What you eat affects your productivity

Try not to get too hungry with this one. Nutrition and lifestyle coach Ayesha Shahid talked about the simple changes we can all make to reduce stress, improve energy, and boost our productivity. It's the simple stuff has the biggest impact on our productivity.

Show Notes

Come behind the madness for your top up of wellbeing advice. This week James sat down with the owner of For The Love of Lemons, Ayesha Shahid, who told us exactly how that extra takeaway is affecting our productivity. Ayesha shares her years of nutrition coaching experience, and dives into the science behind good diet and hydration. If you're lacking for energy, or are getting way too stressed out, there are some easy yet hugely impactful changes to be made. 

With Ayesha and James' shared history of dietary problems, they know a thing or two about becoming happier and healthier through diet changes. So, when life gives you For the Love of Lemons, you sit back and tune into Behind the Madness. 

What is Behind The Madness?

A podcast helping companies grow with marketing strategies, automation and time-saving tips and creative solutions.

Welcome back to behind the madness where we talk about business growth, ways to work smarter and the fundamentals of business, all geared to unlocking your brand's peak performance. I'm your host James Roberts owner and founder of method and Today. I'm joined by Ayesha Shahid from the love of lemons. If I can get my teeth in where we're going to talk about some nutrition and how to use it to improve your productivity Before I jump in, though, I wanted to kinda get a bit of admin out the way and ways you can contact the show. We have some great content and helpful tips going out on Instagram, where you can find us at hello_method We also have now a dedicated email address [e-mail] where you can give us any feedback or ask any questions and we will try and answer them on future episodes.

So with all the admin out the way let's jump into today's episode, what you eat affects your productivity.

Welcome to behind the madness. Ayesha. I hope you're well

Hi, James. Yes.

I'm well thanks

Good, so Ayesha and I met at university in Carlisle. Uh, a few years ago. We, we won't stay the year, just a few, uh, where we were doing graphic design.

Um, I've got grayer, uh, that's down to the children, but Ayesha why don't you tell us what you've been up to kind of since then, and more importantly, what you're up to.

now

Yeah, sure. James. Yeah. So I took a different route to James. Um, I am now a nutrition and lifestyle coach, uh, after battling my own health. Um, I had to change the way I was eating my diet, my lifestyle in order to heal. So this really led me to want to share my knowledge with everyone. But just why I studied nutrition.

Uh, so I now work with clients one to one, helping them to reach their health goals and to help them improve their overall wellbeing.

Perfect. How are you finding it? Satisfac satisfying, I guess

It is, I love it. I just love to, to help others. So that's really my main goal. Um, I also run health eating workshops to educate people and how to eat healthy and, and show how easy it is. So, yeah, I just love, love being able to support.

others

And your kitchen talks, which I love on, on Instagram, where you do, uh, some nice things, nice things on there as well. We get people, get people, cooking,

Yes.

Exactly. So let's kick off with a nice, easy one about, uh, diet, I guess. And how, how does our diet affect us? You know, does it have a, um, I, I think we all know that it has a, an impact, I guess we just don't understand.

Some people don't understand how much of an impact it has on us.

Yeah, absolutely. I think, I mean, I think we know when we've eaten too much sugar or processed foods or, you know, junk food, how we feel. We feel that sluggish way, we feel slow, tired that we want to lie down. So basically what happens to the body when we're eating that type of food is it causes our blood sugar to become imbalanced.

And when that happens, it can have a few, a huge effect on our mood. It can cause instability It can cause fatigue, energy slump it just makes us more reactive, cuz the body's a bit, a little bit in stress mode cause it's looking to become more balanced. So that's what that type of food does to us.

Unfortunately, the sugar, it gives us the sugar for eating lots of sugar or lots of fatty foods. Our blood sugar kind of goes like a rollercoaster. And what we need to try and do is create more balance. there.

okay. So obviously that. So, so that, that is the goal throughout everything then is, is balance. So we can keep that. Uh, so it's not like the peaks and troughs So obviously, as you mentioned, kind of having sugar is gonna raise that. It's gonna kind of give us more energy, but then we're gonna have these, these dips and that's where we're going to see performance and things like that throughout the day.

Drag.

So that's when you'll get those, you know, mid afternoon slumps it's because the blood sugar's literally going like this. So it's trying to, to even that out, absolutely. To keep focussed and keep productivity high.

So that's to say, obviously we all reach for a sugary drink, a caffeine, drink something along those lines when we feel that dip, um, to kind of give us that lift. And it does, but it, I guess these are just short term fixes. Are they the, where it's gonna kind of give you that quick boost, but then eventually again, we're gonna crash later

And you'll find that, and it can happen quite quickly if you're eating those types of foods more frequently through the day. So if you're reaching for those types of foods, then you're gonna become more, you know, you will get that energy high, like you said. So you'll feel, I feel quite good and I might feel quite buzzy but then you'll suddenly come down because the body then the blood sugar crashes.

So yeah, it's just, you'll feel it yourself. And you might be more aware of it when you're reaching for those types of foods and especially caffeine. Um, yeah, we think that that's gonna give us that energy in the morning that we need, but it not, it doesn't always do that. Well, it doesn't do that.

Okay, so let let's, let's dive into that. Then let's say I have I've woken up. Um, I have done all the right things that we've mentioned before on the part around not diving for my phone. So mentally I'm doing all the right things. I am taking my time. I might be doing some yoga, some meditation waking my body up slowly.

Um, what should I then do? First thing in terms of nutrition, what should I be looking at? What should I be reaching for?

Okay. So we don't want to be reaching for the caffeine, which is what most people tend to do is that quick, uh, cup of coffee or tea, um, because that raises our cortisol levels of stress levels. So you're trying to create that calmness in the morning. So we don't want that spike. So what we should really be doing, our bodies have been sleeping all night.

And they've been doing lots of busy work to try and to repair and restore our bodies through the night. So in the morning when you wake up, they're quite dehydrated, cuz they've been doing a lot of work. So really we should be hydrating our body with water. So having a glass of water, warm water, hot water with room, temperature, water, maybe with some lemon in there, um, just to help help the body detoxify would be really beneficial to start the day.

Okay give you that boost. And that will definitely give you the boost, You need more than the caffeine.

When you say glass, this is, this is just my brain running here. Are we talking, a pint? Are we talking? Cause obviously nowadays I think if I open up my cupboard I've got glasses from shot glasses. Don't use that so much anymore. Getting too old all the way up to the pint glasses. So I'm guessing as, as much as you possibly can, if you've had nothing for eight hours.

Yeah. I mean, prefer, I mean, we tend to say it's hard to measure. Like obviously every, every everybody's glass is different size. We tend to say we should be reaching for about maybe two 50 miles. So just an average size glass that's minimum. If you can get two of those in before you start your day.

Excellent. Your body's really in a hydrated, um, spot. So you can then. Go to maybe have a cup of coffee later on, but once you hydrated yourselves

Okay. So I guess going, reaching for the coffee, reaching for the caffeine first is, as I mentioned, you've got that slow start and you're kind of slowly waking up. You've gone through all those stages of sleep and then all of a sudden. Where we know now not to reach for the iPhone or not to reach, go straight into our emails because we are bombarding ourselves with information.

I guess the same is happening. If we reach for a coffee or caffeine, we are almost using the defibs on our body to give us this boost when we're not ready for it. And also don't really want it. We're just slowly, nicely going through the stages, but we want to go from zero to a hundred and that's why people are going for the caffeine to kind of get there.

Is that that's probably right.

then

Yeah,

Yeah I think you put the nail on the head. Absolutely. So you have to do it, your body's, like you said, like I've said done a lot of work through the night. It's been really, really busy. So you do have to do that slowly in order to, for your body to wake up properly. And, and by doing that with water, will hydrate your cells.

You know, our body's made up approximately 70% water. So we lose water through urination, through breathing and through, um, sweating So, if we are losing that amount of water through those areas, we have to hydrate ourselves. And if we're not doing that efficiently, um, or enough, our bodies won't work properly.

So we will start to feel that fatigue and you'll start to feel a bit limp. Um, and it's because we're not hydrated ourselves or just imagine ourselves and our bodies, they've just got a bit dipped So you have to get the nice and plump so they can run around and do what they need to do in order for us to work.

So that's kinda an easy way to look at it. So yeah, we should really be trying to hydrate our bodies. First thing in the morning.

Cool. So let's, we've got our water out the way. Uh, and as you said, you know, we, everybody now is busy. I don't, I don't know anybody who is who's who's um, who's got their feet up and, and enjoying life. We've all got lots of things going on. We need to get, uh, I, I have meetings, I have calls. I have podcasts to record.

Uh, I've gotta get the kids to school. Um, so. I've started off. I've done everything right. I've got the water. I know I've got a busy day ahead of me. Um, the kids are up. What should I now be looking at to kind of get into my system after I've had that water? What's the next step to obviously kind of fuel my body early days.

Okay. So to keep your body, you know, energized throughout the day, we really need to be thinking about creating something called a balanced plate, which is what I talk to my clients about and what that really means is having, even when you're snacking as well. So what that means is having a healthy, fat, a protein and fiber in what you're eating. So in the west, we tend to eat quite a beige plate, um, which doesn't really do as good. And it's probably quite high in carbs. So what we need to look at is getting a healthy fat in there and getting some protein in there as well, to sustain, um, us through the day, keep us full of the longer, keep it as energized, keep our blood sugar stable, which is the essence of what we need to do.

Um, so yes. So if you're, so what, what do you eat for breakfast, James?

Uh, I tend to have Huel So I'm a, I'm a Huel Now this comes back to, um, I always had issues with, with IBS and I would always reach for, uh, some cereal uh, or something kind of along those lines, which never put me. On the right track. Um, Huel I find is quite, it's got a load of water in it as well.

I think I always put a huge amount of water in it, so it's, it's quite, for me, it works really, really well, but generally speaking, it would be something along the lines of, uh, a good cereal, so something which is kind of, um, uh, like some oats or something along those lines, if I'm not. So, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I think most people actually either have porridge in the morning or they'll cereal, or maybe they'll grab a slice of toast and that's probably quite common from most people. So, and you know, it's not about totally changing what you're having, taking all that away, but actually what can we do to make it more, more fulfill fulfilling for you and keep that blood sugar balanced.

So if you are having oats porridge oats or. cereal

Mm-hmm

What can we add to that? So think about your health fats So something like a flax seed or a cheer chia something like nuts, any nuts and seeds, just sprinkle them on top. That's your healthy fats It's also source of protein and then maybe adding some berries in there.

So some blueberries, full of antioxidant strawberries, chopped banana, adding that in lots of color, put color on your plate. Think about what color you can add to your plate.

Looks nicer as well, then not only, no. Yeah.

Absolutely. It's not looking about like cardboard, you've actually made it look quite presentable. So obviously we eat, sometimes we eat with our eyes.

We actually, when we look at something and then we smell it, it starts the digestion system going. So actually having something quite aesthetically pleasing would be good. So adding lots of color in there is good stuff. Um, and that'll just keep us fuller. That's what we want. The blood sugar stable. You wouldn't want to crave you shouldn't crave as much or want to snack as much because your blood sugar's balanced and you're fuller.

Perfect. I think that's that's ideal as well, because you're what I like. Well, two things. One you are not having to really throw away. You know, we can all go for this, this perfect lifestyle and to get there, we've all gotta take steps to get there. You can't just one day just throw everything out. It never works.

It always, it worked for like a week maybe. And then you slowly slip back. What I think I like is being able to. Utilize what you're doing already. The, the oats, the things like that, you know, obviously we're not talking about, um, we're not talking about Frosties or any those kind of cereals, which are covered in sugar, those kind of more natural, uh, oats, um, and porridge and things like that and adding to them.

So we're really taking what we normally do and. Improving that with, with the kind of the fruits and making it, I love the idea of adding the color in. I think, I think when every time you do it, it looks much more appealing, but also it's, it's easy. So it's something we're not having to change too much.

Adding berries is what five seconds to grab a handful out the fridge and throw 'em on, cut up a banana five seconds. You know, it, it's not gonna take long to really improve that. And. then You're gonna see the benefits, as you said throughout the day, based on that. And it's not something which I think most people listening will probably be the same if, oh, it's always so much hard work to kind of, to, to, to do this style of lifestyle or to improve my nutrition.

It's so much easier to go for something which is already done or out of a packet or, um, something along those, those lines. But so far we've had water and we've had a really simple breakfast that we've not had to.

Yeah

change

Yeah, absolutely. It's about making simple changes. It's not, you know, like exactly what you said. You're not throwing away loads things. Let's see what we can just make, you know, make it easy for us. So just adding these little steps and just little baby steps, you both, notice difference

we are busy. So it is, it is, you know, it is difficult. It is so, okay. So that's good. I like this. I like this. Let's keep it going with with our day. So we've had our breakfast, we've had our water. We're gonna continue drinking our water, I guess throughout the day. We're not just gonna drop it and have it in the morning.

No, we need to keep drinking. So we say about between a liter and a half and two liters a day, if possible. So what I tend to do, I've got a, I've got a cup. That's about 200-250 ml So if you've got something that's measurable, that might be easier for you. or You can have a big water bottle on your. desk Um, so, you know, you could do three in the morning, three in the afternoon, two in the evening that kinda splits the day.

If it's easier for you to work that way, or you could work in jugs bottles, whatever, whatever feels right.

That's exactly how I do it. I know I've, I'm, I've got a pint glass at the moment. Uh, but normally I have a, I think it's, I think it's a decent size bottle and I know that I've gotta get most of that done by lunch. And then I can obviously then go fill it up again, have my lunch and I can start again for the afternoon.

Um, and that it is a, it's a simple way of keeping on track of it rather than. Eight glasses or whatever, the other kind of mediums we track and you think, well, have I, how many have I had is that three? Is that four? I think having bigger bottles and knowing where you're at makes a lot more sense.

yeah.

So I've had my water, I've had my breakfast.

I am I'm. Are you gonna allow us to have some, uh, some, some caffeine in any way? What about teas? What about hot drinks?

Yeah. So you can have tea, coffee. I mean, I, I would. It's hard to go cold Turkey and take all of that out. So yes, to coffee and tea, but try and ensure that you're doing it when well after you're eating. Um, cause actually if you're having caffeine or an empty stomach, it can affect your digestive system, which is what we don't want to do.

And obviously it can raise our cortisol levels. So we have to be mindful of that. So try and have your tea or coffee on an, on a full stomach um, and try and have it. If anyone out there has got sleep issues, even if you don't think you've got sleep issues, try to keep your caffeine before 12 o'clock. If you can, cuz it can really have an impact on your sleep.

Um, even if you think you're sleeping soundly, you might not be going into restorative sleep. So try to keep your caffeine before 12, if you can.

This is something I've learned through I'm, I'm a whoop fan. As everybody on the podcast probably knows. Um, even a few people have contacted me saying because of me they've gone and bought them and actually loving them to, which is great. Whoop is fantastic. Anyway, but through wearing that, I've understood about my sleeps and the stages that I've gone through and sleep.

um, and even though you might wake up and you think, oh, I've, I've had a good night's sleep. Um, you can then check back and you think, well, actually the stages of sleep, I haven't quite hit the targets that I needed to. Um, and as you said, there's, there's, there's so many impacts on that which can be looking at your phone at night.

It can be not settling down properly. Uh, obviously light can affect it, but nutrition and caffeine, um, again, can have a huge, huge effect on that. So, yes, that's really, really interesting in terms of other drinks, then what can we. Uh, obviously we, your company name, there must be something around lemons.

There's gotta be something in a lemon. So talk, talk to us about

lemons.

Well, you know, I love a lemon. So yeah, lemons are high in vitamin c they can say a lot of vitamin C and they can help the liver, um, support the liver do its detoxification jobs. So we need to obviously detoxify get rid of toxins from the body and lemons can help the liver or support the liver in doing that if it's a bit stagnant.

So adding lemons to your water is an excellent, um, an excellent thing to do because you're getting the added nutrients from the lemon. And it's supporting you too. So like, like I said, if you're having a water in the morning, you could add a squeeze of lemon. That's what I tend to do, or a slice of lemon, whatever you prefer.

Um, but you can add other things to your water. So if you're somebody who doesn't particularly like the taste of water, have a lot of clients that don't really like water. You can add all things there. So you can add herbs in there. rosemary is lovely to add to water. Um, it just gives it's actually. Beneficial for your respiratory tract.

Um, your immune health. It's actually got added benefits in there. So adding some fresh rosemary you can probably get from your garden or from your local supermarket, adding that, um, some mint mint really good for digestion. So if you've got digestive issue, adding some Spriggs of mint to your water would be quite a good thing.

Lemons like I said, limes cucumber, strawberries, even adding berries um, water instead of adding your. Diluting juice. Maybe add some chopped fruit in there, which would just give it those added, added.

As you say, it adds a bit of interest as well. Water, water. I love water, but you know, you can, sometimes you just crave for something else, which is probably why I have the occasional tea and things like that because you're wanting, you're wanting that variety. And then being able to spice up spice up your water.

I guess there's a load of tea we could get into as well is probably green teas. There's as you mentioned, one, I have a mint tea said, all the benefits of that. So there's all the herbs. You guess you could have teas as well.

Yeah.

green. tea is a good one. So if you're trying to reduce the amount of caffeine you're having green tea does contain caffeine, but not as much green tea also contains an amino acid called L-theanine Now L-theanine can support the body, um, get into state of so reducing any anxieties and it can also, um, support focus.

So it's a really nice one to have if, if you're maybe struggling with that or just to start your day. So you've not got that stress mode in the morning. Um, it's a nice one to, to start your day with it is if you're not used to herbal teas, it can be quite an acquired taste. So again, maybe adding something in there, maybe a little bit of lemon, maybe a little tiny bit of honey, just to get your taste buds acquired, but, um, is a really lovely one to start full of antioxidants as well as what, which is what we need, um, to

So that could be a really good one to have before meetings, before things like that, where, you know, you're going into stress situations or, you know, you're gonna have a busy day and you can, and I can always feel it after, after some calls, I can always see. that I'm firing, cuz you've got to, you know, you, can't just, you can't just relax in a lot of these meetings when you certainly, when you're taking charge, you've got to go, go, go, go, go.

And you can feel it at the end of the meeting, I sometimes have to take five minutes. Just go for a walk just to bring that back down again. So having that, having that tea is gonna kind of still keep you on your game. You're still gonna have done everything from your nutrition that we've, that we've kind of talking about.

So you're gonna have that focus. You're gonna have that concentration. You're gonna be on it, but you're not going to. Completely firing and have to bring yourself down afterwards. So it could be a nice way to add in before, before meetings

things

Absolutely. That's a great one to add then if you can. Lovely one.

Perfect like that. So we've got to, we've got to lunch. What should we, obviously we are talking about improving energy. We are improving our productivity with nutrition. So we've, as you mentioned, you know, people with the caffeine hits with everything else. Now, this is probably the key moment where.

Everybody in the afternoon can start to see that, that slump. So I guessing lunch is key to keep everything going. So what should we be looking at? What foods and what, um, what things in terms of nutrition, should we be looking at to kind of keep that going into the afternoon?

Okay. So what we tend to say is we, we should be increasing, um, our nutrients of omega-3 fatty acids, if you've heard of that. So that's things like oily fish salmon tuna mackerel chia seeds, flax seeds, walnuts. So that's that type of thing. We also talk about, um, increasing vitamin B foods. So that's green leafy vegetables, um, uh, nuts and seeds, uh, beans, chickpeas, that type of.

thing And magnesium foods, which again, cover all legumes pulses, uh, nuts and seeds again. So really what we need to be thinking about is eating real food. So try to reduce the amount of processed food that we're having and going back to basics and eating real food that will give us the nutrients or body needs, um, and able to, um, keep his energized and focused through.

the day So for lunch, I mean, what do people tend to have? It's usually a sandwich. I would say. What do you have for lunch here?

Yup Sandwich. I, I try and sometimes if I wanted to move away from the sandwich, it'll be, uh, I might do an egg or something like that if I wanted to move away from the bread. Uh, but it is it's generally. Yeah. You reach for a sandwich, something that you can whack in between two slices of bread and have really quickly

Exactly. So again, it's going back to thinking about this balance plate. So have you got a healthy fat in there? Have you got some fiber in there and have you got protein in there? If you are having a sandwich, try to make it wholemeal sandwich. So using brown bread or sourdough bread, which is, um, fermented bread, which is easier for the gut to digest.

Um, so what can you have in there? Maybe you could do, um, you could do egg, like you said, so egg and egg sandwich, tuna salmon. Um, and, but add in something in there, again, add in color. So again, if you're just having brown bread with some, with some tuna, it's quite beige, right. So what color can we then add in there?

Can we do some slice tomato some lettuce, some rocket, some seeds on top? Um, some avocado. So it's just thinking a little bit more about. The only way it's basically it's color, but it's very basically veg fruit salads.

I like your idea as well. You've mentioned before about the rainbow and something brilliant to kind of get the kids involved is to look at all of these colors in the rainbow and see if you can hit something, um, for, from each of those, those kind of color ranges. Um, so yeah, I think that's probably a good idea as well.

And then, then you're gonna be more focused on it.

Absolutely a, a rainbow chart is excellent for kids and yourself. And just to keep you on track because every color that we eat gives us different nutrients, you know, some color support, eye health, heart health, brain health. So actually we need Every color to support our bodies, um, to function efficiently.

So having a chart, there is a fun way just to track it. And you know, some weeks you might think, oh, I've hardly hit you any red foods. And maybe the next week, you can try to introduce more red foods in there. So it's a good way to track it, but it's also makes your lunches a bit more exciting or your dinners more exciting.

So I can hear everybody in my ear now going, ah, but Ayesha this sounds amazing, but you know, to get, uh, two slices of bread and to slap some peanut butter in takes a minute to do, I can do it before I go to work, I can have it at work. So let's, let's. um, combat that and how can people kind of make it as easy as possible and kind of debunk the fact that it's, it's going to take hours of, of prep to kind of get this sorted.

Yeah, I think people do. think that they think I can't do it and it's easier if I just go and buy something and, and again, it's, I suppose it's changing that mindset. There's a few ways you can do it. It is all about preparation. I think we do need to think about taking some time out. I know we're all very busy, but maybe taking some time out on a Sunday.

Um, before our week. So we get ourselves prepared and really you don't need any more than an hour. Um, just to really think, how can I make this easier for me during the week? So I'm not scrambling about, and then reaching for the sugary processed food. So taking that out out, maybe on a Sunday to make batch cooks and recipes batch cooks and dinners, have them in the freezer on hand during the week.

So you can just pull them. out Um, or have making sure that your fridge is fully stocked at the weekend. So through, through the week you have these things that you can go to. So hummus excellent. I mean, you can buy, hummus but having that hand is excellent. Just make sure that yeah, hummus is a great option. It's a great sandwich. You know, use that instead of butter is a really nice one.

You can get a lot of colors in then as well. Cause we, obviously, we sometimes do it. We sometimes do it with the kids where we will chop up carrots, you celery, broccoli, whatever, um, all of the peppers. And we start to kind of dunk them in our, in our, in our, in our hummus. And I absolutely love those days.

We obviously mix it up. Sometimes we do some, uh, some pitta bread or something like that, warm it in the toaster. So you got something hot as well, just for. Kids love their love, their bread. Um, but yeah, we, so we love, love adding that in. And again, we, so we are getting some color in, I didn't even realize great

Because you've got it in the fridge ready but then you're not snacking on the rubbish where you've the, sweets or the crisp

and I think that's a key point. Having everything ready, having everything prepared is we've we all fall foul of it when you've kind of, you are panicking. It's it's 12 o'clock and you've just come out of a meeting or it's half past 12 and you haven't still haven't eaten. It's getting later in the day, you still haven't eaten.

You're just gonna go and grab something. I'll just run to the shop and I'll go and grab a sandwich. It's much easier because we haven't got anything prepared. And then you don't even wanna think about it. You just wanna grab something. So if you have that already ready, or if you're working in an office and it's already packed in your bag, or you can drop it in the fridge.

um, at work then it, it, it takes that it takes that one. It's not, we have, we have certain, um, we can do so many tasks in a day. Um, there is, uh, we don't have infinite amount of brain power throughout our day. We do actually just keep on chopping away at it. And if one of those decisions is what to eat. In the middle of your day, you are, you are chopping away at some of that time.

And some of those tasks that you've got, uh, for something which you didn't really need to, you could have sorted out, as you say, on the Sunday. I like that idea, getting it all ready. And then you can just pull something out. It's already done. Don't have to think about it and you can then focus on what you need to, again, comes back to helping our productivity and works really, really well.

So love that. Okay. So again, I guess this is gonna carry on through, into our, into our kind of our dinner. Uh, but let's, I'm, I'm a terrible snacker. Um, it's probably because I sit a lot of the time at my desk or I'm on calls and I'm constantly just reaching for bits. Um, I have solved it now, but what should we be looking at in terms of snacks?

What should we have on our desk that we can, that we can just nibble on?

Yeah, I think we all tend to be snackers And if we're busy, we just need something to, to keep us going. So again, it's making sure that we are keeping our blood sugar balance, so not reaching for the sugary snacks, cause that can be detrimental to our productivity throughout the day. So we have to think about what we, um, uh, what, what we can have to not, not, that's not.

sugar So something like, um, nuts and seeds, it's excellent source of protein and healthy fat that will keep our bodies, um, more stable through the day, but nuts and seed to people can be a little bit boring. So what can we do add in some fiber in there, some dried fruit like dates, apricot raisins would get that natural sweetness.

So you might need that sweetness, not just the nuts. So having that alongside there. And also adding some chopped dark chocolate in there would be really lovely. So you've got, again, the chocolates has magnesium, which is a lovely calming effect on the body. And it's a healthy, it's got, um, healthy fat in there as well.

So that's a lovely one to add in there. It means that we have a little bit of that sugar hit but it's more natural. Um, and it keeps our blood sugar stable.

Because dark chocolate does have a, as you said, a load of good properties as well, isn't it, we're not talking about the milk with all of the, all of the huge sugar content in there, but the, but dark chocolate, especially, you know, we're not talking about throwing in a, uh, kilo bag, uh, or bar, but we are talking about just little bits added in is, is kind of beneficial as well.

absolutely. It's filled of antioxidants, um, magnesium and iron. So they're really good nutrients that your body needs throughout the day. So if you can get a good quality dark chocolate, so the less sugar in there, the less milk in there. Um, you know, they say over 70%, dark chocolate is beneficial. It can be quite dark, but when you mix it, other things it's lovely to have.

Perfect. Good. Love that. So I've got my snacks out the way. Um, in terms of, you've obviously mentioned about keeping blood sugar balanced, you've kind of touched on it a little bit. We've obviously mentioned on these, you know, not reaching for the caffeines or the, um, Or the, kind of the sugary drinks, uh, the red bulls throughout the day.

How, if we're just focusing on that, because I think that's that's for me at the moment, sounds like a really, really key thing. We we're working on all of our foods. We're, we're thinking about productivity and again, this slump that's happening. Is it just a case of, I think you mentioned the omega 3's and things like that, but, but what should we really be focusing on in terms of keeping just specifically blood sugar balanced?

Well, all of these things that we've talked about will do that. So having your hydration levels. Having drinking more water will support blood sugar. So keeping hydrated is really key having these, um, omega 3's having these pro uh, good proteins and fiber throughout the day will support your blood sugar. So these in combination and adding the color in will support your blood sugar.

So all these in combination Will allow the body to do its job efficiently. And when you are doing that over time, you'll find you're more, you will feel more focused and more productive. You will have the more en you will have more energy throughout the. Um, it's only when you start having too much of the processed things too much of the caffeine, too much of the sugar that you'll start to feel that dip and slump and, and actually just maybe just try it for a few days and see if you notice a difference by just doing even the one, one thing is drinking the water and seeing if you can, if that makes a difference to your energy levels.

Perfect. So let's put you on the spot. That's a nice thing to close out and I'll let you pull out anything that we've already spoken about as well. But let's give a number of tips. If we are focusing on productivity, we're trying to keep this balanced day sorted. What should we be looking to change first or concentrate on, um, to kind of throughout our day change now to kind of keep that productivity going?

Well, there's lots of things you can do. Obviously, my biggest thing, and it's the one thing, and I talked about it all on this podcast and I talk about it all the time to all my clients is keep hydrated. If you can do one thing out, of everything I would say more water. That doesn't mean that when I stay hydrated that doesn't include coffee or tea, that doesn't include diluting juice or any type of juice.

And it doesn't even include herbal tea. It just means water. If you can do that one and a half to two, preferably two liters a day. challenge yourself and try it and see if you can, if you notice a difference, you will feel a difference. I guarantee you that will support your energy levels. And it seems really simple.

And people are like, really do I not need to buy a pill? Do I not need to do something else? Um, but it really goes back down to basics. You know, we were given water for a reason, our bodies need it. So it's going back to that. So if I can say anything, hydration. Um, did you want any more or was it just one?

I think that's fine. I think it was fine with, with the, with the water then. So just as a last close, um, water's fine with, if we're gonna add in our lemon. That's still fine. That's still gonna count towards our water intake.

sorry. Yes. If you're adding in some herbs and fruits or any cucumber or anything like that, absolutely fine. It's when you start, um, diluting It with things that the body doesn't sometimes recognize it, or doesn't hydrate the body as much, or actually like caffeine actually dehydrates your body. So, you know, if you're having two cups of coffee, I would have four glasses of water to compensate

because you're actually dehydrating

yourself with those things

Got you

Can I just add two other things. If you're gonna make any other changes, drink your water, eat more color and reduce your sugar intake.

Perfect. There you go. In a nice little summary, Ayesha, it's been amazing having you on the pod. I think we're gonna have to dive into some more of these into more detail. We've obviously given quite a high, high level thing, focusing on obviously a little bit on the productivity side of life, but look, it'd be great to get you back on if that's all right.

And I hope you've enjoyed yourself.

Absolutely. No thank you for having me James I've loved it. Thank. you

So, uh, make sure you go and follow Ayesha she's on Instagram and Facebook at just love lemons. Uh, and if you want to drop her any questions, she's such a lovely person. She was bound to get back to all of you on her email, which is [e-mail] And as she's mentioned, we'll throw in that little challenge.

So see if you can challenge yourself to drink that water per day and let us know how you feel. So drop. Um, Ayesha an email drop us an email [e-mail] and see if that has changed. Your week, you know, at the end of the week, try it for a week, try it for two weeks and see if you'll see that, that benefit at the end.

Again, if you've really enjoyed the podcast, make sure you subscribe, leave a review wherever you listen to the pod. And remember you can always drop us any of those comments directly to that email [e-mail] That's it for this episode. Thanks for listening. And we'll catch you next time.