What do you know about the power of food?
Apart from the obvious fact of needing food to survive, what do you really know about the potential held within the food you put into your body? If you knew of the healing power of food and how it can play a vital role in your success, perhaps you wouldn’t be so quick to say no to a healthier diet. Likewise, if you knew of the damage caused by processed foods, perhaps you wouldn’t be so quick to shove a twinkie down your throat! The damage does not just manifest itself on your hips and in your blocked arteries, that twinkie will bring about mood swings, bouts of fatigue and stump your creativity!
Processed foods
We’re all aware of the harmful effects of processed foods, but since a lot of us seem to be ignoring the warnings, I’ll add a brief recap here: “Junk” food gives you a sudden rush of serotonin and dopamine to your brain thanks to its lethal and highly addictive combination of sugar and salt. Addictive because you want to have that “rush” of wow yummy happy feeling over and over again. Lethal because you are experiencing a false “high” setting off a chain of cravings leading to weight gain, depression, overeating, poor memory formation, learning disorders – I don’t need to say any more. How can people actually do this to other people… legally! Get out of this perpetual cycle of cravings before you become a slave to it.
Why you shouldn’t settle for a poor diet
“You write what you eat?” No that’s not the saying… “You are what you eat.” That’s it, but for our purposes here it is pretty much the same thing. If you fill yourself with processed junk food that’s what you will be producing: JUNK. With a poor diet filled with sugars and fats and comfort food, you will not be performing at your peak. It is a proven fact that a poor diet leads to
- hyperactivity, followed by crash and burn
- a lack of focus
- bouts of fatigue
- “brain fog” – lack of mental clarity
- being less alert
If you do not take control of your diet, i.e. your nutritional intake, you could already be working at a deficit. As a freelance writer or creative, you need to have more self control than most because there is no one to see you chomping your way through a burger or bag of Doritos at your desk or in front of the TV hidden away at home.
Clean eating
Welcome to the more natural side of life. Wholesome eating or “clean eating” as I shall be referring to it, is not just responsible for promoting your health (e.g. reducing blood pressure, protecting against sickness and disease, etc.), it is also your golden ticket to a world of focus and endless energy. If you take a little time and follow the 3 steps below, you can unlock the nutritional power of your meals. “Why would I want to do this?” You may ask since food does not seem to be directly linked to your success as a writer. Then let me ask you this: “Would you put diesel in an unleaded car and expect it to perform?” If you put in a super or high-level grade fuel, your vehicle would perform better though, go faster, have a cleaner engine, etc.
Clean eating can make an overwhelming difference to you both personally and professionally. The change is almost instant and the solution is literally on the plate in front of you – so what are you waiting for? Let’s get on with finding the right fuel for your tank and your mind.
Benefits of a good clean diet
Eating healthily as a freelance writer doesn’t have to be hard, but it is an essential self-care tip you cannot miss out or skimp on.
Give yourself a natural advantage. Having the right nutrient intake can help
- you become more focused
- you concentrate better
- balance out your hormones
- counterattack chemical imbalances
- combat fatigue
This free ebook on “Clean Eating for the Busy Writer”, will help you to safely change and develop your diet and lifestyle to achieve your goals. Your diet is a vital element in manifesting your success through self-care.
Take charge of your diet
Remember you’re “eating for success”. This is not about losing weight or turning vegetarian. It’s about choices. There are areas in your life where you can make choices. What you put in your mouth is one of these areas. You are in charge. Your thoughts and ability to succeed are greatly affected by what you eat. Do you want to pit your body and mind against each other? Do you want to suffer from mood swings, chronic fatigue and not being able to concentrate for long? No! Start thinking about how and what you eat. The quality and balance of your diet dictates the quality and balance of your work!
“Improved nutrition increases your brain function,
keeps you on task and helps you realise your full potential as a writer.”
3 steps you must take when it comes to food, to perform at your best
Don’t forget you are in charge of what you eat. Do not be a slave to comfort eating. Making the right choices in your diet is another part of the self-care plan to manifesting your success.
1. Become a Mindful Eater
“Oh my God! Mindfulness is everywhere!!!” Bear with me. Being mindful when eating is simply about being more “aware” instead of throwing anything you can grab down your throat. This is key to ensuring you are fueling your brain with the right foods. By understanding the foods your body requires, you can eliminate the foods that are slowing you down and impeding your progress.
One general method to help you become more aware of what the food you are eating is doing to you is called “metabolic typing”: This is based on metabolic distinctions originating from your ancestor’s geographic origin. Don’t worry it’s simple. There are only 2 categories.
i) ‘Polar types’ do really well on meals like steak and vegetables or hearty casseroles; light meals often leave them unsatisfied and they then crave sugar/energy foods.
ii) ‘Equatorial types’ find red meat or a lot of fat too heavy. They feel lethargic and cannot digest this type of food easily. They tend to do better on meals like lower fat stir fries with quorn pieces or a salad with light fish.
The Diary of a Savvy Eater
We all experience this difference in appetites seasonally. Most people would prefer a lighter more vegetable based meal like a salad in hot sunny weather, whereas in cold winters a hot pot would be much more appropriate.
The types are not black and white as it is a spectrum on which you can move back and forth. Metabolic typing is a good starting point. So are you more like a Polar, an Equatorial or somewhere in between? How do you find out? Simple
– LISTEN TO YOUR BODY’S FEEDBACK
– KEEP A DIARY WITH PHOTOS OF YOUR MEALS + SNACKS
Use your camera phone/tablet. Snap each plate of food you eat. Then make a note of how you felt on that meal 1-2 hours afterwards.
The kind of reactions that you jot down will either indicate you got the balance right or that you got it wrong, e.g. feeling sluggish versus feeling energised.
2. Plan Your Meals in Advance
• Work out your meals.
• Plan your shopping.
This may sound anal, but if you don’t have a clue what you are going to eat for the week, you will grab what you fancy instead. Having no meal plan is a guaranteed route to self-sabotage. Plus it’s one less thing to think about every day. You only have to think “What shall I cook?” once a week. Spending half an hour writing our your meals and listing the ingredients you need to buy takes 30 minutes max!
The FREE EBOOK (Clean Diet for Busy Writers) contains an example weekly meal planner to get you started. It’s perfect for those of us who won’t cook, can’t cook or don’t have time to cook, but still want to eat healthy and tasty meals.
Eating Out, Away From Home
This idea of planning ahead also applies to when you are out and about. If you want to make sure you don’t mess up all the good work you have done by eating “properly” and well at home as soon as you go to a restaurant or friend’s house, bear the following points in mind:
• Choose restaurants that cook from fresh.
• Look out for places with gluten-free menus
• Be clear and confident in asking for what you want!
• Support restaurants and suppliers who source ethically farmed, clean food.
• When abroad look for the cold meats, salads, vegetable dishes, roasts, grills, and eggs.
• If you visit friends, let them know what you DO and DON’T eat in plenty of time.
• Be prepared to take along certain things to be helpful, like coconut milk.
Out and about: The best advice is to plan ahead and take your food with you. There is no shame in making yourself a pack lunch and putting it in a tupperware container! Plus, service stations with grocery stores are useful for meat, salads and fruit.
3. Practice Clean Eating
Let’s start with something you are familiar with: choose organic. You hear it time and time again, but you’re still not buying organic… Please review the basis of your decisions in light of the following information: Choosing organic where possible will improve the quality of your food and it’s vitality content. Nutrition in vegetables and fruit comes from the microorganisms in the soil. If the produce is sprayed with pesticides and fungicides this will also kill the ‘life’ in the soil. Non-organic foods can increase the amount of chemicals and toxins that you take in and your body has to use valuable resources to process and eliminate. The Free Clean Diet ebook contains recipes with ingredients and a weekly meal planner to get your started.
Another familiar “choice” you may ignoring is not to buy foods containing “white devils” (listed below. Processed foods contribute in part to the epidemic of obesity and diabetes we now see in our modern society.
Stay away from the white devils:
- Refined sugar
- Pasteurised dairy
- Refined flour
- Table salt
The “Clean Diet for Busy Writers” contains a full list of guidelines for clean eating. Here are what I consider to be the top 3 you MUST adhere to unlock the power of food, give you more focus and combat fatigue:
- Eat whole fresh food
- Avoid foods that make you feel sluggish
- Do not multi-task while eating
The Mind – Body Connection
As you may have gathered there is a huge correlation between your physical and emotional/mental well-being. The brain and the body are constantly sending messages to each other. Our nervous system is our body’s fastest communication system. Inadequate nutrition compromises the health and efficiency of our internal communication highway. Your brain requires a lot of energy to function. Therefore you should feed it regularly and feed it premium fuel to ensure your neurotransmitters, your brain messengers, are working as efficiently as possible!
What is most exciting about taking control of your diet is that it is all about your CHOICES. You have the opportunity today to take control of your choices, listen to your body. By following the above 3 steps you are choosing to fuel and nourish your AMAZING body with what it needs! You are no longer pitting your mind and body against each other. When your body and mind work together you unlock the power of food, you unlock your power and open the channels to realizing your full potential.
Don’t run on a deficit. Run on a premium, high-quality, clean diet!
Download your free Clean Diet booklet. It is an easy introduction to cleaning up your diet, an inspirational source of education and ideas on how to begin to incorporate more nutritious health building foods into your weekly menu:
Helping you to safely change and develop your diet and lifestyle to achieve your goals – I’d love to hear how you get on – drop me a line!!
Wellness & Writing 