Working on an empty stomach is a nightmare. You get easily distracted and irritated, both of which should be avoided when you have an upcoming client meeting. Eating snacks, such as candy bars or chocolate, to boost your energy is one of the biggest mistakes you can make to increase your productivity. While you might get a quick jolt of energy from sugar, you’ll quickly crash and feel sluggishness again. Below are reasons why your food selection affects productivity and changes you can make to have healthier practices.
Your Choice of Macros Affects Productivity
Macros, or macronutrients, are nutrients that make up your recommended daily caloric intake. These nutrients, which consist of carbohydrates, fat, and protein, provide your body with a plethora of vital resources to keep our bodies healthy and fit. The critical aspect in counting macros is balance.
Carbohydrates, for example, are one of the necessary macronutrients you need for a healthy diet. However, an excess can make you feel lethargic and dampen your productivity. Most of the time, 900 to 1300 calories of carbohydrates are enough for a daily 2000 calorie intake.
Lessening carbs in your diet can be challenging since most meals have carbs in some form. They can be in heavy meals, such as rice, bread, pasta, or snacks such as donuts, bagels, and other sugary foods. If you’re watching your sugar intake, it’s best to lessen your overall carbohydrate intake. After all, carbs have a direct relation to insulin levels and can make you feel exhausted faster. Furthermore, sugary foods ramp up your body’s insulin production, which in turn stimulates your brain with serotonin and tryptophan—hormones that make you feel sleepy and lethargic.
Low Blood Sugar Impairs Focus
Whether you work at home or in an office, you face the daily dread of maintaining focus throughout your workday. There are plenty of variables that can ruin your concentration. You can get distracted from your coworkers or lose self-control and engage in activities unrelated to work instead, both of which drastically decrease your work productivity. One proven solution to increase self-control is surprisingly easy—all you have to do is maintain your blood sugar levels.
Blood sugar, or glucose levels, occurs when your body lacks the required nutrients to process daily activities. You’ll quickly notice whether your glucose levels are low when you suddenly feel sluggish, weak, dizzy, and nervous throughout the day. Hence, it’s vital to eat proper meals that maintain your glucose levels. After all, glucose provides energy to your brain, which in turn processes self-control that lets you focus on your work. In summary, low blood sugar lowers your focus and dampens your work productivity. Hence, you should avoid skipping meals to maintain proper glucose levels.
Healthy Practices You Can Do at Work
Keto Diets
The Keto diet heavily involves consuming low amounts of carbs and high amounts of fat. It is mostly regaled as a weight loss diet. However, data from recent studies suggest that the keto diet profoundly affects your brain and nervous system. Furthermore, the keto diet helps stabilize your glucose levels by forcing your body to burn fat instead of carbs. Consequently, individuals undergoing the low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet are less irritable and distracted, and they experience less downtime in work productivity. If you’re looking to elevate your productivity, consider going on a keto diet. However, keep in mind to eat healthy fat and plenty of fiber.
If you’re on this diet, you should keep your carbohydrate intake low and replace it with fat instead. If you’re having a hard time lessening carbohydrates in your diet, try replacing your daily frappuccino with sugar-free alternatives. You can simply add cream to your coffee, which is healthy fat. Some European coffee blends are also healthier. You can order online from European-style cafes instead of large-chain stores for healthier options and sugar-free alternatives.
Watch Your Macros
As discussed above, monitoring your macronutrient consumption for the day keeps your body in tip-top shape and ready to take on the day. Hence, it’s best to take into account the snacks you bring to your workplace.
First, consider increasing your fiber intake. Incorporating fiber into your diet helps your stomach’s healthy bacteria. Since fiber contains prebiotics, your body can produce SCFAs when digesting fiber, promoting your memory with the gut-brain axis’s help. Plus, fiber helps you feel full longer compared with carbohydrate-rich foods. Thankfully, increasing fiber intake is easy. Add fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and beans to your diet, and you’re all set.
Next, you should monitor the source of your fat intake. Contrary to common misconception, fat is good for you—as long as it comes from a healthy source. Incorporating fat into your daily diet is essential because fat is vital to your brain. Your daily fat intake should come from nuts and seeds, fresh fatty fish and beef, avocados, butter, full-fat dairy, coconut oil, and olive oil.
You can benefit a lot from changing your diet. This shift can also make you more mindful of what you put into your body. In doing so, you can be more productive at work, and you can get more things done without feeling additional stress. Apply all these tips so you can have a lighter and more efficient day.