What fuels your entrepreneurial brain

Top athletes don't perform optimally without the right nutrition, do you think entrepreneurs are any different?

Over the past 29 years I have been working my way up the career ladder and working hard in my personal quest to own and run my own business. As with many in life I have a demanding work and home life balance with work taking a large portion of my focus, time and energy because this is what pays the bills and creates stability for my family and likewise others that I employ and theirs. My business requires me to travel and this also adds a further impact both on work/home balance as well as health/nutrition and my own personal balance and focus.

I have always tried to keep my mind and body fit by incorporating some exercise into my daily life, mainly to help clear my mind, release stress and help drive me to perform optimally in all I do. Running has been a big part of this for me as over the years I found there was never an excuse why I couldn't just pull on a pair of running trainers and head out for a run, no matter what country I was in, it has always just been about taking the time to do this, no excuses. I recently decided to cut down the volume of running I was doing to help preserve my knees for later in life and incorporate some mountain biking into my weekly routine, I was enjoying this until I clipped into the pedals for the first time, came off my bike and broke my radial bone (elbow). Who said exercise is healthy :-).

Anyhow. Something I realised whilst being very frustrated recovering from my accident was as I need to change my routine for a few weeks whilst I recover, and not do the normal running, biking and mini home gym circuit I had embarked on at home to maintain fitness and mental focus, I could look at my diet and understand the effects this has on my mental and physical fitness, this is where I feel compelled to share my findings so far.

I started with some research into healthy balanced diets to aid good mental and physical fitness. I have previously taken this journey before as I wanted to try cutting out meat in my diet to see the impact it would have on my body/mind and how this would make me feel. For the record, I lasted for 6 months and actually felt really good both in and out, I guess I stopped through peer pressure and taking the easy option because part of me felt embarrassed asking for the veggie options when I travel and when I am trying to grab a quick snack between meetings. Yes, this is a cop out...

So 3 weeks ago I watched some documentaries that have changed my views and actions and this is where things have got really interesting. The main documentary I watched was "what the health" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og62hbNl794) . I was shocked. For those who have not seen it, this in my own words has turned my thoughts on nutrition upside down and inside out. I genuinely feel like I have been lied to and fed BS about health and nutrition by everyone, including my GP. I started to search online plant based diet, Vegan and watch several documentaries and read articles around the benefits everyday people like me have been experiencing just by changing their diets. I also learned of so many top athletes and highly successful people that are Vegans that I would never have known.

So, long story short I decided just over 2 weeks ago to try a plant based diet for a minimum of 2 weeks and see what effect it has on me, both my mind, my body and in my day to day life. Keeping this article "non-preaching" I want to explain why I feel compelled to share where I am and what effects I have seen in just over 2 weeks.

Firstly, I feel cleansed both in and out. I feel more focused than ever before, my brain has suddenly come to life and at 5am on a business trip to South Africa I am up writing this article, not because my alarm went off, but because my mind is so alive and active that I feel the need to share this amazing feeling. I thought it would be crazy to cut out meat, fish and all dairy as my first thought was what the hell am I going to survive on?, but believe me when I say its not that hard, I have already shed about half a stone in weight, I feel less bulky and my whole inner and outer self feels like I could take anything on. My broken elbow has taken a back seat and although the hospital told me 6 - 12 weeks recovery at 5 weeks I have full use of my arm except for carrying weight.

I am shocked...how can I feel this good and only in just over 2 weeks?

In the next 2 weeks I am going to see how things progress and I a going to try and write an updated article so if anyone is interested they can read my journey and see for real what effect this is having on an everyday person like me. I am also going to experiment in cutting out the only medication I have been told I need to take for life - Thyroxine as I developed an under active thyroid around 20 years ago and been on daily meds since. If what I am hearing and experiencing is true, then changing to a plant based diet will not only make me feel like this, it will allow me to get off my medication for good AND if that is not enough reason to adopt this way of living, I reduce the risk of Heart disease, Diabetes, Asthma, Liver disease and many of the cancers that are found in 1 in 3 people these days by around 70%... WTH !!!

Oh, and for the record I love animals, nature and our planet and want my children and my children's children to have a sustainable planet to live on in the future and in taking this journey I help preserve all of this. #whatyouputinyougetout

I challenge you to try it, just 2 weeks of your life and post how you feel...