The Art of Eating Right
How Reconsidering Your Food Patterns Can Change Your Life
You are what you eat. This popular quote couldn’t be more true. Eating is not just about satisfying hunger. Proper nutrition is associated with a healthy overall lifestyle. However, it is not all about WHAT you eat but as well HOW you eat. You see implementing the right eating habits into your life can make a huge impact on your energy levels and wellbeing. If you pay close attention you will soon spot certain patterns and correlations between your food intake and personal performance levels.
Unfortunately in today's society, we have developed some unfavorable practices when it comes to eating. First and foremost we do not focus enough on what we eat. We tend to rush through our meals because of busy time schedules not allowing ourselves to find out how some small changes in our eating habits could make the difference. See, eating right is an art but it's all worth it to learn how to do it.
“ Some times of knowledge can be acquired only by experience. Diet’s connection to mood is one of those categories of knowledge that must be experienced.”
-Scott Adams -
If I have to think of one single habit that skyrocketed my energy levels I would go for eating right. Each body is different and what works for one does not necessarily need to be adequate for another. In the end, it's a process of trial and error. However, allow me to give you some advice that gave me pretty good results, and feel free to try them out on your own:
Cut Out Carbons For Lunch
Mhhh… That burger and those fries were truly delicious again, but on the way from the canteen to your desk, you already notice: you feel limp, tired, and listless. Many people believe that after eating it is common to feel fatigued or lethargy in the following two hours; and although there are many causes that can be attributed to this tiredness, the truth is that food should normally increase energy and provide adequate nutrition to keep us active and healthy.
You see, carbohydrates consist of sugar, which serves as fuel for all processes in the body. When sugar is consumed, the production of insulin increases in order to lower the previously increased blood sugar level. If we now eat food rich in carbohydrates, the pancreas produces correspondingly more insulin.
The increased production can be so strong that relative hypoglycemia occurs. However, the brain also depends on the sugar in the blood to function properly. Mild hypoglycemia causes the brain’s performance to be impaired, which promotes symptoms such as tiredness and fatigue.
I don't want you to get totally rid of carbohydrates, after all, they are an important macronutrient, however, you may want to rethink when to ingest them. It may be a counterintuitive approach but I’ve reduced my carbohydrate intake to a minimum during the daytime and shift it to the night hours when I do want to sleep anyways. Now it is your turn: Recognize what specific food makes you feel always sleepy and then exclude it from your lunch plan. The extra energy it’ll provide you feels amazing! Feel free to dig deeper into the topic and get to know the easiest diet plan ever!
Rethink Your Caffeine Intake
Uuuh yeah…. This holy brown liquid that fuels us with the much-needed energy after a goodnight's sleep and during the entire day. Coffee is truly an amazing invention. However, I would advise you to take some time to reflect on how to consume this little magic potion in order to get the best results.
See, I used to be a total caffeine junkie. First thing in the morning:
Coffee (second as well). I simply felt I could not live without it. I’m pretty sure this sounds familiar to you. However, be aware that this is not a beneficial approach for your overall energy at all. Get this: Coffee is a drug. It may be a socially accepted one and does not come with numerous side effects like other remedies you may think of but: It is a substance that has a physiological effect when ingested and as such it is by definition a drug.
If you also feel you cannot function properly without coffee and always need more and more of it to get things done then try out the following:
Stop drinking coffee in the early morning hours and only get your first cup of coffee after around being three hours awake. This may be hard during the first 2- 3 days and you may suffer from headaches during the first attempts however you will get used to it real quick.
The whole idea behind this approach is that when resisting coffee when you most feel in need of it, you are basically telling your body that it actually is not depending on it. You can think of it as an intoxication treatment. The positive effect here comes by nature: Once you reduce your intake you feel much more energetic from the few servings you do take. When I drink my first coffee in the morning (usually between 10 or 11 AM) it gives me a power boost second to none and not comparable at all to the time when I already had ingested 3–4 coups at these hours.
Finally, you also should consider alternating between coffee and tea. Caffeine develops differently in tea than in coffee: the effect sets in more slowly and lasts longer and because you are alternating between two different forms of stimulation your body doesn’t get used to either of them and the effects are much stronger.
- Stop At 80%
There is a confucian teaching called “Hara Hachi Bun Me”. Today it's practiced overall at the Japanese Okinawa Islands, which is widely known for the above-average longevity of its habitants. Hara Hachi Bun Me basically describes the cultural practices of stop eating when your stomach is about 80% full.
You all know the negative side effects of overeating. Intestinal pain, inertia, fatigue. However, in today's fast-paced affluent society we carelessly ingest food without noticing when it's enough. You see, the sense of satiety usually only emerges about 20 minutes after eating and you should give your body that time to process the food. If you are not in control of how much you actually eat, this will have a serious consequence on your overall performance. The clue here is to fight against the short-term pleasure of eating yet another portion of your dish- although it is tempting and instead listen closely to your body and stop immediately when you are not hungry anymore.
- Small And Often
Now, this goes hand in hand with the former point. See, it's a social norm in modern history to eat 3 times a day, and like is often the case with social norms- they don't necessarily have to be useful. Actually dividing your meal plan into smaller units can be a huge benefit for your overall energy level. Mini meals can aid in satisfying the appetite, stabilizing blood sugar levels, and providing nutrients to the body throughout the day.
An additional benefit of dividing your food schedule into mini-meals is that you will get to the time of the main meals with less hunger and thus avoid the anxiety to eat more quantity. If you want to give this idea a shot I would recommend starting off with 5 to 6 small meals during the day and include a good portion of around 40- 50 % fruits and vegetables in your diet.
Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate
“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” -W. H. Auden-
The human body is composed of approximately 60% water. The fluids we consume play a very important role in our body, such as for energy generation, our mood, and ultimately influences our level of performance. If we constantly replenish our electrolytes throughout the day we will be taking an important step towards increasing our energy and performance, as well as supporting proper thermoregulation and preventing fatigue and injury.
It has been proven that personal performance declines dramatically if fluid intake is insufficient. A lack of fluids equivalent to 2% of body weight is sufficient for this capacity to begin to diminish, which can lead to impaired concentration, attention, and memory.
The need to ingest two liters of liquid daily response to the fact that the body eliminates precisely that amount each day through the skin, lungs, bladder, and intestines. I cannot stress it enough: Drinking water and staying properly hydrated during the day is of major importance not only for your energy levels but for your overall health.
I personally know it's difficult to remind oneself to drink water on a regular basis. In order to solve this, I would encourage you to use a water bottle of adequate size for you to take it everywhere you go. I personally recommend using a model with time markers, ideally for tracking your daily water intake and reminding you to stay hydrated and drink enough water throughout the day. Complementary you can use a water reminder app, which will do the job for you as well.
These were my five top recommendations when it comes to fuel your body with energy. Now go for it and find out which food patterns and habits are working for you! Have a happy journey and do not forget to learn a lot, keep smiling and stay always positive!!
