Picking your lunch can seem like an inconsequential choice in your workday that has no bearing on your productivity. In actuality, it could be the most important daily decision you make. Choosing proper fuel can sustain a strong work ethic to the end of your workday and beyond. On the other hand. Picking the wrong food can sap your strength and leave you struggling against exhaustion for hours. A nutritious power lunch can give you sustained energy for the rest of the workday.
“Glycemic index” is a measure of how fast your food is digested for energy. Sugary foods like danishes, candy and soda have sky-high glycemic indexes. Proteins and complex carbohydrates like yogurt, apples or peanuts are much slower-burning fuels, and thus have much lower glycemic indexes. At first, high glycemic indexes might seem like the sign of ideal fuel, but they can leave you exhausted when they burn out too quickly. Quick-burning fuel is great for a rocketship doing a 30-second burst, but you’re dealing with an 8-hour workday it just won’t work.
So if you can’t seem to find a full workday’s worth of energy and focus in your food, consider different fuel sources. And think twice before picking “hi-octane” fuel – it just won’t go the distance.
I would probably take a step back and first advise that you stop for lunch and move away from your computer. There are probably more health and well-being benefits to that as much as what you actually eat.
I agree with Rochelle. I also think that it helps to have a good mixture of high and low glycemic index foods, more of the lower ones ideally. Protein is great, but sometimes you need the little extra sugar boost to make it til lunch or to finish off the last hour of the day.
Then again, working 8 or more hours a day in front of a computer is going to take a toll on anyone, no matter if you are eating strictly protein rich foods or on a vending-machine diet.
Ahh. Lunch! You really can’t skip it and you’re better off bringing a salad than anything. I try to include omega 3’s like walnuts or flax seed in my salad to boost my …well everything. I feel great all over when I am careful to eat these foods. And of course a small treat at the end so I feel totally satisfied before returning to work.