Smart eating for the busy entrepreneur
It’s hard to always be an energetic entrepreneur. It often involves round after round of networking, check writing, employee management, and bookkeeping. Weight gain and lack of energy often follow, with multiple cups of coffee, fast food, and erratic snacking. Taking a handful of supplements first thing in the morning is not the answer. This scenario can really be better. A few small changes, like looking at good nutrition through the lens of overall health, can go a long way. Here are seven pillars that support your well-being and help you get through your busy day with energy to spare.
1. Digestion: is yours working properly? This means that after eating, you don’t get heartburn, acid reflux, bloating, gas, etc. If you experience any of these painful, uncomfortable, and often embarrassing conditions, it could be a sign of hypochlorhydria. That means lack of enough stomach acid, produced at the right time, to digest food. It is the opposite of what the pharmaceutical companies would have us believe. They would like us to think that we have too much stomach acid and that we need acid blockers to control it. We usually don’t have enough! The weak cardiac sphincter at the end of the esophagus allows incompletely digested food to back up when stomach acid only partially breaks it down. Drinking warm water with lemon can help. The same goes for apple cider vinegar, diluted or used as a salad dressing. Hydrochloric acid tablets are available, usually labeled HCL, at health food stores. Good digestion is the first step towards good health.
2. Blood sugar regulation: do you need a sweet snack at 10:00 am and 3:00 pm? If that mocha, soda, candy bar, or other sugar hit is the only thing that gets you through to the next meal, then you have a blood sugar regulation problem. Fueling and then recharging your body in less than three to four hours is an indication that you need fewer simple carbohydrates. More complex carbohydrates, adequate protein, and healthy fats slow down digestion and allow your body to absorb blood sugar at a more moderate rate. Getting a sweet energy boost is what many of us do every day, fueling the type II diabetes epidemic sweeping this country. Don’t become a statistic. Instead of a candy bar, try an apple with a little nut butter. Instead of a mocha, a small pot of yogurt with some almonds, or some carrot sticks with a piece of cheese. Perhaps a hard-boiled egg is more your style, with a celery stick or two? Are soft drinks your thing? Try some San Pelagrino mineral water with a twist instead.
3. Balance of essential fatty acids: We need fats. It is a component of every cell membrane in our body. Fat protects our organs, allows us to use many vitamins, and keeps our skin healthy. What we don’t need are trans fats, fake fats, and fats made from non-foods, like cottonseed. Our ancestors didn’t eat cotton and we shouldn’t eat it either. Eat more wild salmon, sardines, and small tuna, such as tongol tuna. Eat fewer canola oil-based products, found in salad dressings and mayonnaise, for example.
4. Vitamins and minerals: Soil depletion has affected the nutrient density of our food supply. The lack of trace elements is often the root of our health problems. Buy salt that has intact trace minerals. Try Celtic Sea Salt, Utah Royal Salt, and other raw salts. When eating chicken, store the bones in the freezer until you have enough to make a good batch of broth. Bone broths are rich in minerals. They are an inexpensive and tasty way to replenish your body with the minerals needed for nerve conduction, bone health, and many other processes. If you take vitamin supplements, ask first. You want to know that the brands you buy contain what is on their labels. Make sure they’re not on shelves that allow direct sunlight to brighten your day! Many vitamins are depleted by exposure to sunlight.
5. Hydration: The newest accessory is the water bottle. People carry them like a small pet. We rarely drink as much water as we imagine. Coffee, soft drinks, fruit juices, teas, and alcohol deplete our bodies of water because they are diuretics. For every 8 ounces of these beverages that we consume, we need to drink at least an equal amount of pure water. That’s in addition to the suggested six to eight glasses of water per day. If you drink bottled water, check the source. It may just be municipal water in a fancy bottle. If you drink tap water, use a filter. Well water can be a rich source of minerals, but check it often for contaminants. Water is the number one nutrient deficiency in America.
6. Nutrient-dense, properly prepared foods: Eating on the go is hard. If you attend three or more networking events a week, you’re eating mass-prepared food. That means the possibility of trans fats, poor quality, and less than optimal freshness in those three meals. If you visit a drive-thru at least twice a week and then have a meal at a restaurant once or twice a week, you’ve just given more than a third of your meals to someone else’s bottom line. And you can bet your good health isn’t your main concern. So what needs to be done? Join a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture. Once a week, you’ll receive farm-fresh vegetables, sometimes delivered right to your door. Go to farmers markets for farm fresh eggs. Boil half a dozen for a snack on the go. Buy only bread and crackers that say 100% whole grain. Try to eat the rainbow of colorful foods every day. However, at least every two days. Buy organic. It’s good for the planet and it’s good for you. If you can’t find organic food, look for biodynamic or sustainably grown food. Fish that is labeled wild-caught is better for you than farmed fish.
7. Manage your stress: what does stress management have to do with nutrition? There are two modes in our autonomic nervous system: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The activities of the sympathetic nervous system can be reduced to these words: fight or flight response. Hunting a charging woolly mammoth, fleeing a flash flood, escaping from danger are all under the control of the sympathetic nervous system. Parasympathetic activity includes digestion. Today we react, even exaggerate, to almost everything in our environment and social sphere. In a constant state of physical, emotional or mental stress, our digestion is affected. To do? Exercise, practice deep breathing, meditation, get enough sleep, and eat slowly. These activities help decrease the sympathetic response and increase the parasympathetic. Getting the most out of food means having a properly functioning digestive system. Without good digestion, what goes into your cells to fuel your body for all the activities a busy entrepreneur does on a daily basis? Stress is unavoidable. Learning to handle it is about choices.
Give your health as much consideration as your business, and you’ll be unstoppable.