If you're going to dedicate yourself to a job in which your brain is the most important part of your body, you need to treat it right. Treat it, and think well. This is no fad diet section; I want to look at how to optimise your writing ability through good nutrition.
The Naughty Things
I have no doubt that people are quite able to write while eating junk food, and over short periods of time they may even do it better - pulling an all-nighter for an essay or similar. But that's not sustainable if you want a career of writing. It does not equip you to sit down day after day without falling asleep after your midday meal or crashing from low blood sugar. Good health only comes with good nutrition.
Hunger vs Willpower
It's very difficult to force yourself to do anything when you are hungry. Easy solution, don't let yourself get hungry. When planning to eat, don't wait until it is too late. One of the biggest traps I've found while writing is that you get caught up in what you are doing, and then suddenly realise you're starving. You go into the kitchen and everything seems too difficult, so you might just grab some chips or live on toast. Toast might get you through the short term, but you'll look back at the week and realise you haven't had anything other than processed carbs. The salad materials you bought have now gone brown and your poor digestive system hasn't seen a vitamin in days. Therefore, plan ahead! And plan to have some pre-made meals for the few slips you might still make.
The first step is to always have breakfast. I know, some of you don't like breakfast. You don't feel hungry in the morning, it's 'always' been this way, it's in built. But you can train yourself to prefer and even crave a healthy meal to start your day. So start with something, even if it is just a piece of fruit (but be aware of the 'sugar crash' that can follow natural fruit sugars as it can follow a cake or biscuit).
My breakfast ranges from porridge with cinnamon and brown sugar in winter (it's so comforting and makes the world seem better), to natural yogurt and a homemade oat and dried apricot granola. Whatever works for you, organise it and use it. Plan simple and brain appropriate breakfasts that won't be stressful to make. If you plan them now, you can add the ingredients to the shopping list.
Assuming you get up early enough to leave time between breakfast and lunch, I agree with the Hobbits on the importance of elevenses. A mid-morning snack breaks the workload into manageable pieces and gives you something to look forward to. Further, I'm not one of those people who say you should only eat fruit, unless you feel like it. Personally I find fruit one of the greatest things in the universe, however I am also in favor of a bit of cake - when it's the good solid homemade variety. Something that makes you look forward to the coming break, but doesn't leave you bouncing off the walls afterwards, or feeling so stuffed that you have to waddle back to your chair. Cheese and biscuits is another good snack. It is just a matter of all things in moderation.
Lunchtime
I love lunch. So many options! Almost anything is acceptable at lunch, unlike dinner and breakfast (which tend to be more traditional and rigid in their definitions). The thought of lunch, what I might have and how it will taste, gets me through a tough morning writing session. I am not above negotiating with myself or even stooping to self-bribing when necessary. However, you do need to think about the consequences.
Many people complain about a tiredness and heaviness after lunch that makes tasks such as writing feel impossible. This wipes out a good three hours of possible writing time, for no real benefit. If you've decided to go see a movie for three hours, well at least you would get some enjoyment. But just staring at a screen blankly and trying to stop your head hitting the desk is a waste of effort. Therefore, do everything in your power to stop this mid-afternoon crash. This starts at lunch.
Some Steps You Can Take To Avoid the After-Lunch Slump
1. More protein, less carbs. (Okay, so I sort of agree with the nutritionists, in that you should have some protein. But carbs aren't all bad.) A big bowl of pasta is a great way to make you want to curl up and sleep. However, a chicken salad will keep you fresh and awake.
2. More protein, less carbs. (I sort of agree with the nutritionists, in that you should have some protein. But carbs aren't all bad.) A big bowl of pasta is a great way to make you want to curl up and sleep. However, a chicken salad will keep you fresh and awake.
3. Meditating for 20 minutes is excellent, but afterwards you need to kick your body back into gear, so try going for a walk to get the blood flowing again to the rest of your body. Also, getting out into the sunlight will let your body know it should be awake.
4. Are you getting enough iron? One of the causes of fatigue, in women in particular, is lack of iron. Use your lunchtime as a chance to make sure you get enough. Chuck some spinach into your salad, or make it a Thai beef salad.
5. After the allocated 20 minutes, you need to kick your body back into gear, so try going for a walk to get the blood flowing again to the rest of your body. Also, getting out into the sunlight will let your body know it should be awake.
In the afternoon it is easy to start craving carbs and sugar, but now really isn't the best time to have them, as they are just going to make you feel worse. Instead, now is a great time to make sure you have gotten enough veggies for the day. Still a bit low? Try something like carrot sticks with hummus, or even nuts. Once you realise how good getting vitamins can be, your body will be begging you for them.
Dinner
Dinner. Hmmm, I'm not sure if I buy the common diet myth that 'You shouldn't eat after 6pm.' I find that coming to that time of night and realising I can't have anything more until I go to bed is seriously depressing, and just makes me want to sulk. So sometimes you need to be realistic about this. A smaller dinner with a dessert, followed by a supper snack a few hours later will keep you ticking over nicely for an evening writing session.
Making your meals smaller means you're allowed to have more of them. How great is that? Also, you will avoid feeling stuffed, and not feel hungry in between. Just make sure that you do reduce the size of your meals to compensate for having more of them.
Snacking While Writing
As previously mentioned, I'm not above a bit of bribing to get myself to sit down and write. When I first started my writing challenge, I had a great idea. I would beat two willpower problems at once: I would make sure I was never hungry OR fighting major temptation. How did I do this? By allowing myself to eat as much chocolate as I wanted, but only while I was writing. Great plan, huh? If I wanted to eat chocolate, which I did nearly all the time, then I had to be writing.
Hmmm... then there's the downside... If you're planning to spend 4+ hours writing per day, then eating chocolate for this entire time is not going to be healthy. The chocolate had to go. Painful, but it came down to a point of all or nothing for me. I was like an alcoholic - once I started, I couldn't stop. So the only solution was not to start at all.
Welcome into my life caramel jerseys. I just replaced the chocolate with something else, so neatly didn't solve the problem in the slightest. But I still felt I needed something while I was just sitting there doing nothing - and the chewing helped me think! So I started chewing gum. What else was I to do?
Chewing gum has a couple of benefits: first, your breath stays minty fresh. Second, the chewing really seems to help the thought process. Third, it stops you putting anything else, like mysteriously appearing pieces of chocolate, into your mouth.
Now I know this sounds like a small, inconsequential piece of advice, but think about it. If chewing gum saves me from devouring chocolate for four hours a day, that saves me hundreds of calories a day. Hundreds of calories a day quickly equals an extra two kilos of weight gain per month. That becomes 24kgs heavier for every year that I write!
Like I said, chew gum.
The Naughty Things
I have no doubt that people are quite able to write while eating junk food, and over short periods of time they may even do it better - pulling an all-nighter for an essay or similar. But that's not sustainable if you want a career of writing. It does not equip you to sit down day after day without falling asleep after your midday meal or crashing from low blood sugar. Good health only comes with good nutrition.
Hunger vs Willpower
It's very difficult to force yourself to do anything when you are hungry. Easy solution, don't let yourself get hungry. When planning to eat, don't wait until it is too late. One of the biggest traps I've found while writing is that you get caught up in what you are doing, and then suddenly realise you're starving. You go into the kitchen and everything seems too difficult, so you might just grab some chips or live on toast. Toast might get you through the short term, but you'll look back at the week and realise you haven't had anything other than processed carbs. The salad materials you bought have now gone brown and your poor digestive system hasn't seen a vitamin in days. Therefore, plan ahead! And plan to have some pre-made meals for the few slips you might still make.
The first step is to always have breakfast. I know, some of you don't like breakfast. You don't feel hungry in the morning, it's 'always' been this way, it's in built. But you can train yourself to prefer and even crave a healthy meal to start your day. So start with something, even if it is just a piece of fruit (but be aware of the 'sugar crash' that can follow natural fruit sugars as it can follow a cake or biscuit).
My breakfast ranges from porridge with cinnamon and brown sugar in winter (it's so comforting and makes the world seem better), to natural yogurt and a homemade oat and dried apricot granola. Whatever works for you, organise it and use it. Plan simple and brain appropriate breakfasts that won't be stressful to make. If you plan them now, you can add the ingredients to the shopping list.
Assuming you get up early enough to leave time between breakfast and lunch, I agree with the Hobbits on the importance of elevenses. A mid-morning snack breaks the workload into manageable pieces and gives you something to look forward to. Further, I'm not one of those people who say you should only eat fruit, unless you feel like it. Personally I find fruit one of the greatest things in the universe, however I am also in favor of a bit of cake - when it's the good solid homemade variety. Something that makes you look forward to the coming break, but doesn't leave you bouncing off the walls afterwards, or feeling so stuffed that you have to waddle back to your chair. Cheese and biscuits is another good snack. It is just a matter of all things in moderation.
Lunchtime
I love lunch. So many options! Almost anything is acceptable at lunch, unlike dinner and breakfast (which tend to be more traditional and rigid in their definitions). The thought of lunch, what I might have and how it will taste, gets me through a tough morning writing session. I am not above negotiating with myself or even stooping to self-bribing when necessary. However, you do need to think about the consequences.
Many people complain about a tiredness and heaviness after lunch that makes tasks such as writing feel impossible. This wipes out a good three hours of possible writing time, for no real benefit. If you've decided to go see a movie for three hours, well at least you would get some enjoyment. But just staring at a screen blankly and trying to stop your head hitting the desk is a waste of effort. Therefore, do everything in your power to stop this mid-afternoon crash. This starts at lunch.
Some Steps You Can Take To Avoid the After-Lunch Slump
1. More protein, less carbs. (Okay, so I sort of agree with the nutritionists, in that you should have some protein. But carbs aren't all bad.) A big bowl of pasta is a great way to make you want to curl up and sleep. However, a chicken salad will keep you fresh and awake.
2. More protein, less carbs. (I sort of agree with the nutritionists, in that you should have some protein. But carbs aren't all bad.) A big bowl of pasta is a great way to make you want to curl up and sleep. However, a chicken salad will keep you fresh and awake.
3. Meditating for 20 minutes is excellent, but afterwards you need to kick your body back into gear, so try going for a walk to get the blood flowing again to the rest of your body. Also, getting out into the sunlight will let your body know it should be awake.
4. Are you getting enough iron? One of the causes of fatigue, in women in particular, is lack of iron. Use your lunchtime as a chance to make sure you get enough. Chuck some spinach into your salad, or make it a Thai beef salad.
5. After the allocated 20 minutes, you need to kick your body back into gear, so try going for a walk to get the blood flowing again to the rest of your body. Also, getting out into the sunlight will let your body know it should be awake.
In the afternoon it is easy to start craving carbs and sugar, but now really isn't the best time to have them, as they are just going to make you feel worse. Instead, now is a great time to make sure you have gotten enough veggies for the day. Still a bit low? Try something like carrot sticks with hummus, or even nuts. Once you realise how good getting vitamins can be, your body will be begging you for them.
Dinner
Dinner. Hmmm, I'm not sure if I buy the common diet myth that 'You shouldn't eat after 6pm.' I find that coming to that time of night and realising I can't have anything more until I go to bed is seriously depressing, and just makes me want to sulk. So sometimes you need to be realistic about this. A smaller dinner with a dessert, followed by a supper snack a few hours later will keep you ticking over nicely for an evening writing session.
Making your meals smaller means you're allowed to have more of them. How great is that? Also, you will avoid feeling stuffed, and not feel hungry in between. Just make sure that you do reduce the size of your meals to compensate for having more of them.
Snacking While Writing
As previously mentioned, I'm not above a bit of bribing to get myself to sit down and write. When I first started my writing challenge, I had a great idea. I would beat two willpower problems at once: I would make sure I was never hungry OR fighting major temptation. How did I do this? By allowing myself to eat as much chocolate as I wanted, but only while I was writing. Great plan, huh? If I wanted to eat chocolate, which I did nearly all the time, then I had to be writing.
Hmmm... then there's the downside... If you're planning to spend 4+ hours writing per day, then eating chocolate for this entire time is not going to be healthy. The chocolate had to go. Painful, but it came down to a point of all or nothing for me. I was like an alcoholic - once I started, I couldn't stop. So the only solution was not to start at all.
Welcome into my life caramel jerseys. I just replaced the chocolate with something else, so neatly didn't solve the problem in the slightest. But I still felt I needed something while I was just sitting there doing nothing - and the chewing helped me think! So I started chewing gum. What else was I to do?
Chewing gum has a couple of benefits: first, your breath stays minty fresh. Second, the chewing really seems to help the thought process. Third, it stops you putting anything else, like mysteriously appearing pieces of chocolate, into your mouth.
Now I know this sounds like a small, inconsequential piece of advice, but think about it. If chewing gum saves me from devouring chocolate for four hours a day, that saves me hundreds of calories a day. Hundreds of calories a day quickly equals an extra two kilos of weight gain per month. That becomes 24kgs heavier for every year that I write!
Like I said, chew gum.
About the Author:
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