Is food draining or topping up your energy battery?
Short answer, maybe!
Is food topping up your energy battery?
Our bodies are incredible ancient bio-computers. An intrinsic ecosystem with a purpose to keep us alive. To keep us functioning within a certain range. Over time though, food and drink choices along with the stresses of life, might move us to function at the lower half of our range. Without knowing it, our energy battery is actually quite drained and we are functioning at 30% without even realising it. It’s like that analogy of the frog in boiling water.
What frog? Well the story goes that if you put a frog in water and very slowly turn up the heat to boiling, the frog won’t jump out of the water. It’s resilience builds slowly as the temperature of the water builds slowly and it stays…sometimes to the point of perish. Whereas, if a frog jumped into that same boiling water from the outside, it would very quickly jump back out because it would know that it can’t survive at that heat.
We are no different. As leaders we pile on the stress, increasing the temperature, or in this case, pressure on ourselves. Then to make matters worse, when we are stressed, we tend to eat a lot more processed food, reach for that glass of alcohol or eat comfort foods. Similarly to the frog, it’s a slow process over time but eventually the stress and poor food choices drains our battery and sometimes to the point where we reach physical and mental burnout. Who wants that!!??
Stress is a big part of life and tips on managing stress will come in a later blog. But for now, I’d like to focus on what foods may be giving you energy (building up your battery) and what foods may be draining your battery.
Food is very bio-individual: A food or drink that may support my energy levels could literally be a poison or a real energy drain for you. Even if we were related, your ecosystem is so unique that within the same families, different foods will impact people in different ways. The trick is to learn to listen to what your body is telling you (a more in-depth blog on that coming later in May). This is your battery, you need to figure out how to keep it full.
How does my body talk to me? In very simple terms there are signs, we’ve just never really been trained to see or listen to them until they are shouting at us. Here is an easy exercise: When you eat your next meal, put an alarm on for 1/2 hour after your meal and notice how you are feeling. Are you feeling tired, like you want a nap? Are you feeling focused and onto it? Fizzing with energy?
Set another alarm for within 2 hours of your meal, have you noticed any stomach cramps? Headaches? Inability to focus (brain-fog)? Mood swings? Or are you full of energy, feeling good in your body and thriving?
This is your body talking to you. Telling you what feels right and what doesn’t. The trick is to stop and listen to your body. Take note of it and make some different or similar choices depending on whether the feedback was positive or negative.
Some short cuts to look for in food: There are certain foods that are generally known to impact our bodies and minds in either positive or negative ways. Here is a list that might be able to get you started.
Grains: Some bodies struggle to process grains which then requires a lot more energy into digesting the food and taking that energy away from other functions in the body. I.e. draining your battery
Sugar: Sugar will give you a quick increase in energy but then leads to a crash, leaving you feeling sluggish
Caffeine: Similarly to sugar, it can give you that boost in energy and focus but once that’s over and the adrenaline leaves the body, you tend to become tired, searching for that next hit.
Some meats: Red meats life beef and lamb can, for some (like me), be harder to digest and take a lot longer to digest than other meats or protein leaving you feeling like a siesta.
Dairy: Many people around the world loose the enzyme to break down lactose (a sugar in milk) once we are weened as children. In those people, digestion of dairy occurs in the digestive track with a specific colony of bacteria. Sometimes this can cause bloating, flatulence and a general sense of not feeling great. A battery drain.
Good fats: Like avocados, nuts and seeds and olive oil are a great source of energy.
Drinking water: Along the lines of my previous blog post, keeping water levels up in your body increases brain function and your body functioning well, including your digestive system.
High Fibre Foods: High fibre foods are great for the gut and the good bacteria that live there.
Fermented Foods: Fermented foods also feed the gut in a great way and helps your digestive system to function really well.
As I said, this list is by no means exhaustive. It’s up to you to simply take time to listen to your body after you eat or drink something and see how you feel.
If you feel you have intolerances or you want to really dig into what is helping and what isn’t, then an elimination diet might be right for you. These are short lived exploration diets (like The Whole30 Programme) that eliminate certain foods and then re-introduce them slowly one at a time, to see what you might be intolerant to or even potentially allergic to. Please click here if you want to contact me to find out more.
Finally, if you do have a chronic illness (for example diabetes), please consult your doctor if you want to make any dietary changes.
Put the mask on yourself first, prioritise you, listen to your body and thrive again!