Five fundamental food hacks for fierce focus and a masterful mind.

Happy Friday friend!

I’m sure you’re well aware that there are tools we can use that can have a big impact on mood and mental performance.

Tools like meditation, journaling, affirmations, visualization, gratitude. All powerful when used consistently.

Well, this week, we’re taking a different approach to mastering your mind, by what you put, or don’t put, into your mouth.

That’s right. Today you’ll learn that…

The foods you put into your body have as much of an impact on your mental performance as the thoughts you put into your mind.

We’re taught that, as long as we “think right”, journal, meditate and take the odd cold shower, that our minds will be optimized to thrive under even the most intense pressure.

That's far from the whole picture!

We’re used to thinking about things in boxes. Subjects at school, responsibilities at work, movie categories on Netflix. Nature doesn’t work that way, our bodies don’t work that way. Seeing aspects of performance and health as separate slows progress and dilutes results.

What you put in your mouth has as much impact on your mindset as the thoughts you put in your head.

As I see it, there are 5 keys to the kingdom.

• Adding high-sodium electrolytes to water.

• Fasting in the AM.

• Saving carbs for your evening meal.

• Focusing on whole food protein and fats during productive hours.

• Finishing your last meal 2+ hours before bed.

Before we dive in, as with anything you’ll read in The Edge, this is for general information purposes only and is not intended to treat or diagnose any medical or psychological conditions. This information is not intended as a substitute for medical advice and readers should always consult their doctor, physician or registered healthcare practitioner before implementing anything.

With that said, let’s get into it!

1 - Adding high-sodium electrolytes to water.

Electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphate and chloride) are charged minerals that conduct electricity to power your nervous system, build and maintain your skeletal system and regulate fluid balance.

While we’ve gotten the message that hydration is important, drinking too much plain water dilutes the system of electrolytes and puts us at risk of electrolyte imbalance. Bad news!

Low sodium

Among the most serious electrolyte imbalance is Hyponatremia, or low serum sodium. Aside from a slew of dangerous physiological side effects, the cognitive effects of Hyponatremia are significant, including irritability, low mood, mental fatigue and general low energy.

Next time you’re questioning your motivation and drive, consider if it could actually be down to low sodium and poor hydration habits.

2 - Fasting in the AM.

Digestion

With the rise in popularity of intermittent fasting (IF) and time-restricted eating (TDE), it’s easy to fall into the trap of ‘fadding’ yourself out of trying something just because it’s popular. Make no mistake, fasting’s (min. 16hrs meal to meal) the real deal and has major benefits for focus, mental acuity and energy. Digestion’s an energetically demanding process, precisely why it’s tough to jump straight into even the most rudimentary cognitive task right after a decent meal.

Digestion is a parasympathetic process - hence the parasympathetic as the “rest and digest” system - meaning it favors and promotes a relaxed, restful state if it’s to work well. Throwing down 600 calories of anything - carb, protein or fat - and expecting to be mentally dialed-in ten, or even 60-minutes later, mis-aligns the goal and the physiological reality. Fasting in the morning (E.g. finish last meal at 8pm and start first meal at noon the next day) offers a big chunk of time where digestion's not a factor and the focus benefits associated can be used to great effect.

Note: While fasts can be done in the PM (e.g. finish last meal at 4pm and start first meal at 8am the next day), I've found for myself and clients that the AM fast works better practically, psychologically and socially.

Autophagy

It’s also worth considering the brain and mental performance boosting benefits of longer fasts via the process of autophagy. Autophagy’s a natural waste-disposal mechanism that kicks in at around 17 hours of fasting. It’s a self-balancing process that recycles old, damaged and potentially harmful cells throughout the body, including the brain.

Autophagy appears to have a positive effect on neuroplasticity, the process that allows the brain to re-wire itself in response to learning and even recover from injury and damage. Clearly, stringing together a whole month of 17+ hour fasts is going to leave you dangerously low in key nutrients and calories in general, but as few as 2 - 3 fasts per week offers considerable benefit.

3 - Saving carbs for your evening meal.

Avoiding the crash

High carb foods spike blood sugar levels. We’ve all had the experience of eating something carby - pasta, bread, rice, pizza, a whole cheesecake - feeling the immediate “high”, and like clockwork, the ensuing hibernation half an hour later. In response to the rush of glucose from carb-rich (not only sugar) foods, insulin gets released to carry the glucose out of the blood and into cells for use as energy. This has the knock-on effect of lowering blood glucose below baseline, contributing to feelings of fatigue. Clearly, no good for focus and concentration and you can kiss your creativity goodbye.

Neurotransmitters

Consuming carbs also elevates levels of tryptophan and serotonin in the brain. Your brain needs serotonin to make melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating sleep/wake cycles. It’s also the neurotransmitter that’s going to leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, and reduce your subjective feelings of alertness and drive. This isn’t about good or bad, it’s about relevance and timing. How would you rather feel at 10am on a Tuesday with a deadline looming? Warm and fuzzy or focused and clear? How would you rather feel at 10pm on a Thursday after a busy few days? The key is knowing and using the tools to better align your state with your intended behaviors.

4 - Focusing on whole food protein and fats during productive hours.

Naturally, if mental performance benefits from a low carb approach up until the evening meal, that leaves us prioritizing protein and fat as the base for every other meal, or maybe just lunch if you’ve chosen to skip breakfast and fast that morning.

Energy stability

Protein and fat - and we’re talking whole food fat sources including eggs, avocados, oils such as olive, avocado or coconut, oily fish such as mackerel, sardines or salmon, butter or fattier cuts of meat like beef sirloin or chicken thighs - avoid much of the effect on blood sugar and insulin release from carbs. This escapes energy slumps, especially with small to medium size portions, and provides considerable brain boosting benefits in the form of amino acids (from protein) and ketones (from fats).

Amino Acids

The amino acids that make up protein both convert into neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, regulating mood, sense of wellbeing and motivation, and stabilize levels of said neurotransmitters so we’re not rollercoastering our way through every waking moment, feeling like we’re constantly swimming against the tide.

Ketones

While it’s been well asserted that the brain’s preferred source of energy is glucose, there’s a growing and considerable body of evidence that ketones provide all the energy the brain needs, with none of the downside of fluctuating blood glucose. By prioritizing fat and protein until the last meal of the day, the body gets used to using ketones as a primary energy source, encouraging it to use our own fat stores as fuel during exercise and when fasted.

5 - Finishing your last meal 2+ hours before bed.

This one’s an easy fix with a MASSIVE upside. While there are other benefits to finishing your last meal at least two hours pre-bed, from increased growth hormone production to improved digestion and nutrient absorption, for me, it comes down to sleep quality.

I feel lighter, my legs are less twitchy, and my body’s better able to sink into the deeply restful state needed for optimal depth and duration of sleep, rather than having to work overtime to finish up the initial phase of digestion.

Free force-multiplier

This point doesn’t need to be complicated. Anything that aids sleep that doesn’t require you forking out more $$ for unnecessary supplements or fancy mattresses is a big win and needs bumping up the priority list. Sleep is a non-negotiable for mental health and performance. No amount of hydration, meditation, caffeine or keto can paper over the cracks of poor sleep hygiene.

More often than not, food becomes a detractor of performance, either due to emotional or physiological barriers stemming from our relationship with food and/or, frankly, poor food choices. It can be different, and with a few tweaks like those you've read here, food can become the catalyst for consistent clarity and formidable focus.

That’s more than enough to digest (sorry) in one sitting, so until next time,

In love and health,

Alex