Tell someone you’re vegetarian and the most common response will have something to do with protein—where you get it from, how much they eat, etc.

The next most common I hear is a question I don’t understand nor know how to ask: Do you have more energy?

The question comes in other forms: do you have less energy, how has it affected your energy levels, etc.

Can someone help me understand the question? What are energy levels in relation to diet?

I can tell when I feel exhausted after exercise or tired from lack of sleep. I can tell if caffeine jolts me. At the end of a three-day fast I can tell I take longer to recover from calisthenics.

For that matter, I can tell I have less energy to climb stairs, do burpees, or other physical exertion from age.

If I feel more energy or less, there’s always a cause. But I don’t sense energy levels that vary with what I eat. With how much I eat, yes, but not what I eat.

Do people feel they have more energy or less depending on what they eat? My diet for several years has held fairly constant, with legumes, leaves, starchy vegetables, oats, nuts, fruit, and water with some herbs and spices mixed it, though the mix of vegetables and fruits varies with season and my mood.

Do people find their energy levels vary with what they eat? Does feeling my energy levels, if I understand the phrase, not vary with diet make me unusual?

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