We weren’t expecting it, but it’s here anyway. Forget bathing suits and sunscreen, the holidays are over. It’s back to school, you’ll have to get back to work, concentrate and manage your energy to be in shape and be productive and creative.
But strokes, slack and cravings for sugar are in ambush. What if the solution for getting back in shape was first on our plate? “There are people who are better organized than others in their work, but improving productivity is not just a question of method. It is also necessary to take into account its physiology, its metabolism, and the quality of the fuel which one provides to its organization! », insists Sophie Gironi, entrepreneur and author of the book Eat well for success * (ed. Thierry Souccar). Which foods to favor or on the contrary avoid to be in top form for the recovery? 20 minutes you compose a plate with small onions.
Take your coffee at the right time
It’s a Pavlovian reflex for many of us: the alarm clock rings, we get up more or less in pain, and we have our morning shot of caffeine. While coffee has many properties – it’s a stimulant, it improves memory and has antioxidant properties – you can only get the most out of its benefits if you know how to consume it at the right time.
“If you drink your coffee too early and on an empty stomach, it will stimulate the secretion of cortisol, the stress hormone, warns Sophie Gironi. In the short term, this will affect our mood, our ability to concentrate and can cause headaches and a loss of energy, which we will try to counter with an extra cup. Ultimately, too high a cortisol level can cause weight gain or libido or even fertility problems.
In addition, consuming too much too late in the day can “lead to difficulty falling asleep and sleep disorders, continues the entrepreneur. There, coffee becomes an enemy of our productivity. To make it a strategic ally, it is advisable to wait at least an hour and a half after waking up before drinking your first cup, and to eat a breakfast rich in proteins and fats and low in carbohydrates to provide your body the good energy he needs”. While waiting for his first dose, “we can start the day with a tea”.
Forget energy drinks
It’s the not-so-secret boot of tired assets: energy drinks. Enriched with caffeine and taurine, but also stuffed with sugar – sometimes 15 grams per can (!) – and chemical additives, the boost they provide is accompanied by a backlash: “fatigue, dehydration , mental fog, food cravings and anxiety take hold of you as soon as the stimulating effects wear off,” warns Sophie Gironi.
To counter the descent, “and regain one’s energy and mental clarity, one is quickly tempted to open a new can, sometimes in the morning, and one becomes addicted to one’s beverages, from which it is difficult to wean oneself when they produce less and less stimulating effects and more habituation”.
Simple and more natural, it is better to drink water, which we can add fresh lemon, mint and red fruits to ensure our good hydration, which is also essential to our body.
Haro on the “4 Ps”: bread, pasta, pizza and pastries
When we get up early to go to work, our stomach often cries hunger as soon as the clock strikes twelve, especially if we are not hungry in the morning and we do not have breakfast. Between two gurgles, the temptation of a comforting dish is at the max. But beware of the monumental crash if you give in to the call of pasta and pizza! “In our modern Western diet, the share of the “4 Ps” has exploded, leading to a decrease in the share of protein consumed, observes Sophie Gironi. We favor invigorating foods, rich in starch and particularly palatable”.
Result: “we have a terrible time digesting, and from the middle of the afternoon, we are victims of the” energy roller coaster “: we have a drop in energy and we go to the vending machine to have yet another coffee and a snack loaded with sugar, which causes a spike in blood sugar, insulin secretion and reactive hypoglycemia. In other words: we have a helm, we respond to the call of sugar, which generates another helm, etc. “.
To eradicate this phenomenon, “there is no secret: you have to stop taking sugar, it is the number one enemy of productivity and energy, and of health, insists Sophie Gironi, who undertook eighteen years ago a reduction in carbohydrates from his diet and lost 40 kg. This may seem radical, but we must eliminate refined sugars: ultra-processed dishes, pastries, snacks and industrial breads which, in the long term, increase our resistance to insulin and make the bed of metabolic diseases, starting with diabetes. If we prefer to go in stages, “small things can already have big effects: one of my friends simply stopped the sugar in coffee, he regained his energy and lost 6 kg”, says the entrepreneur and fitness coach. nutrition.
Go all out on protein
So, what to eat for lunch? “We have to bet on really nutritious foods, which meet the needs of our body and our brain, regrets Sophie Gironi. We must put the package on amino acids and fatty acids. Clearly, proteins, but also lipids: meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs and dairy products are the sources best assimilated by our body. The former participate in the construction and repair of cells, the latter are essential for the proper functioning of the brain, which is made up of 60% fats”.
Proteins of vegetable origin, in vogue on the shelves and our plates, “are less bioavailable, and often based on cereals and legumes”, rich in carbohydrates, she warns. In practice, the lunch plate should be made up of “protein, a nice portion of vegetables with a little butter or olive oil, and you finish your meal with a piece of cheese or a few nuts. as a dessert.
And the sweet touch? To stay focused and awake, we now understand it, it is better to forget it. Ditto for a snack, where you will swap your cereal bar for a piece of cheese, a hard-boiled egg or a few almonds. “Change is scary, and resistance to change is visceral,” notes Sophie Gironi. Especially since we tend to want to have fun, immediately, instead of trying to do good, which is different. It is a path that must be taken”.
* Eating well to succeed, a foolproof method to boost your productivity, your creativity and access infinite energyThierry Souccar editions, in bookstores since August 29.