Diet is Bedrock

Oh dear.

Diet.

The online health space is one of the most toxic corners of the internet, and I'd rather stay out.

There's gurus.

There's grifters.

There's emotions.

It's gotten so bad that a whole counterculture has emerged in response to the frauds and the fads.

These creators reject ultra-restrictive diets, cultish health advice and the nitpicky ‘biohacker’ advice.

The core of the movement is “eat a balanced diet and don’t worry too much,” which sadly, has become a groundbreaker message to some.

It’s a mess, so why do I join the rabble?

First, diet matters, and no matter how much BS floats around online, it will stay like that.

And second, it can ruin your hobbies, crafts and passions or lift you up in them. You already pour in a great deal of care and effort, so I’d hate to see something as basic as food get in the way of your fulfilment.

I learned this the hard way a few months ago.

I got an unpleasant shock in the exam room, just as the fate of my degree was on the line. Of course, something had to go wrong, and it did.

Some context first.

Easter holidays come to a graceful end, and after a short flight, I'm back in Ireland to study.

(College is expensive in the UK, and far from worth it)

It's late, pitch black by the time I arrive home, even as the peak of summer marches closer.

Fine by me... except an ugly economics test awaits me the next morning, and my academic game is not on right now.

Ahh whatever.

I'll get some sleep and take it as it comes.

With sick irony, the sun shines and the air is crisp come morning.

I slump out of bed, cram a little and realise I'd better eat.

I like the mental clarity that comes with a skipped breakfast, but a stomach’s growl is never welcome during exams.

I open the fridge aaaand…

Nothing.

All that's left in the pantry is a pack of waffles and two bars of Belgian chocolate, among other miserable scraps of food.

No time to cook either.

I could have gone hungry, but through some strange lapse of judgement, I ate four waffles and a couple chunks of chocolate.

A sugar bomb.

In ages old, when I did eat breakfast, it would be Greek yoghurt, honey and cocoa powder mixed into a blend of high-fat high-protein goodness and topped with something crunchy.

It was perfect.

It’s a bad idea to start your day with sugar -I was well aware, and it’s one of the most basic maxims in the online diet space.

Clearly I underestimated just how bad.

Fast forward an hour and I'm sitting under harsh white light in a room as clinical as you can expect from a modern campus building.

And so the test begins.

And so does the brain fog.

Oh God, the brain fog.

These questions weren't too tricky. Some basic math and a surface knowledge of subsidies would have you flying through.

And yet it was the hardest test I ever took.

My eyes gloss over the words, dead and dissociated.

My head feels like a potato masher ran through it.

And my logic now rivals an orangutan.

The culprit is obvious.

I’ve never had a sugar crash this awful, and it cost me a solid grade.

When I finally closed the paper and let fate handle the rest, I wondered how can people operate like this on the daily?

Is it so embedded in their upbringing that it’s normal to them?

Is it a veil waiting to be lifted? Do they not see the cause of their tiredness?

Questions, questions, questions.

As the rest of the world follows the West in wealth and abundance, ultra-processed food catches the door and creeps into their supermarket shelves.

It’s everyone’s problem now, and too simple a fix to let it sabotage your creativity.

Whatever you do, from work to hobbies to relaxation, a foggy mind and unfit body will forever trip you over.

And again, I'm no health guru. I'm not here to rave over supplements, micronutrients and raw grass-fed organic this and that.

There’s a sane middle ground between pure gluttony and the ideologue health nuts.

It’s the bedrock of your creative life. Screw up the fundamentals, and everything else topples in its wake.

Eat as good as you can afford.

Eat what your ancestors would have recognised as food.

Eat what walks on four legs, swims in the sea and grows in the ground.

And save some room for sweet treats along the way, obviously.

You'll do yourself good, and avoid the lethargy which kills your drive forward.

To your delicious next meal,

Odysseas