It’s mid afternoon and you are still an hour or two away from knock off.
The yawns keep coming and it is super difficult to focus on any task you have in front of you.
Now this could be any number of reasons, lack of sleep, the task is plain tedious and boring, you got up crazy early, or you just haven’t fueled yourself properly, all leading to you relying on a steady stream of caffeine to get you through the day.. Yep could be any of those.
So let’s address one of them first so that we can take a couple of steps immediately to get on top of starting today.
Fueling yourself.
Are you a breakfast skipper?
Do you have meals heavy on starchy carbs? Think pasta, bread etc.
Eat only little bits in the morning as you are trying to keep the calories down?
Had a super light dinner the night before and woke up through the night hungry?
Look, any or all of these could be true, and yeah, they can all lead to that heavy eye feeling, brain fog, lack of focus through the day, especially in that mid afternoon period!
And that mid arvo lull is really hitting you by the time you get to bed too.
Having a pretty starch and or sugar heavy meal at lunchtime can cause a decent insulin spike after it, leading to that crash we have all felt where we feel like we have been hit by a bus!
And then when that hits you might grab another coffee, or a snack of some sort, and if you aren’t going in prepared that snack may not be the best choice at the time, it might be just what is in your drawer, or at the counter at the servo.
That night you toss and turn because of those late coffees and late snacks! Leading to a shitty night’s sleep, and then the cycle continues the next day!
And you are saying ‘Jim! I get it, yes, I do this!! But what do I do today??!!’
What we eat is a super important pillar in the four big ones as the flow ons are huge all round.
So number one you can do. Don’t reach for a coffee after midday.
This may be a bit difficult at first, but just reach for a glass of water, or even a white or green tea with no added sweeteners. They still contain caffeine, but not the quantity of your coffee, and so not likely to crash you as much.
The other thing to do is veg and protein!
Yep, get yourself a big container of salad for lunch with a portion of good protein. Around 30 to 40 g of protein is great, that is about a 120 g serving of chicken breast, between 90 and 120 g of beef (depending on the cut), 150 g of tuna or salmon (tinned). I have included a link for you to have a look at how much protein is in the foods you choose. Check it out here
It is really actually pretty simple to do, not easy, but simple.
You can load up on a big salad, or a big bowl of veg, throw in that protein source and your lunch won’t have you slumping in the arvo.
Combine that tweak with your no caffeine after lunch tweak and you are on your way today to improving how much better you feel in the afternoon, and then when it comes time for bed that night!
Looking after your health and well-being isn’t about changing absolutely everything all at once, it is about these small tweaks that add up long-term, so what I am trying to do for you here is give you one small step at a time that you can add in and really see results right away with.
So today or tonight, grab a container, some tupperware, throw in lots of leafy greens, some tomato, cucumber, onion, capsicum, carrot, a bit of roasted pumpkin and eggplant. A bit of a small splash of dressing is ok too, a little olive oil, and lemon, just don’t go overboard!
Either cook up a bit of chicken or any other meat, or grab a can of tuna or salmon, pop that in the fridge with the salad container and you have tomorrows lunch ready!
Now, 3-2-1 GO! And get after that lunch prep!