Is your diet helping or hurting your productivity?

Most people know that feeling, whether it hits in the mid-morning, mid-afternoon or both. The energy crash — where tiredness goes up and productivity goes down. The desperate rush for coffee.

Matthew James Ewonus, a seven-year MDRT member from Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, doesn’t experience that anymore, not since transitioning five years ago to a largely meat- and dairy-free diet. (In other words, he’s mostly vegan, though he calls himself a “flexitarian.” If he’s in the mood for a steak or that’s the only option, it’s fair game.)

Because his plant-based diet, an effort to use scientific information to live a healthy life for as long as possible, has smoothed out his blood sugar, he maintains a steady stream of energy throughout the day. The result almost goes without saying: better focus, better productivity, and a happier, more balanced lifestyle.

Finding lost hours

“If you lose an hour a day, five days a week, to less-than-optimal productivity, that adds up to 20 hours a month and keeps adding up,” Ewonus said. “When you add those hours back in, you’re amazed at what you’re able to accomplish.”

Not that health is the only way Ewonus establishes balance in his life. The husband of a professional champion mountain biker, Ewonus himself competes in a bike race or two per year, just recently getting back from an event in New Zealand.

His passion for biking stemmed from realizing as he got older that it became harder to fit scheduled engagements (like basketball, which he played in college) into his calendar. So he started cycling, and what happened? He met his wife at a race, and the rest is history.

 

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