Improve your performance by eating a healthy diet
There is a good reason why we see more players following a healthy diet to improve their gaming performance.
Your brain uses a lot of energy, especially during an intense gaming session. The energy your brain uses comes from the food you eat. That’s why following a healthy diet consisting of high quality food is needed to stay fresh and sharp throughout a long gaming session. A healthy diet will boost your reaction time, let you think clearly, and gives you higher concentration for longer periods of time.
By following the healthy eating principles outlined in this article, you ensure your brain is fueled for maximum performance.
High Quality vs. Low Quality
Before diving into the practical details, it’s important to know the difference between high quality and low quality food.
High-quality food are full of nutrients and mostly unrefined and minimally processed. On the other hand, low-quality is found in fast and processed food which contain additives and preservatives to enhance the taste and make the food last longer. Let me point out that these will do no good for your performance.
Nothing will happen if you eat fast and processed food once in a while, but if the majority of what you eat comes from low-quality food sources, it will quickly start to have an impact on your performance.
Principles of healthy eating
- Eat a balanced diet: Think of having different foods throughout your day.
- Pick natural foods: Go for foods that look like they come from nature, not a factory.
- Fill up on fruits and veggies: Try to have lots of colors on your plate.
- Choose good fats: Think avocados, a handful of nuts, or using olive oil for cooking.
- Drink lots of water: Carry a water bottle to make sure you’re hydrated throughout the day.
- Eat at regular times: Try to eat around the same times daily.
- Limit alcohol intake: If you drink, keep it to just one or two and not every day.
How to start eat more healthy
A great way to start is creating a weekly meal plan. A weekly meal plan not only saves you time and energy but makes it much easier to stick to healthy choices.
Pay attention to how different kinds of food make you feel. Notice how you feel in your body after a huge meal. You might recognize the feeling of a heavy body load followed by tiredness and low energy.
Think about how you want to feel after you finish eating. Do you want to have the energy to continue your day or do you prefer lying on the couch for a while to recover.
Soon after you following the healthy choices you will start notices the impacts your on body, sleep, energy levels, focus and mental clarity.