Why Your Gut, Not Coffee, Is the Real Key to All-Day Energy (and Avoiding the 2 PM Crash)
Dragging through the afternoon? Before you reach for another coffee, maybe it’s time to look at your gut health.
Digestion is about breaking food down, but more importantly, it also sets the stage for how well you absorb nutrients, generate energy, and keep your mood steady. When your gut is in good shape, your energy usually is, too.
🎧 Prefer to Listen?
Reading’s great, but sometimes it’s nice to just listen in. So we turned today’s blog into a conversation. Our two AI sidekicks, Max and Chloe, break down today’s blog so you can listen on the go!
Bioavailability Starts in the Gut
Bioavailability is how much of a nutrient your body can absorb and put to work. Labels may list high numbers, but that doesn’t guarantee those nutrients make it into your cells.
Just taking a look at iron, it shows the difference clearly: heme iron from animal foods like beef liver is absorbed at 15–35%, while non-heme iron from plants is absorbed at only 2–20%. This is a big issue, as this can impact how your body stores iron and if it is then released into the body at the right time to help with focus and movement.
The Gut–Energy Connection
Your microbiome produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) when it digests fiber, and those SCFAs fuel colon cells while also influencing your mitochondria, or the powerhouse of the cell. They’re the power plants that keep you moving all day long.
Unfortunately, when the gut barrier becomes more permeable, low-grade inflammation can develop. Over time, this is connected to how tired we get and how much energy we have available in certain situations. Supporting your gut health helps you stay comfortable, while also ensuring your body can use the fuel it has sustainably.
Comfort and the Gut Lining
The intestinal lining is where nutrient absorption happens, so protecting it really matters. According to both lab and early human studies, collagen peptides may help maintain barrier integrity and reduce bloating.
Additionally, botanicals like slippery elm have been used historically for soothing the gut, even for those with irritable bowel syndrome. Yarrow has even demonstrated antispasmodic activity in preclinical work, so it may be able to help ease digestive tension.
Nutrients that Work with Your Body
Beef liver is actually one of the most abundant sources of bioavailable vitamins and minerals. Just three ounces deliver 70.7 mcg of vitamin B12—far above daily needs—as well as vitamin A, riboflavin, copper, and heme iron.
When combined with beef intestine, you get collagen peptides and minerals for more gut-supportive benefits—especially if you mix in black pepper extract, or piperine. This can further enhance the absorption of certain compounds to support your overall health.
A Gentler Approach to Organ Supplements
Many beef organ supplements require megadoses—six or more capsules per day totaling over 3,000 mg—which can make us feel uncomfortable. However, Sarenova’s Formula No. 06 is available as a gentle 600 mg/day, roughly the nutritional equivalent of a serving of beef liver once a week.
Combined with yarrow and slippery elm for gut comfort, you can support steady energy without the common complaints of nausea, bloat, or “organ burps.”
Take Steps Today to Support Your Gut Health
Small choices can improve bioavailability—especially if you choose to support your energy and digestive health naturally. Try Formula No. 06 today: a supplement with grass-fed beef organs plus soothing botanicals, designed to deliver bioavailable nutrition in a way your body recognizes and uses.
Join the waitlist today for first access to beef organ supplements for women and exclusive perks.
💡 Key Takeaways
Afternoon fatigue isn’t always about caffeine or sleep—it often traces back to gut health as the true foundation of steady energy.
Bioavailability, or how well your body absorbs and uses nutrients, matters far more than the numbers printed on labels.
Heme iron from sources like beef liver is absorbed up to 35%, compared to as little as 2% for non-heme plant iron—showing how form impacts energy.
A healthy microbiome produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that directly fuel the gut lining and make mitochondria across the body more efficient.
Sustainable energy comes from a gentler approach: combining bioavailable organ nutrients with gut-soothing support like collagen, yarrow, and slippery elm, instead of harsh mega-doses.
-
(AI-generated conversation and transcript)
Max: [00:00:00] You know that feeling.Chloe: Yeah.
Max: Mid-afternoon, maybe 2:00 PM and suddenly the screen gets blurry.
Chloe: Oh yeah. Focus just vanishes.
Max: Exactly.
Chloe: Yeah.
Max: And your first thought is [00:00:10] probably need more coffee.
Chloe: Yeah. Or
Max: maybe didn't sleep enough.
Chloe: That's the usual suspect.
Max: But, uh, today it was a look at this from a totally different angle.
We're doing a deep dive into our [00:00:20] sources to see how something more foundational. Specifically our gut health.
Chloe: Mm-hmm.
Max: How that's maybe the real driver for steady energy, keeping sharp and [00:00:30] even, you know, feeling balanced mood wise.
Chloe: It's a core connection.
Max: The main idea we're exploring if your gut's in good shape, your energy levels probably are too.
Chloe: Right at the heart [00:00:40] of that connection is this concept called bioavailability. We really need to get clear on this. Okay. It's not just about the amount of a nutrient, say, listed on a food label. [00:00:50] It's about how much of that nutrient your body can actually absorb and then critically get into your cells to use.
Max: Right? That's a huge distinction because we're so trained to look at like the [00:01:00] milligrams or the percent daily value. We are, we see a hundred percent vitamin C and think. Great covered, but if your body only takes in what, 10 or 20% of that
Chloe: Exactly, then those big [00:01:10] numbers don't mean much. Practically speaking, if your digestive system, your whole absorption infrastructure isn't working optimally.
Mm-hmm. You could be eating the best diet, taking [00:01:20] supplements, but a huge chunk of those nutrients, they just pass right through wasted. That's that bioavailability gap.
Max: Okay. Let's make that really concrete then. Can we pull an example from the [00:01:30] sources that just nails this difference? Where quantity doesn't equal absorption.
Chloe: Iron is, well, it's the perfect example. It's so vital for energy.
Max: How so?
Chloe: [00:01:40] It helps your body store energy and then release it when needed. Think muscle function, staying focused, iron's involved.
Max: Got it. Crucial stuff.
Chloe: But here's the thing. How well you [00:01:50] absorb it depends massively on its form. You've got heme, iron,
Max: that's the one from animal sources, right?
Chloe: Red meat, beef, liver, things like that. Your body recognizes it immediately. Absorption rate [00:02:00] somewhere between 15 and 35%. Pretty efficient.
Max: Okay, 15 to 35. And the other type that's non-heme.
Chloe: This is what you find in plants. Spinach, [00:02:10] lentils, beans, and also what's usually added to fortified foods like cereals
Max: and the absorption rate there, it
Chloe: drops a lot.
We're talking only two to 20%. Wow.
Max: Okay. Wait. [00:02:20] 2% compared to potentially 35.
Chloe: It's a massive difference.
Max: So you could eat a huge spinach salad thinking you're loading up on iron. Mm-hmm. But get less [00:02:30] usable iron than from a much smaller portion of, say liver, just because the body can actually grab onto the heme iron so much better.
Chloe: That's exactly it. It's like trying to open a [00:02:40] complex encrypted file versus just reading a plain text message. One is way easier for the system to handle
Max: and that directly impacts energy.
Chloe: Absolutely, because if you're not absorbing enough iron, your [00:02:50] body can't maintain its stores properly, and if the stores are low, you can't release that energy effectively for movement, for thinking.
That afternoon slump becomes almost inevitable. It [00:03:00] tracks right back to bioavailability.
Max: Okay. That covers getting the fuel in.
Chloe: Yeah.
Max: But the sources also talk about something else. Yeah. Right. About the gut. Actively, um, creating [00:03:10] energy beyond just calories.
Chloe: Yes. This is fascinating. It's about the interplay between your gut microbiome.
All those bacteria. Mm-hmm. And your mitochondria, the tiny [00:03:20] power plants inside almost every cell in your body.
Max: Okay. Connecting the dots there. How does that work?
Chloe: The link is something called short chain fatty acids, S CFAs.
Max: S CFAs. [00:03:30] Got it.
Chloe: Your gut microbes make these S CFAs when they digest the fiber you eat things like butyrate, acetate, ate,
Max: and these aren't [00:03:40] just waste.
Chloe: Not at all. They're really powerful. First. They're the primary fuel source for the cells. Lining your colon keeps that gut wall healthy and strong.
Max: Okay. [00:03:50] Direct fuel for the gut itself.
Chloe: Yeah.
Max: You said mitochondria too? Affecting energy everywhere.
Chloe: Yes. These CFAs don't just stay in the gut. They travel through the bloodstream and influence [00:04:00] mitochondria throughout your body.
How they seem to make the mitochondria more efficient, like tuning up those little power plants so they can generate more energy a TP from the fuel they [00:04:10] receive. It's like they're telling the cells, run cleaner, make more power.
Max: That's amazing. So the fiber I ate yesterday is literally helping my cells make energy more efficiently today.[00:04:20]
Chloe: In a very real sense. Yes. But there's a downside too. What happens when this system, especially the gut lining gets compromised,
Max: right? [00:04:30] You, you mentioned a link between gut problems and feeling tired, which seems weird. Why would a digestive issue make your whole body feel fatigued?
Chloe: It comes down to inflammation.[00:04:40]
If that gut barrier becomes too permeable, sometimes called leaky gut, things that shouldn't get through, like bits of bacteria or undigested food particles can slip into the [00:04:50] bloodstream
Max: and the body reacts.
Chloe: The immune system sees them as invaders. It mounts a defense. This leads to low grade chronic inflammation.
Okay. And maintaining that constant [00:05:00] state of immune alert, it takes a ton of energy. Think about running background apps on your phone all day. It drains the battery, right? Yeah,
Max: absolutely.
Chloe: Same idea. Your body is constantly diverting [00:05:10] resources to manage this low level inflammation, leaving less energy available for everything else.
So you feel tired, run down even if you haven't done much physically.
Max: So it's like an energy [00:05:20] leak caused by the gut barrier not being secure.
Chloe: Precisely. Supporting gut health isn't just about digestion, it's about plugging that energy leak and ensuring your body can use fuel sustainably, [00:05:30]
Max: which leads us neatly into protecting that barrier.
Because that's where the absorption happens, right? That intestinal lining, keeping it strong is key.
Chloe: Absolutely key. It's [00:05:40] the gatekeeper.
Max: So what do the sources say? Helps reinforce it. What specific things support that lining?
Chloe: Well, you need a couple of things. You need [00:05:50] structural components, kind of like the bricks and mortar, and you need things that soothe and protect it.
Max: Makes sense. Bricks. First,
Chloe: the main structural support mentioned is collagen [00:06:00] peptides early research, both in labs and some initial human studies suggest they can help maintain the physical structure, the integrity of that gut lining,
Max: like patching up the [00:06:10] wall
Chloe: kind of. Yeah. Keeping the connections between cells tight and a nice side effect seems to be potentially reducing bloating too, which makes sense if the barrier's working better.
Max: Okay. [00:06:20] College infrastructure. What about the soothing side
Chloe: here we look at botanicals. Slippery elm comes up often. It has a long history. Traditionally, why is it used? It [00:06:30] contains mucilage. When it mixes with water. It forms this sort of gel-like coating, very soothing for irritated tissues. People with IBS sometimes find it helpful.[00:06:40]
Max: Like a protective layer.
Chloe: Exactly. And then there's euro preclinical work suggests it has anti-spasmodic properties,
Max: meaning it calms muscle spasms.
Chloe: Yes. Potentially [00:06:50] easing that digestive tension, cramping, that kind of discomfort. So you've got the collagen helping rebuild and the slippery alman, uro, helping soothe and calm things down.
It's a [00:07:00] combined approach,
Max: structure, and comfort.
Chloe: Got it. Okay. Let's switch back to the fuel itself. We talked about iron, but if we want really, really bioavailable nutrients, the sources seem to [00:07:10] point towards well. Organ meats,
Max: they really do, particularly beef liver. It's often called nature's multivitamin and for good reason why liver specifically because it packs an [00:07:20] incredible density of nutrients, informs the body, recognizes and can use almost immediately highly bioavailable.
Your body doesn't need to do a lot of extra work converting things, but how much [00:07:30] better is it really? I mean, lots of people take a daily multivitamin pill. Isn't that covering the basis?
Chloe: It's about the form and also the synergy. Let's look at the numbers for beef, liver, [00:07:40] just. Three ounces gives you something like 70.7 micrograms of vitamin B12.
That's way over the daily requirement, plus significant amounts of [00:07:50] vitamin A, riboflavin, copper, and crucially that highly absorbable he iron we talked about
Max: and is synthetic vitamin
Chloe: often uses forms of nutrients that need [00:08:00] conversion steps in the body. Those steps cost, energy, and aren't always efficient.
So the actual amount you absorb and use can be much lower than what's on the label. Liver [00:08:10] provides it pretty much ready to go, plus nature doesn't isolate nutrients. In liver, you get B12 alongside folate, which work together, you get vitamin A with [00:08:20] copper, which are co-factors. They're packaged synergistically.
Max: Oh, so they work better because they come together. Your
Chloe: body expects them that way. Essentially, it evolved to get nutrients in these kinds of complex packages.
Max: And the [00:08:30] sources mentioned you could even enhance this by combining different organ meats or adding other things.
Chloe: Yes, absolutely. For example, combining beef liver with beef intestine.
Max: [00:08:40] Why intestine?
Chloe: Well, besides its own nutrient profile, the intestine is a great source of those collagen peptides we just discussed, plus other minerals that support the gut lining.
Max: So [00:08:50] you're getting the super fuel from the liver and support for the gut infrastructure from the intestine.
Chloe: Exactly. It's a feed and repair combo.
Real synergy there.
Max: Nice. Any other [00:09:00] enhancers mentioned?
Chloe: There's interesting research on black pepper extract, specifically a compound called piperine piperine.
Max: From Black Pepper.
Chloe: Yes, it seems to [00:09:10] boost the absorption of various other compounds. It works partly by, uh, temporarily inhibiting certain enzymes in the gut and liver that would normally break down these compounds too quickly.
Max: [00:09:20] So it gives the nutrients more time to be absorbed,
Chloe: essentially. Yes, it enhances their bioavailability even further. Pretty clever.
Max: That really is tactical nutrition. Okay, but let's addresss the [00:09:30] elephant in the room or maybe the capsule. Organ supplements, especially liver, often come in these huge doses.
Right? Like six massive capsules, maybe 3000 milligrams or more.
Chloe: Mm-hmm. [00:09:40] That's very common
Max: and a lot of people complain that leads to issues, nausea, bloating, the dreaded organ burps. It doesn't sound pleasant.
Chloe: That's a huge [00:09:50] drawback of the more is better approach with these potent foods. If the dose is so large, it causes discomfort.
It kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? High bioavailability doesn't [00:10:00] help if you feel sick taking it.
Max: So you saw the energy problem, but create a digestive one. Not ideal.
Chloe: Not at all. But the sources also point towards a different strategy, a [00:10:10] more, uh, gentle approach.
Max: How so?
Chloe: Instead of a massive mega dose, focusing on a much smaller daily amount, say around 600 milligrams.
Max: Okay. Much less. [00:10:20]
Chloe: The idea is to get. The nutritional benefit equivalent to eating maybe a serving of beef liver once a week, but spread out gently over the whole week. Consistency over [00:10:30] sheer volume
Max: and presumably that lower dose is much easier on the system, less likely to cause those side effects.
Chloe: That's the goal.
Make it comfortable and sustainable. And this is where those soothing [00:10:40] botanicals we talked about earlier can come back in.
Max: Uh, the Euro and slippery elm.
Chloe: Exactly integrating those into the formulation with the desiccated organs. So you're getting the [00:10:50] concentrated bioavailable nutrition plus support for digestive comfort at the same time, so
Max: it's designed to deliver the goods without upsetting your stomach
Chloe: [00:11:00] precisely.
It really reinforces the main takeaway here. Real sustainable energy comes from giving your body nutrients. It can actually use delivered in a way it recognizes and can handle [00:11:10] comfortably. It's about usability and comfort, not just piling in the milligrams. So just to wrap up what we've uncovered today.
It seems pretty clear that gut health is energy. [00:11:20] Health. Fundamentally, we saw how bioavailability is way more important than just the quantity of nutrients listed. That iron example really drove that home.
Max: That 35% versus 2% difference [00:11:30] is huge.
Chloe: It really is. And then we looked at supporting the whole system.
The microbiome making s CFAs to boost mitochondria and using things like collagen and soothing herbs to [00:11:40] protect that crucial gut barrier, it all points towards building sustainable energy from the inside out.
Max: And that sustainable energy is the real goal, isn't it? Being able to avoid that [00:11:50] 2:00 PM crash without just reaching for another stimulant.
Chloe: Absolutely.
Max: So maybe instead of thinking fatigue is just about caffeine or sleep, you can start seeing it as a [00:12:00] signal.
Chloe: Hmm.
Max: A sign that maybe the system designed to get fuel from your food isn't running at peak efficiency. It's
Chloe: a useful reframe.
Max: And small changes focused on [00:12:10] bioavailability could potentially make a really big difference to your energy levels.
Chloe: Seems likely.
Max: So thinking about that huge difference in absorption rates we discussed, he may versus [00:12:20] non-heme iron being just one example. Here's something to chew on. What foods or even supplements that you currently think of as healthy might actually not be fueling you as well as you imagine, [00:12:30] simply because your body struggles to absorb the nutrients in the form they're delivered.
Chloe: That's a powerful question.
Max: It really brings it home that the path to better energy isn't just about what you eat, [00:12:40] but how much of the good stuff actually makes it past the gut lining and into your cells.
