Hi Kira Leskew here, when you work on improving concentration, your diet can help or hinder you.
I am going to show you how to get your diet going in the right direction
to support improving your concentration in about 10 Minutes or less, so stay tuned.
Have you ever woken up in the morning, and been off to a great day, then lunch comes,
and an hour later, you feel like going to sleep? You are nodding off
and it's hard to focus in the meeting.
I used to always get tired in the afternoon and I used to blame it on the time of day.
but the culprit is actually usually what you had for lunch, and not the time of day.
I still witness it in others, especially at full day seminars:
In the morning the facilitator is amazing, then lunch comes and you can visibly see them
run out of steam, losingthe great energy they had before lunch, and generally have a
shorter temper and possible a lack of patience. Once I cleaned up my own diet, I also noticed
this tendency in my staff as well. I probably didn't notice it before because we were on the same level, and I was out of steam too.
I wasn't alert.
Today's video is going to be a bit longer, because there is so much to cover in terms of diet
and its effects on concentration. Diet is difficult to cover, because it really is an
individual thing, but I can tell you this: in my experience, when I have my diet right,
I have a lot of calm energy that is steady throughout the day, and don't have any lags or sags or lulls
in my energy level, even in the afternoon. That being said, there are some very general
things that will really apply to a lot of people in most cases. First, your carbs. You need the right amount
for you, and at the right time. Too much all at once, and you will be in that sleepy zone. Not enough
and you will likely have a hard time focussing and might be a little impatient.
Second, the right quantities of protein. Again, this is an individual thing, based on size,
lean body mass, activity level, your genetic makeup and your age. It also depends if
you eat meat or not. If you don't eat meat, you need to make sure that you are getting
enough amino acids, at the right time, in almost every meal.
Third, fat. You need fat, it helps your brain
work optimally, but you need the right kind: monounsaturated is best.
And interestingly enough, most of the really good fats are all plant based.
If you have the wrong kind and you have too much at one time, you may find that it detracts from
your concentration. That covers the major food types, but you also need
to get enough fresh fruits and vegetables, and the right quantity of vitamins and minerals really
does help as well. And even if you eat organic food it might not cover it for you.
I eat organic and take supplements, and I find that they help, but again, I make changes over time
based on my lifestyle changes, and my age, and you'll have to do the same thing.
So once you have it figured out, you do have to keep working at it.
Another huge thing that impedes concentration is additives. Many food additives
have been linked to many health concerns, and poor concentration. So reduce
the junk food. If you consume a lot of it, you can play the substitution game. I used this to go
from eating 4 really large muffins per day for snacks to eating an apple and some trail
mix, cutting out 1700 calories, and 120gm of sugar.
But I did it over several months, and I didn't ever feel like I was depriving
myself. If you need to do this, check in the cards for this video or see the notes below
for a link on a download on how to do the substitution game for food.
It works. Water. This is another really important thing.
You need it to flush all the waste out of your body. Again, different
people need different amounts. I drink WAY more than the recommended amounts, and I find
that it really helps me to stay calm and focused. When I am getting dehydrated, the first thing
that goes is my emotions. I lose that sense of calm that I normally have. Many people
translate water to liquids, and that may be the case if they are organic fruit or vegetable
juices, but pop or high sugar drinks do not count. Your body has to work harder to flush
them out, so if anything, you need extra water if you are going to consume sweets and or processed
drinks. And now, I have saved the best for last.
Unless you have food allergies, then sugar (for most people) is the big concentration killer, and
sugar comes in many forms: Processed grains, sweets, treats, sweet drinks, cookies, cakes,
pastries, pizza, pop, and many other things. They is also a lot of sugar in many processed fast
foods and pre-made frozen foods, so you may actually have to become a food detective to figure
this out. Again, start with the obvious, and when that gets easy, tackle the next thing.
There is a huge amount of resources on diet, and again, we're going to have different needs at
different points in our lives to eat for good concentration. This is where mindfulness
in action comes in: Pay attention to how you feel when you eat things. This may be a bit
difficult, because, in general it'll take 30 minutes to a few hours, or possibly the
next day to feel the results of what you have eaten. And if you eat a lot of things that
aren't good for you, you may not even notice how poorly you feel, because you don't have
anything to compare to. And what you think might be normal,
might actually be really a low place, and you have a capacity that's way up here that you aren't even really aware of. So to improve
your diet there are many resources, and I recommend going with your intuition on where to start. Go to a bookstore,
either a physical one, or online and browse different topics and resources. Pick the
one that feels right to you, or that you find the most appealing. Try it out, see what you
learn, and then figure out the next step. Pay attention. This is using your mindfulness in action skills.
In order to make changes that are sustainable,
I recommend that you pick one at a time, and pick something that you can keep
up really easily. Cause this will be far more benefit to you than trying something that is too difficult, and dropping
it after a few days or a few weeks because you are discouraged. I have a really healthy
diet right now, but it has taken my over 15 years to get where I am, and for me, it is sustainable.
I did it by making small changes over a long period of time.
So to sum this up, here are the major food
things for you to look for, to help your concentration. Pick one, and master it, then move onto the next one.
1. Balance of carbs, protein and monounsaturated fats.
2. Reduce other types of fats (poly-unsaturated, and especially saturated fats)
3. Reduce sugars, starting with the most refined ones
4. You may have to look at vitamins or mineral supplements because you might be missing something vital in your diet
5. Drink more water
6. Read lists of processed foods, if you don't know what it is, then why are you eating it cause your body won't know what it is either.
So paying attention to how your body feels when you eat, is an excellent mindfulness
in action practice. And if you only do this, you will have come a long way in improving
concentration, and applying mindfulness to your life, by being present with eating, your
body and your emotions. Leave me comments of questions you have, or things that you've tried
or things that you'd like to know and I'll answer them for you,
and maybe even do a future video on them.