Dietary sources of important nutrients should always be your first choice to boost energy but there are times when a vitamin and mineral supplement can act as an insurance policy. In addition, some herbal supplements have the potential to boost your energy levels if you feel they are not where they should be.

First of all take a good multivitamin and mineral to safeguard against nutritional deficiencies which can cause fatigue. For example, Iron is need for the production of energy; magnesium regulates your energy levels and the B vitamins are vital for metabolism. Choose a supplement containing as many vitamins and minerals as possible. To make sure you are getting enough essential fatty acids which are vital for energy production and good health take a fish oil supplement. In trials, essential fatty acids have been shown to have a significant beneficial effect on people suffering from chronic fatigue.

If you want to try other supplements choose one from the following:

• Siberian ginseng: Improves physical and mental energy levels, especially when under stress and can also normalise blood sugar levels. Dose: 250-500 mg daily.
• Schisandra: Increases physical and sexual energy levels and prevents fatigue by increasing oxygen uptake in cells. Dose: 250-500 mg daily.
• Gingko biloba: Boosts mental function, memory and alertness. Improves circulation to the brain. Dose 120 mg a day.
• Co-enzyme Q10: A vitamin like substance that improves physical energy levels and muscle strength and endurance. Needed by cells to process oxygen and generate energy. Dose 30-60 mg.
• Alpha-lipoic acid: A vitamin like substance that speeds up metabolic reactions involved in energy production in cells. A powerful antioxidant used to boost energy and overcome fatigue. Dose 50-100mg daily.

We generally trust that ‘health foods’ will benefit us in the way they claim to, but just how good for us are they?

• Cereals: We’re often told to start the day with a nutritious bowl of cereal. While breakfast cereals contain vital vitamins and minerals, what the brightly coloured packaging or glossy advertising campaigns don’t always tell us is that they can also be laden with sugar, salt and saturated fats. Cereals can be a great way to start the day, but be careful to avoid high sugar varieties. Instead, go for an oat-based cereal or sugar free muesli to help stabilise your blood sugar.
• Breakfast/cereal bars: Like breakfast cereals, these are full of sugar and saturated fats, shattering their image as a nutritious, low-fat and low-salt nibble. They can sometimes have the same fat and sugar content as a chocolate bar so best to snack on fruit and nuts or seeds instead.
• Fruit juices: Fruit juice drinks tend to be full of sugar – there can be less than 10 per cent real fruit juice, the rest is sugar (or even artificial sweeteners), water and flavourings. If a ‘fruit juice’ has the word ‘drink’ in the title, then it should be avoided as otherwise it will not be 100% fruit juice. Look out for ‘100 per cent fruit juice’ on the label. This means it contains no added sugar, but you should still be aware of the natural sugars found in fruit, so don’t go overboard, or dilute the juice with half water. In the same way, fruit yoghurts contain little in the way of real fruit pieces and are often packed with sugar, additives and preservatives so go for organic, natural yogurt, preferably with a live culture to aid your digestion. A seemingly ‘healthy’ fruit yogurt, even an organic one, can contain up to eight teaspoons of sugar.
• Canned soups: Canned soups are often packed full of salt and high in fat, especially the creamy and cheesy varieties. A diet too high in salt is linked with an increased risk of high blood pressure. Just one cup of soup can contain a third of your recommended daily salt allowance. Even supposedly low-salt canned soup contains a substantial amount of salt. Your best bet is to avoid completely and go for homemade soups instead. They are so easy to make. Also some soups, like tomato soup, can contain a fair amount of sugar, not what you would expect in a savoury food. Also sugar can be added to spaghetti sauces, tomato ketchup and baked beans so read the labels, as there are alternative products without sugar. .
• Pre-prepared salads: Pre-prepared and ready-washed salads are often washed in chlorine, not water. The chlorine is used to disinfect the salad and kill bacteria, but it also destroys the vitamins and minerals. It can be rinsed in up to 200 times the amount of chlorine found in tap water, although most of the residue is removed to ensure it meets government safety regulations. Organic salads cannot be washed using chlorine, so try to buy these if you can. Watch out too for any dressings enclosed; some can be very high in calories.

It’s well known that cranberries can help protect against cystitis but there are other foods for women with disease fighting properties:

1. Papaya. This tropical fruit packs about twice the vitamin C of an orange. After analyzing the blood of over 13,000 people, scientists from the University of California, San Francisco, found that women who had lower levels of vitamin C were more likely to have gallbladder illnesses. One medium papaya (about ten ounces), with its 188 mg of vitamin C and a mere 119 calories, is a good source of the vitamin. The once exotic fruit now can be found in most supermarkets.
2. Flaxseed. Rich in oestrogen-like compounds called lignans which are a potential weapon against that lady killer breast cancer. You can add flaxseeds (also called linseeds) to cakes and bread, but the easiest and healthiest way to get the beneficial lignans is to sprinkle a few tablespoons of ground flaxseed on your morning cereal. Look for the seeds in health food stores or in supermarkets and buy organic ones. They’re easy to grind in a blender or coffee grinder or you can get them ready ground in a vacuum pack and then store them in the fridge. Buy the seeds if you want the lignan-effect as there are no lignans in the oil.
3. Tofu. Foods high in soya protein can lower cholesterol and may minimize menopausal hot flushes and strengthen bone. Isoflavones, plant chemicals in soya beans that have a structure similar to oestrogen, may be the reason. A half-cup of tofu contains about 25 to 35 mg of isoflavones. Other beans like lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans etc are a good source of isoflavones too.
4. Collard Greens. This humble vegetable may help fight osteoporosis, which afflicts many women late in life. In addition to getting adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D, some studies suggest that vitamin K may have a bone-protective effect as well. Based on data from one of the largest studies of women, the Nurses’ Health Study, researchers discovered that women who ate enough vitamin K-rich foods (at least 109 micrograms of the vitamin daily) were 30 percent less likely to suffer a hip fracture during ten years of follow-up than women who ate less. The researchers stated that dark-green leafy vegetables — Brussels sprouts, spinach, broccoli — are all good sources of the vitamin. But collard greens, with about 375 micrograms per half-cup, are among the best.