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Home » Diet » 4 Surprising Ways Your Diet Is Affecting Your Productivity – NBCNews.com

When, what and how you eat can have some eye-opening effects on your ability to get things done and get ahead at work.Jun.22.2017 / 1:17 PM ET What you eat can have surprising effects on your ability to work. What you eat can have surprising effects on your ability to work.

You know that your diet has a profound effect on your weight, your sense of wellbeing and even your risk factors for certain illnesses, but did you know that it also has an effect on your productivity?

You might feel a surge of productivity after lunch, or feel especially useless on mornings when you skip breakfast, but when, what and how you eat can all have some surprising effects on your ability to work.

Theres a reason nearly two-thirds of Americans drink coffee every day, with an average of 2.7 cups per day, per drinker. Coffee is one of Americas favorite caffeinated beverages, meant to serve as a pick-me-up before or during work.

Instinctively, you might guess that caffeine has a positive effect on your productivity, since its associated with higher energy levels, reduced fatigue and better alertness and focus. And for the most part, youre right. A cup of coffee has about 200 milligrams of caffeine, which is enough to suppress the adenosine in your brain that would ordinarily make you feel sleepy, and provide you with cognitive boosters like better memory and cognitive function. If timed right, coffee (and other forms of caffeine) can improve your performance in the short term.

Create a budget for your caffeine consumption, so you dont overindulge and interfere with your sleep cycle. Consider gradually shifting to decaf coffee as the day moves toward a close.

However, much depends on how you consume caffeine, and in what quantities you consume it. Consuming too much caffeine can lead to jitteriness and anxiety, distracting you from work and interfering with your sleep schedule; and if you lose too much sleep, no amount of caffeine will be able to make up for your cognitive impairment. At the same time, caffeine dependency can actually cause withdrawal symptoms if youre ever left without coffee for a day.

Experts suggest keeping fruit or nuts around as a snack to boost your energy midday, and thats generally good advice, but it pays to know why. Blood glucose is a complicated topic, and its effects on productivity arent cut-and-dry.

Researchers have found that the ideal amount of blood glucose to have circulating in your body is 25 grams; less than that, and your productivity will take a hit. Any more than that, and you wont be able to do much with the extra energy.

So how does this matter to your diet? Almost anything you eat will raise your blood sugar in some way; therefore, if your blood sugar gets too low, youll need to eat something if you want to achieve your optimal performance.

However, not all things raise blood glucose in the same way or in the same amounts; foods higher in the glycemic index, like candy bars and white rice, will cause your blood glucose to spike, preceding a crash shortly thereafter. Low glycemic index foods, like oatmeal and most fruits and vegetables, will provide a steady release over the course of hours.

Have you ever felt less productive and more irritable because you were hungry? You arent alone. It turns out, judges give harsher sentences when theyre hungry, and people are generally less productive when they have food on the mind. This is linked to blood glucose, but serves independently because of the subjective feeling of hunger. Eating filling foods, like proteins and foods high in fiber, early in the day will help you stave off hungerand feel a lot less grumpy. Having a healthy snack nearby can also help.

The foods you eat have an impact on your health, but your health has an impact on your productivity. When it comes to absenteeism (days missed due to health complications) and presenteeism (productivity lost during the day due to health complications), the annual cost for a normal-weight employee is $10,000.

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The annual cost for an obese employee is $16,000. Put simply, engaging in unhealthy eating habits could cause health-related productivity losses 60 percent more than those of average employees.

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So what can we learn from these four insights? Follow these fast tips to get the most out of your workday:

You dont have to become a health nut to reap major benefits. A handful of simple changes to what, when and how you eat and drink each day will do the trick!

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4 Surprising Ways Your Diet Is Affecting Your Productivity - NBCNews.com

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Home » Diet » 4 Surprising Ways Your Diet Is Affecting Your Productivity – NBCNews.com