes on, things might be bothering you emotionally.
Reasons for emotional fatigue:
* Doing too little. Lack of motivation, lack of interest, boredom, makes you feel tired.
* Stressful situations. No examples needed here either ….
* Mental maladies. People who are lonely or depressed tend to be tired.
Reasons for physical fatigue:
* You’re skipping needed nutrients. Low-calorie diets, fasting, just missing meals, can wipe you out.
* Not sleeping enough. Different people have different sleep needs [1].
* Exercise is essential for both body and mind. Are you getting enough?
* Dehydration.
If you regularly suffer from extreme tiredness that improves as the morning goes on, this could also be a symptom of a disease. If it lasts longer than two weeks at a stretch, mention it to a doctor. It could be a sign of
* cardiac problems;
* hypothyroidism (Thought for Food February 2018);
* emotional problems. Depression can go with muscular pain, extreme fatigue, apathy, sadness (Thought for Food February 2014);
* extreme diets (Thought for Food Jan 2015);
* or it could be anaemia, arthritis, a sleep disorder, cancer, or diabetes.
If tiredness is so severe that it interferes with your daily activities, you may have chronic fatigue syndrome. For this to be diagnosed, fatigue must have lasted for at least six months, and bed rest does not help. There is no cure, but it it is good to limit your caffeine, nicotine and alcohol intake; and acupuncture, tai chi, yoga and massage may relieve the pain. See [2].
And what can you do for yourself to help things forward?
And what can you do for yourself to help things forward?
- Eat a varied diet and stay hydrated.
- Try get your things ready the night before, so you can breakfast in peace.
- Drinking ginseng or ginger tea helps.
- If your emotions may be the problem, try work out why you don’t want to face the day. Search for a way to address matters, and find support in family or friends.
- Follow a schedule. Always eat at the same time, rest 8 hours a day, take time for yourself, walk outside for at least half an hour, dog or no dog. Easier said than done! But baby steps are much, much better than nothing. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
- And see https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/home-remedies/home-remedies-for-fatigue.htm.
EAT:
veg: purple sprouting broccoli, chard, cabbage, leeks, spring onions, spinach, watercress, loose-leaved lettuce, radish, sorrel, spring greens.
meat: lamb, wood pigeon.
fish: cockles, crab, langoustine, lobster, prawns, salmon, shrimp, herring, mussels, British crayfish.
direct: broad beans, beet, cabbage, early carrots, calabrese, coriander, kohlrabi, lettuce, parsnips, all types of peas, radish, salsify, scorzonera, spinach (beet), chard, spring onions, rocket, leeks, brussels, sprouting broccoli, autumn cauli, kale.
Plant: onion sets (early), potatoes.
And check https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/your-organic-garden-april for what else you can do in April.
And check https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/your-organic-garden-april for what else you can do in April.
By the way, if you must mow underneath fruit trees, put the grass (and other compostables) just there. The trees need food to keep producing: if you always take the grass away, their yields will go down over the years. Or just don't mow there!
RECIPES
And this recipe for lamb neck stew seems lovely: [i].
For more April recipes, see other years (click on 2018 on the right hand side, and then on April). I got hold of some organic chicken liver the other day and made this. With ‘normal’ livers, it might not have been so nice.
SEPHARDIC CHICKEN LIVER
450g chicken livers, ½tsp minced fresh ginger, 1 chopped garlic clove, ½tsp salt, ½tsp garam masala, 3 tblsp oil, 1 chopped garlic, ground coriander.
Chop the livers up a bit if they’re large. Mix everything except for the oil, leave for at least 15 min. Fry for ab. 4 mins until the livers are just cooked through, but not too much.
CREAMY CHEESY SPINACH
500g spinach, 40g butter, 2 sliced garlic cloves, 75g strong cheese, nutmeg, 50ml double cream.
Cook spinach until wilted. Drain, squeeze. Sauté garlic in butter until soft, not coloured. Add spinach. Season; stir in cream, nutmeg and cheese, cook until just melted. With boiled potatoes.LEMONY SPRING GREENS
500g spring greens, 1 lemon, 2tblsp extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
Finely grate the lemon zest, put in a jar. Cut the lemon in half. Squeeze half the juice into the jar, keeping the pips out. Add oil with a tiny pinch of salt and pepper. Put the lid on, shake. Taste to see whether it needs more juice or oil – you want it to be slightly too acidic, so it’s still zingy once you’ve dressed the greens.
Half-fill a pan with cold water and add a tiny pinch of salt. Bring to the boil. Trim and cut the greens in half lengthways, then finely slice. Cook them for 3-4 mins or until tender but still bright green. Drain; steam dry for a minute. Give the dressing another shake, then drizzle it over the greens. Toss it all while still hot to soak up all the dressing. Serve straight away.
This makes a lovely side dish, to be served with almost anything - grilled meats, fish, stews or roasts.
The dressing also works nicely on salads, as well as other boiled or steamed greens.
The dressing also works nicely on salads, as well as other boiled or steamed greens.
EASY EASTER LEG OF LAMB for 8.
Large leg of lamb 2.2-2.5kg, 3 carrots, 2 onions, 3 leeks, 4 whole cloves of garlic.
Marinade: 750ml bottle of dry white wine, 5 finely chopped cloves of garlic, 2 tblsp dry fried and coarsely ground cumin seeds, 2 tblsp dry fried and coarsely ground coriander seeds, plenty of salt and black pepper, 5 tblsp of olive oil.
Put meat in a black bin liner with wine, garlic, spices, oil, salt and pepper. Toss. Put the bag into a bucket and place somewhere cool for 24-48 hours. Turn regularly so the meat is coated in marinade. Five hours before you want to eat, preheat the oven to 140ºC. Peel and coarsely chop veg, put in a roasting tin; contents of bag on top. Put in the oven, roast for 4½ hours. Take out and rest it - covered in foil and tea towels - for 30 minutes.
For more recipes see April issues from former years.
We also have an alphabetical index of subjects, which you will see if you click on this month, in the top right hand corner.
[1] If sleep is the problem this can of course be stress again, and too little time, too much to do. But equally important is the effect of so-called blue light, the modern ‘environmentally friendly’ LED, halogen or CFB bulbs. They suppress melatonin and are not only in all our lightfittings, but also in our tvs, computers and mobile apparatus [https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side, https://www.verywellhealth.com/blue-light-exposure-3421985, and https://www.sleep.org/articles/choosing-lightbulbs/.
[2] https://www.healthline.com/health/chronic-fatigue-syndrome#treatment/, https://www.belmarrahealth.com/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-causes-symptoms-and-home-remedies/ and https://www.belmarrahealth.com/overcoming-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-steps-follow/
[3] https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/the-best-lamb-cuts-for-slow-cooking/[4] http://cookalmostanything.blogspot.com/2011/03/lamb-neck-stew.html
