Performance Nutrition

What you eat as well as when and how you eat can influence your performance at work that entails brain power whether you're taking an exam, delivering a speech, selling a product, or yourself.  According to scientific studies, the food you eat will affect the way you behave an hour or so afterward.  Therefore if you want to maximize your mind's potential, you must synchronize your food intake to give your biological cycles an extra boost upward to the brain, just exactly when we need it most.

Here are the guidelines for top-notch performance, which a researcher arrived at after many years of food-mind-mood laboratory testing and clinical work:

Performance nutrition tips:

• Meal plans.  Schedule your meal in such a way that it occurs about two hours before your topnotch performance.  Digestion is a complex process that begins when food is chewed and swallowed and may take several hours to complete.  The heavier the meal and the more fat it contains, the longer digestion will take.  If you have an overloaded stomach, digestion process will diminish your cerebral activity and mental alertness; it may also result to slowed-down responses or loss of verbal facility.
•  Prevent a hangover . Avoid alcohol prior to your presentation.  For some people alcohol is initially stimulating, but the subsequent result of drinking more than a very small is always sedation.  Studies show that the brain-dulling potential of alcohol is so great that it's hazardous to the success of your performance.  A single drink before dinner or a glass of wine with your meal will begin to blank your mind and weaken your power of concentration.
• Drinking tea and coffee.  If you're a tea or coffee drinker, drink enough tea or coffee ahead of time to maintain your body's usual level of caffeine through your performance.  One cup of coffee or tea can be extremely valuable tool for priming the brain for mental effort.  Don't drink more, because more than one cup of a caffeinated beverage can make you feel jangled.
• Morning performance. If your performance is in the morning, your breakfast must be substantial enough to satisfy hunger after your seven or eight-hour overnight fast, yet light enough and low enough in fat for quick, easy digestion.  A powerful meal is simply light.  Maximum mental performance during and after a working meal demands that you limit your calorie intake.  Do not eat more than about 400 calories at a working breakfast, and stay within the 500 - 600 calorie range of business lunch or dinner.  In addition to limiting portion sizes, avoid all fatty meats, fried foods, and cheesy sauces. Desserts should be fresh fruits instead of sweet rolls, doughnuts, cheesy pastries or high-fat goodies.
• Eating protein.  Eat protein before carbohydrates.  The explanation behind is that carbohydrates, stimulates your brain and tend to create a more relaxed state, an unwelcome feeling when you ought to be mentally alert and poised for action.  The calming chemical in carbohydrates is called serotonin.  Proteins, on the other hand, act to prevent serotonin production.

Your first few bites should be of protein, then you proceed to the starchy component of your meal.  Open your meal with a slice of orange, melon or pineapple.  Then start with protein: broiled chicken or fish, have a side dish of vegetable salad with vinaigrette (mayonnaise is fatty).  Afterwards, you have carbohydrates, maybe one medium boiled potato or one cup rice or pasta or noodle dish.  Then close meal with tea or coffee.

• Drink enough.  Drink enough coffee or tea ahead of time to maintain your body's usual level of caffeine through your performance.  If you're a coffee or tea drinker.  One cup of coffee or tea is enough but don't drink more.  On the other hand, if you do not usually drink a caffeinated beverage after meals, you should not attempt to use caffeine to increase mental alertness.
• Stomach empty.  Never perform with an empty stomach.   An empty stomach can be just as detrimental as an overly full stomach that is actively engaged in digestion.  Going for several hours without food may make you feel weak and greasy, even give you headache.  Besides, hunger is distracting and interferes with concentration.

Images

             Never perform with an empty stomach

             Light breakfast

Resource: 

J.J.  Wurtman Ph.D. "Food Tactics for Peak Performance" Woman's home companion 24 Nov. 99