I had a meeting today that resulted in me feeling like I was in a “Food Coma”. Here is the story.
I had a all day meeting in Toronto with a group of Executives and the morning session was very productive. They brought in lunch and since it was an all day session, the options were limited. The lunch was comprised of a tossed salad(it was small enough that I could have consumed the entire salad), 2 cheese Pizza’s and some sort of supposedly Meditteranean Pasta.
Well i thought I would go as healthy as possible and have salad and the Pasta offering. Well it tasted good so I had seconds of salad as well as pasta.
About 30 minutes later I started feeling brutal. It was like my whole system was shutting down and I felt like falling asleep. I was obviously not the only one affected as I looked over at one of the other Executives and he had one eye closed and the other half open as well and was fighting to stay awake. I then had to have a couple of coffees during the afternoon to stay at least semi alert.
I felt terrible the rest of the day and the first thing I did when I went home was have one of my Green shakes to bring me back and reduce the inflammation. It wasn’t until the evening that I started to feel better.
So I will need to be more careful about what I eat in the future. I found out later that the pasta was from a store and likely was pre made pasta and sauce with tons of unhealthy additives in it, high in sodium etc.
It reminds me of the story I heard about a very high powered negotiation session between 2 different groups that took place in Toronto. It was a very intense negotiations and the two groups split at lunch within their own groups to reposition their strategies for the afternoon.
The group that was the host(and obviously wanted the best outcome) served the other group a very high fat, high carbohydrate, high sodium meal at lunch. They arranged for their own group to have a very healthy lunch….all salads, veggies, fruits and very lean protein.
Well I am sure you can predict the outcome of the afternoon sessions. The group that was served the high carb unhealthy lunch was basically asleep in the afternoon and had trouble staying awake and alert. The “host group” was alert, fresh and had extremely high energy levels.
It is obvious who had the best outcome in terms of the negotiations that day!
So the moral of the story, be careful about what you consume as it can affect your performance on a day to day basis.
Yours in good health, Kev
3 comments
Hi Kevin. I learned an awful lot today from reading your message on Food Comas.
I had no idea that an opposing business would serve food that would affect the behaviour of the other group. That seems awfully low. If companies have to plan menus that would affect the outcome of a business deal I think,I would be very suspicious of their motives.
Kevin I admire the diligence you use when choosing the food you eat. I doubt that there are very few people who are so careful about what they consume.. You set a good example for your children and by writing stories like this one, you make people more aware of the importance of their diet. Great. Marge
Thank you so very kindly Kevin for taking time to share this story. I very much enjoy reading your blog and appreciate your time and effort. My mom who was university professor most of her life once said to me that her job and her life work was never about teaching her students…..she said that her job and purpose was to inspire her students to want to learn. So every time I read your blog I think of that and I thank you for inspiring me too. I think that in life simplicity is always the best choice and you articulate that so well.
marino
Never thought about your blog as a source of negotiating tips. I will also be careful about what is served and eating at lunch during negotiating.
Randy Smallbone