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Eat better, feel better
Bob Walsh of Web Worker Daily interviewed David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, about the impact of stress on web workers’ physical health. My favorite part is David talking about how a better, more nutritious diet has made him healthier.
From the interview:
Bob: Do you exercise? I know you were into karate many years ago.
David: Not as regularly as I can… I have a pretty active lifestyle: I walk dogs, get on planes, all that work. You know, one of my biggest “A ha’s!” that was a big surprise to me, was nutrition. I didn’t think it was that big a deal. I lived a disposal life, just “open mouth insert food.” In the travel I was doing in my life, I thought if I exercised enough that would handle it.
[At the end] end of 2000, like seven or eight years ago I discovered a nutritional program that made a lot of difference. Since then, I’ve reduced to almost zero cold and flu. It allows me a lot more stable energy, I think, than the highs, ups and lows and downs that I’ve been expecting before.
This has been very much like my experience over the past eight or nine months. I do not dedicate much time to exercise (though I do walk a lot), but improving my diet has made me healthier — I feel better, I get sick less often, and I have a higher overall level of energy.
My diet is better largely because of Google. Since starting there in June 2007, I have taken advantage of the famous free lunch to eat salad every day, diversify my caloric intake, and stop drinking soda (almost) altogether. For breakfast, I have a Clif bar (all-natural, balanced energy) and a fruit smoothie. It’s not hard to eat right when the right foods are convenient, and it helps when they’re free too!
The other contributor to my new and improved diet is local, organic produce from the Home Grown Wisconsin Cooperative. Michelle and I are members of their Community-Supported Agriculture program, which delivers farm-fresh produce (vegetables, fruit, cheese and eggs) to Chicago from June through February each year. (Sadly, as I write this, it is truly the off-season.) The steady stream of ingredients has motivated us to explore new recipes, eat seasonally, make healthier meals and become generally more engaged with the experience of buying, preparing and eating food.
This David Allen interview inspired me to share my experiences, because I think it’s important to highlight the real, noticeable health improvements that good nutrition provides. If we become more aware of the importance of nutrition in our daily lives, that can only be a good thing.