See my blog for the Irish Executives Network below on what low blood sugar levels are really about:

Tuesday Revelations.

Things always go a little funny on a Tuesday and it’s taken me a while to figure out why. The day starts off well as I have a great business support group that meets at 7.30 am. The group gets me motivated and focused for the day and my productivity in the morning is great. However, by the late morning and early afternoon, I start getting tired, my concentration goes and I start craving foods such as sugar. So what is going on?

I quickly realised that Tuesday was different to the other working days of the week. The primary difference was that I tended not to have a breakfast until after the meeting was over. So having got up around 7, it would often be 9-9.30 by the time I had breakfast.

As a result, I had thrown out my metabolic rate and set the scene for the whole day with low blood sugar levels. Although people can often sense when they have low blood sugar levels (the eyes start to glaze over, some yawning perhaps, difficulty focusing or finding words), they do not necessarily see how these low blood sugar levels effect them for the rest of the day.

And my Tuesday mornings showed me that very clearly. I could see that my desire for caffeine was increased as I tried to keep myself going later in the day. My portion sizes were thrown out as I went for larger portions and generally craved carbohydrate rich meals. I would often go looking for a sugar hit after my meals, which was unusual. I also found myself dipping quite quickly after my meal and looking for another snack within an hour or so of it.

I teach this to clients and groups everyday in my nutrition work. But there is nothing like going through something yourself to really get an insight on how ones habits and behaviours with eating patterns can effect our performance so much.

However, what equally surprised me was just how simple it was to turn this around. I started either eating breakfast before I went, or bringing a pot of granola to the meeting. My Tuesday’s changed for the better as I could achieve so much with work, but also maintain focus and energy throughout the day. Each day is a new one, and with each day we can simply make better choices to maintain and improve our health.