Episode 114- How Nutrition Impacts Burnout, Energy, and Focus at Work

In this episode of Fit, Fueled, and Busy, the host discusses the importance of proper nutrition in preventing burnout, particularly for high-achieving women. Emphasizing the impact of balanced meals on cognitive performance, productivity, and emotional resilience, she provides practical tips for incorporating protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats into breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The host shares her personal favorites and encourages listeners to consider how better fueling their bodies can support their goals and daily lives. Additionally, she invites listeners to commit to properly fueling at least one meal a day and observe the benefits.

00:00 Welcome and New Year Reflections

00:48 The Importance of Nutrition for High Achievers

02:18 Starting Your Day with a Balanced Breakfast

05:25 The Power of a Proper Lunch Break

08:10 Balanced Snacks for Sustained Energy

09:02 Ending Your Day with a Nourishing Dinner

10:50 Final Thoughts and Action Steps

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Transcript

0:23

Welcome back to Fit Fueled and Busy and happy New Year. I'm so glad that you're here today to tune in. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Mine was wonderful. I spent quality time with my girls family and friends, and I actually took about a full week off between Christmas and New Year's, which was really nice. It was great to just rest and unplug, focus on what matters most my family. So that was really great. And honestly, while that reset was exactly what I needed, I'm gonna be honest that I'm also ready to get back to my routine as I achiever myself. I'm. Very much a creature of habit. Once I find a system that works, I like to stick to it, and I've learned that with nutrition too. It's really no different for me. So today, I don't know what your work schedule looks like right now, but mine is really full. I'm in the middle of several big projects that require a lot of time, attention, and focus. And don't get me wrong, I love being busy and productive, but I also know that I've. I'm not careful that productivity can slide into burnout pretty quickly, and here's what a lot of high achieving women don't realize. Burnout isn't always about doing too much. Sometimes it's about fueling too little. Honestly, our nutrition and how we feel our bodies day to day has a massive impact on how we perform at work, how focused we feel, and how resilient we are under pressure. Our bodies are powerful systems. The food that we eat is the fuel that supports so many things, such as our workouts, maybe our long runs, playing with our kids, long work meetings, strategic thinking, creative problem solving, and honestly, just the daily mental load of. All the things that we carry at work and at home. Food isn't just about physical energy, it's also about cognitive performance and emotional resilience too. So today I wanna talk about how properly fueling your body throughout the workday can help prevent and honestly even reduce that constant burnout feeling. So I would start by saying, always start your day with a balanced breakfast. I'll be honest, I have never ever been someone who can skip breakfast. I wake up hungry most days, and I always start my day with a balance of protein, carbs, and healthy fats. Honestly, for a long time, I kind of understand how some people just don't eat in the morning. But here's something that's really interesting. Our bodies actually produce a hormone called Glin, which is responsible for signaling hunger. And if you constantly. Skip breakfast, and you do that consistently over time. Our bodies are so amazing, they'll actually adapt and stop producing or we'll produce less of that hormone in the morning, which is why you may not feel very hungry. But what is important to know is that just like your body learned to suppress that hunger hormone. It can also relearn to produce more of it. So if you wanna start eating breakfast again, begin small. Maybe that's a smoothie or a piece of toast with eggs, or maybe it's just some yogurt with some fruit. Over time, your hunger cues will return. So then you can really start your day with a balanced breakfast that provides your body with real fuel, not just caffeine, to help you stay focused, engaged, and energized through those first crucial hours of the workday. And, I mean, think about it. You eat your last meal, you go to bed, you sleep all night, and then you wake up and you jump right into your workday. And we know that food is fuel for our bodies, right? It creates energy. We need energy for our body to, to do its daily functions. And then we go into our workday. Where we are overstimulated with communications and to-do lists and things like that. And we expect our body to perform well and our mind to perform well, and our mental capacity to be there. But we haven't given it any fuel to start the day. So it makes sense to start your day with a good, healthy, balanced breakfast that you're going to see more productivity, better thinking, more clarity right out of the gate when you start your workday. One of my go-to breakfast, and I talked about this a few episodes ago when we talked about meal prep, but it's diced potatoes that I air fry ahead of time. So I usually do it on like Sunday air fry enough for the week, and then each morning I'll just pull those out of the fridge, heat a few up, and I cook, one egg with some egg whites and I add some diced avocado. Honestly to throw that all together, takes about five minutes and. I have the perfect balance of protein, carbs, and healthy fats to start my day. But if that's maybe not your appetite, not your feeling in the morning, a few other great options would maybe be like some eye protein, overnight oats, or even steel cut oats with some eggs. A whole grain bagel with eggs and avocado or maybe you're a smoothie person. Maybe just finding a good, healthy. High protein balanced, smoothie that you can incorporate into your morning routines. So always start your day with a balanced breakfast, and let's talk about lunch. I know so many women, myself included, who say things like, I don't have time for lunch, or I'll just eat later. Sometimes that turns into skipping lunch completely or eating at your desk while answering emails. And here's what I've noticed personally. When I don't step away from work at all midday, I feel anxious, restless, and mentally checked out by mid-afternoon. So even on busy days, here's my compromise. Maybe on that busy day, I'll eat at my desk if I need to, but I always follow lunch with a 10 to 15 minute walk. That short break helps me to clear my mind, boost my energy a little bit of. Light exercise or movement after eating always improves your digestion, and it just helps reset my nervous system. When we talk about lunches, this is where, in my opinion, especially for high achieving individuals and women who are just busy in their workday, pursuing all that they can, being as productive as possible, this is where meal prep really becomes your best friend. I usually have chicken ready to go again, maybe some dice up sweet potatoes and vegetables. But honestly, the exact foods matter less than the structure. Every lunch should include protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. This balance will help stabilize blood sugar, which is huge for preventing afternoon crashes and irritability. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You eat a lunch and then maybe you're good for a little bit, maybe 30 minutes, an hour or so, but it doesn't take long and you're starting to get sleepy sitting in front of your computer screen, things like that. This is also where that post lunch walk helps to reduce the urge to reach for candy or another cup of coffee when that two to three p pm slump hits. Because here's the truth, caffeine is not a fuel source. Caffeine often increases cortisol and spikes blood sugar, which leads to a harder crash later, leaving you feeling even more exhausted and unmotivated than before. It's kind of like just this crazy circle that we find ourselves in with caffeine. Now, don't get me wrong, I love coffee. I drink it daily, but I limit myself to about two cups. A day and I always drink water first and I also add protein, to my coffee instead of like those sugar loaded creamers. It's just what I've done for years. And I really like that benefit. So we talked about breakfast, we've talked about lunch. Now, I dunno about you, but I usually have to have a snack in between lunch and dinner. And so I would always recommend that you use balanced snacks to support energy. So don't underestimate the power of a balanced snack in the afternoon. If you're going to snack, always pair carbohydrates with protein or healthy fat. Or choose complex carbs that are high in fiber which digest more slowly and prevent blood sugar spikes. This small habit can make a huge difference in how steady your energy feels throughout the day. And to be honest, maybe you're a morning snacker, so maybe you find that you prefer to have a snack between breakfast and lunch, um, rather than between lunch and dinner, and that's totally fine. I would apply the same thought. End concept, uh, to a snack that's either in between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner. And always you want to finish your day with a nourishing, balanced dinner. One of the most overlooked pieces of burnout, recovery, in my opinion, is how you fuel your body at the end of the day. So many high achieving women either eat too lightly at dinner because they're exhausted, or maybe they skip carbs because they think it's better to skip them at night, not to consume too many carbs at night. Maybe you eat very little all day and then you overeat late at night. I know that can be my habit if I kind of go so long without. Eating. I will find that I do tend to overeat the next time that I do have a meal. None of those patterns honestly. Support recovery dinner really is your opportunity to refuel, repair and reset a balanced dinner. That includes protein, carbs, and healthy fats, supports muscle recovery and tissue repair. So if you're looking for body composition changes and you're lifting weights, that's a key piece right there. It also will help regulate cortisol levels After a stressful day, stabilizes your blood sugar overnight and actually improves sleep quality and better sleep means better focus, energy and resilience the next day. This doesn't need to be complicated. Think just a protein source like chicken, fish, or beef, a carb like rice, potatoes, or pasta and vegetables for fiber and micronutrients, and then a healthy fat to incorporate in like olive oil or avocado. This kind of dinner really does just tell your body you're safe, you're supported, and you can rest. When you consistently end your day with enough fuel, you're not just eating for today, you're setting yourself up to perform better tomorrow. So if you take nothing else away from today's episode, let it be this. Burnout is not a personal failure. It's often a fueling problem if you're high achieving women. If you're a high achieving woman who feels exhausted, overwhelmed, or like you're constantly running on empty, I want you to stop asking, why can't I handle this? And start asking, am I actually giving my body what it needs to support the life I'm asking it to live? Here's your action step for this next week, choose one meal, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and commit to fueling it properly with protein, carbs, and healthy fats. Just one. I'm not asking for perfection. No crazy overhaul. Just choose one and see how, be consistent for the week. See how having a balanced meal consistently may change. Like pay attention to how your energy feels for the few hours after that meal. And then if you see those benefits, incorporate that into the other two meals throughout your day. If this episode resonated with you, I want you to do two things. Number one, share this episode with another busy driven woman who needs to hear that she's not broken, she's just under fuel, and take energy of your day. Where are you skipping meals? Where are you relying on caffeine or pushing through instead of fueling up? Because honestly, your ambition deserves support. Your body deserves nourishment, and success should never come at the cost of your health. Thank you so much for being here, and I'll see you next week. Unfit, fueled, and busy.