There are various definitions for resilience, one being the ability to respond and rebound from the impact of acute hazards and chronic stressors to overcoming adversity and unpleasant events and successfully adapting to change and uncertainty.
Resilience has been such a key driving force within organizations and at home during the pandemic as well as coming out of a Covid-19 world. Many of us have felt the shift in burnout in relation to productivity at work during this time and hyper-focused on emotional and mental health as a supportive resource to all divisions within employee engagement. We have seen an overhaul when it comes instilling practices to enhance awareness around mindfulness, stress management techniques, avoiding or reversing zoom fatigue, and specifically the assessment of productivity while working from home. But, what about nutrition and resiliency? Nutrition, has been a little behind when it comes to supporting workplace wellbeing during these times, even though nutrition is commonly a key driver during vulnerabilities such as chronic health conditions or especially when it comes to resilience-building efforts between people and systems. What if I told you that nutrition can also support resilience on a behavioral level, equally important to stress management and behavioral therapies? Nutrition at its finest could ward off so much stress alone, yet its reputation is underrated. I’d like to shed a huge bright light on nutrition and resiliency – within your homes, in-office and organizational structures.
Resilience at its best is about transformation and how individuals, households and organizations have the capacity to deal with stresses and shocking situations. The fundamentals of resilience are to have a baseline of safety. So, what happens when we are burnt out, not eating or skipping meals, eating poor quality, processed foods that feed stress and triggers even more? This is such a significant topic given the challenges we are faced on a day to day with a fervent need to develop integrated nutrition-sensitive programs.
Check out these highlighted key topics as to why Nutrition can matter so much in the workplace during these times:
o Nutrition can inform resilience thinking, productivity, and longevity by bringing new insights to three resilience capacities (absorptive, adaptive, and transformative). The transformative piece is important! It means to have the ability to create a fundamentally new system so that the shock will no longer have any impact. This is necessary when it comes to building strong teams that foster growth and confidence!
o Although, resilience and under-nutrition has been a focus in vulnerable populations, a focus towards a ‘whole’ system’ perspective would be best to fill in the gaps and strengthen employee performance on a holistic level using nutrient dense food programming for optimum performance and productivity as well as endurance.
o Working from home, especially Mom’s, are feeling the lack of support as to how to do it all for their children and still maintain the same amount of productivity in their leadership roles. Healthy meals and self-care has fallen to the wayside for many running family units or even those alone at home.
How can we fix this?
3 Steps to Resilience Using Nutrition
1. Eating at the same time everyday creates a routine and circadian rhythm leading to feelings of SAFETY. Our bodies know. Safety is the number one factor enhancing resilience in individuals. Individuals that did not have enough food available to them as children can have less resilience and this is also true when we are trying to lose weight the wrong way (side note!). If the body is in constant survival mode, guess what? We hold onto unwanted weight in fear that we don’t have enough food for survival. The reverse is true as well; if we are eating too much and too often, of processed foods and even healthy foods, this creates stress on the body and mind.
2. Eating foods that promote calming neurotransmitters, like sweet potatoes. If you’re following a Keto diet of some sort and having sleep issues, anxiety and/or low-grade depression, that is why! Serotonin and melatonin promote deep restful sleep. Sleep is on top of the list to build optimal resilience.
3. Stabilizing blood sugar before bedtime. If you have to have a snack before bed, let it be no more than 2oz of protein and one fruit. For instance, that glass of wine may feel great to ease stress, however, it may work against you and your sleeping patterns inducing glucose detoxification between 2am – 4am, waking you up out of a sound sleep. If you don’t want to remove that glass of wine, have 2oz of Greek yogurt or turkey, or 1oz of nuts before bedtime to stabilize glucose levels. However, removing alcohol gives the body and brain a ton more space to build resilient neurotransmitters, especially after the age of 40.
Using healthy foods and the ‘when’ and ‘why’ as part of a healthy eco-system is not just an individual thing, but also relevant amongst teams at work! Interestingly, team resilience is not the sum of each member’s resilience but that of creating work climates that foster ‘bounce-back’ mentality. Nutrition, amongst other strong pillars of resiliency such as emotional well-being, physical fitness and stress management could be an awesome model for workplace wellness and the leaders within it, wanting to win it!
If you would like to learn more, please contact me at info@nataliesteiner.com or schedule a consult at https://nataliesteiner.com for more information on corporate wellness seminars, and executive engagement coaching.
References:
1. Nutrition and Resilience. A Scoping Study. Lola Gostelow, Gwenola Desplats, Jeremy Shoham. Version 1.0, 2015 https://www.ennonline.net/attachments/2450/Resilience-report-final.pdf
2. Food for the Brain https://foodforthebrain.org/5-steps-to-mental-wellbeing-during-covid-19/
