I there such a thing as a diet for entrepreneurs?
I think there is and I will explain this by first giving you a little background on myself and then where I am right now with my thoughts after meeting Dr. Alex Richardson.
Let me get out of the way the usual disclaimers that you need to have and please note that the information here is simply my opinion and does not constitute the giving of any advice, recommendations concerning diet, nutrition, health, and wellbeing and if you are considering embarking on any diet program of physical exercise then you must seek the advice of your primary healthcare practitioner or medical doctor.
Ok, now we can get started!
Years ago after putting on a ton of weight after having to stop (after a severe hip injury) one of my favorite sports, Olympic Lifting, I ballooned to 108 kilos — which made me a confirmed “Human Melon” and got many of my friends asking me if I had been swallowing basketballs!
I had always struggled with my weight since being over-fed by my Mother and well-meaning relatives, who had lived through wartime rationing and never wanted me to go hungry.
They made sure I “cleared my plate” at every meal and offered me the odd ton of sweets and chocolates with a few donuts and cakes thrown in for good measure.
Not to mention copious amounts of sugar-loaded fizzy drinks.
But during my teens when learning martial arts, I began to take a much keener interest in nutrition working with names such as John Parrillo, making my first visit to the USA to go and meet him after reading his books, learning from Dr. Michael Colgan and then Dr. Greg Ellis, who I must say was the first person to talk me through the entire process of weight loss and what was the optimal food for human nutrition — fat.
At least according to his research and opinion anyway.
I had heard of this before from Dr. Robert Atkins and the original work of Michel Montignac, but on the Atkins diet, I gained weight because I simply ate too much and the initial phase was too restrictive, the Montignac diet was not that easy to follow as he had gone on to modify his plan from the original.
My “ballooning” of weight was not just the result of stopping lifting, but also because I was flying all over the world building my technology staffing business and spending the majority of my life eating out, dining in very nice restaurants and consuming the odd gallon of wine or two!
I immersed myself into the diet recommended by Dr. Ellis, where you would simply and slowly train your body to use fat as the primary source of energy and for me, the first attempt through Dr. Atkins saw me fall off the wagon after a few weeks as you literally go from your normal diet to eating a maximum of I think back then, was twenty grams of carbohydrate a day!
With Dr. Ellis, I took 6 months to make the switch, gradually reducing my carbohydrate intake to a maximum for me of sixty grams per day — the weight fell off and over a period of I think eighteen or so months, I had reduced my bodyweight from 108 kilos to 91.
I was in heaven as I had never felt better, healthier and could still dine out at any restaurant and enjoy something. Also, I had no fear of consuming carbohydrates because I used them for flavor and not the main food item, so whilst I tried to dine on steak and salad, it would not be a problem if I had the odd potato or a couple of spoonfuls of dessert.
And I never worried about falling off the wagon on vacations, birthdays, Thanksgiving (when I was living in the US) and Christmas as I would simply revert back to the diet straight after.
So you can probably understand my thinking as to why I thought this was the ideal diet for entrepreneurs.
An entrepreneurial diet?
We, entrepreneurs, are a different breed — we think differently, take risks, are prepared to “bounce back” if things go wrong, even very wrong and couldn’t really work for anyone even if we wanted to.
We have to have sharp-thinking, the ability to change direction in a heartbeat, a “get it done” attitude and the mentality to never quit when it comes down to pursuing our dreams.
I had managed to gain control of my weight through a diet and I am lucky enough to have a very strong mindset, which leads me to the recent discovery of the importance of having a diet that optimizes brain function and that is where the work of Dr. Alex Richardson comes into play.
Because we entrepreneurs need optimally functioning brains right?
In fact, doesn’t everyone?
In this article by Dr. Richardson, she talks about “The importance of omega-3 fatty acids for behavior cognition and mood.”
The article talks about the mounting evidence that functional deficiencies and imbalances in certain highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) of the omega-3 and omega-6 series may contribute to a wide range of developmental and psychiatric conditions.
You can read the article to go deeper, but for me, I had concentrated on the importance of saturated animal fats for health but missed the importance of omega-3s and the correct ration between omega-3’s and omega-6’s for brain function and health.
So for me, I have reduced my consumption of animal fats, to replace the reduction with fish and I supplement with fish oils to add to the process.
I am learning more and more about this subject daily and of course, this is simply my choice and I am not suggesting it should be yours, but I have found for me at least, the “missing piece of the nutrition puzzle.”
There are more and more people suffering from depression than ever before, more children are being diagnosed with autism, ADHD and for us adults, there is the fear of suffering from dementia, which is personal to me as I watched my own grandmother’s life literally disappear and later, my mother.
So it makes me think about the old saying that “fish is brain food!”
I believe there is a diet for entrepreneurs and in fact, for everyone who wants to optimize body and brain function and the groundbreaking research by Dr. Richardson and the work of her charity Food and behavior research (FAB) is and is going to be more and more critical, if we are to help people improve their brain function and more importantly, those who suffer from behavioral and psychiatric disorders…especially children.
And if you are considering donating to a charity, then please consider the importance of FAB.
I am a huge proponent of the low carb diet because I have had so much success with it and for many friends and others as well, but now I am understanding the importance of eating omega-3 rich foods such as fish and making sure that my omega-3 to omega-6 ratios are optimal and that is why I am excited to follow the work of Dr. Richardson and the others in her field.
It’s tough being an entrepreneur and we need to stack the odds in our favor to succeed and nutrition is a seriously important component.
Neil Franklin
Brain food entrepreneurial health omega-3 fats
Last modified: August 22, 2020
