Success Building Block – Eat a Healthy Diet
If you are goal-focused and ambitious and have a lot of things you want to get done, eating a nutritious and healthy diet can provide a valuable boost to your success.
Eating healthy food improves your energy levels and brain power and can even increase your ability to concentrate and handle stress, enhancing your overall sense of well-being.
Research has shown that eating fruits and vegetables throughout the day is beneficial to both mind and body. British researchers discovered that the more fruits and vegetables people ate throughout the day, the happier, more creative, and more productive they were.
Protein consumption has been linked to higher levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, which are brain chemicals that play a role in your mood, motivation and concentration.
5 ways a healthy diet can improve your success:
- Have a decent breakfast
Do you rush off to work without having a proper breakfast? Perhaps you then grab something unhealthy to eat on the way there. You might even resort to chocolate or other high-calorie snacks to keep you going until lunchtime.
Try getting up a little earlier and make time to sit down and eat a good breakfast it will help fire up your engine properly and prevent you being sluggish in mind and body.
Eating whole foods take longer to digest and are much better for your digestive system, so you are unlikely to get hunger pangs again until lunchtime, avoiding junk and keeping your blood sugar levels steady.
- Eat a healthy lunch
It’s good to get out of the office at lunchtime. Stretch your legs, clear your head and eat something tasty and nutritious for lunch!
To keep costs down you can bring something healthy you’ve made from home.
Extra points if you can get out and sit in nature to have your lunch, followed by a nice little walk during your break.
- Get some exercise with a walk at lunchtime
Sitting down to eat should still leave you with time for a brisk walk to get some fresh air and exercise.
Taking structured breaks isn’t just about fuelling up with food, it’s also about re-charging from the stress and hecticness of the day. Without proper breaks you’ll have less in the tank to deal with the events of the day, affecting your productivity, stress levels, mood and ability to connect well with others.
This combination should improve your focus and raise your energy levels so you can return refreshed for the afternoon.
- Choose your drinks wisely
Drinking water throughout the day is most beneficial as our bodies need water to keep all our cells functioning effectively, and pure water cleanses the system and is the best for our health.
If pure water sounds a bit too boring for you, add some fresh lemon juice or you can get creative adding berries and mint. Either way, real food and pure water win out each time.
- Have a healthy work-life balance
It’s not a healthy diet tip but if you’re going to be successful long-term you need to be able to create balance in your life.
Find things that help you recharge and bring you joy and do as many of those things as you can throughout your day/ week to help you maintain momentum as you work towards achieving your goals.