Does food affect productivity?

11.12.2023

Top 3 nutrition advice that leads to greater productivity.  

What did you eat for lunch when you were at your most productive?

Can you think of your most productive work day lately? Now think: What did you have for lunch that afternoon?

We rarely think about food when we think about the factors contributing to good work performance. In our hectic lives - with emails, meetings, and deadlines - food is the last thing we pay enough attention to. We treat food simply as fuel.

But it turns out that the foods we eat have a bigger impact on us than we think - food directly impacts our cognitive abilities. One bad decision at lunch can affect your entire afternoon.

This happens because almost all of the food we consume is converted by our body into glucose. It provides the energy our brains need to function. When our bodies are deficient in glucose, we find it difficult to focus. Concentrating on an empty stomach therefore proves to be a difficult task.

We rarely think that not all foods are processed by our bodies at the same speed. Pasta, bread, and grains lead to a burst of energy followed by a drop because they release their glucose quickly. High-fat foods (cheeseburgers and bacon sandwiches, for example) provide energy longer but reduce oxygen levels in our brains and make us sleepy because they require our digestive system to work harder.

Although most of us know these facts, we don't always make good decisions about what to eat, especially when we are hungry. Fried potatoes look much more appetizing than boiled or baked potatoes when we are mentally exhausted.

Unhealthy lunch options are usually cheaper and quicker than healthy alternatives. This makes them more appealing in the middle of a busy workday. When we choose a quicker option to eat, we save 10 minutes but pay with less productivity for the rest of the day.

How should we eat to be more productive?

1.    Decide what you are going to eat before you get hungry

If you eat at a restaurant or eatery, choose where and what to eat for lunch first thing in the morning, not at 12:30 when you're already hungry. If you are ordering food, decide what you will eat after you have breakfast.

2.    Don't let your glucose level drop around lunchtime

The rise and fall in blood sugar is bad for both performance and the brain. A smaller amount of food at more frequent intervals keeps glucose levels more consistent, over-consuming a large amount of food at lunch.

3.    Stock up on healthy snacks

Place a bowl of almonds and protein bars around your computer. Sign up for a delivery of similar products to restock. Take a bag of fruit with you to the office on Mondays so you can snack on it throughout the week. Research shows that eating fruits and vegetables is good not only for the body but also for the mind.

How much does food influence our experiences according to recent studies?

Participants in a British Journal of Health Psychology study on the extent to which food influences our daily experiences reported that the more fruit and vegetables they ate, the happier, more engaged, and more creative they were.

According to the study's authors, this is due to the vital nutrients in fruits and vegetables that encourage the production of dopamine, which plays a key role in experiencing curiosity, motivation, and engagement. Fruits and vegetables also provide antioxidants that minimize bodily inflammation and improve memory and mood.

This means that to perform at our best at work, we need to make smart decisions about our nutrition.

Find more on the topic in the blog section "Balanced nutrition"