I Eat Clean. So Why Do I Feel Depleted?

This isn’t how “healthy” was supposed to feel.

Woman in a kitchen with a salad and healthy food ingredients

This Doesn’t Add Up

I eat clean. Whole foods. Mostly plants. I pay attention to what goes into my body in a way I never used to. Cooking at home isn’t a trend for me — it’s a commitment. I read labels. I plan meals. I care.

So when I started feeling depleted, it didn’t make sense.

By mid-afternoon I wasn’t crashing dramatically. I was just… fading. Slightly foggy. Slower to think. Less steady than I expected to be. I would sit there and think, “This doesn’t add up.”

Healthy shouldn’t feel exhausting.

Yet somehow, I was running on empty.

Woman sitting at a table with a salad bowl in a bright kitchen.

 The Quiet Frustration

What made it harder was the contradiction. I wasn’t living on processed food. I wasn’t neglecting my health. I was doing what everyone says you should do.

So why did it feel like my effort wasn’t translating?

There’s a particular frustration in doing everything right and still feeling off. It’s not dramatic. It’s not obvious. It’s a quiet mismatch between what you believe your body should feel like and what it actually feels like.

And when your lifestyle is intentional, that gap feels personal.

I didn’t want to question the way I eat. I didn’t want to question my discipline. But I couldn’t ignore the feeling that something was missing.

Woman sitting on a couch holding a mug, looking thoughtful outdoors.

The Moment It Clicked

At some point, I stopped assuming I had failed. And I stopped assuming the lifestyle had failed.

Maybe the foundation was solid. Maybe it just needed reinforcement. That thought changed everything.

Because it meant I didn’t have to abandon what I believed in. I didn’t have to overhaul my meals. I didn’t have to admit I was “doing it wrong.”

Maybe I just needed to support what I had already built.

And for the first time in months, that felt hopeful.

Woman sitting at a table with a laptop and a bowl of salad, surrounded by plants.

 The Missing Piece I Hadn’t Considered

That’s when I came across something I hadn’t thought deeply about before: iron.

Not in a dramatic, medical way. Just in a quiet, practical way.

Iron levels can run lower on plant-based diets — even when you’re eating well. Even when your meals look balanced. Even when everything feels intentional.

And low iron doesn’t always feel extreme. Sometimes it feels exactly like what I was experiencing — steady depletion. Subtle fog. Energy that doesn’t quite match the effort.

That possibility didn’t feel threatening.

It felt relieving. Because if the issue wasn’t my discipline… and it wasn’t my values… then maybe it was something supportable. Plant-based doesn’t mean energy-deprived.

Healthy shouldn’t feel exhausting.

And if you’ve been wondering why your energy doesn’t reflect your effort, it may be worth looking at your iron.

That was the first step toward feeling steady again.

See how I chose to support mine →

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