Fueling Our Workforces – How Food for Good Can Change Business Outcomes
Lindsey Wilson from raw cacao superfood brand, Recocoa, takes a closer look at what your employees are eating - and why - and how it could be impacting your bottom line.
By Lindsey Wilson
18 August 2022 • 6 minute read

What could happen if we started to focus on eating ourselves well?
So often, we give our attention to ‘not eating badly’. We tiptoe around the office doughnuts and bring our lunch in as much as we can to avoid temptation. What could change if we all adopted ‘positive eating’ and only fuelled ourselves with the good stuff; the foods that might actually change our health outcomes and avoid a lot of heartache – quite literally – in the future. And what role can business leaders play in facilitating the shift?
A snapshot of reality
We all know that eating a healthy diet can make life better. That’s a massive generalisation that is so often easily swept to the side. Raw cacao superfood brand, Recocoa, takes a closer look and what your employees are eating and how it could be impacting your bottom line.
Hunger impacts mood and decision-making – and not in a positive way. Eating the wrong foods can also be destructive to the office environment that you’ve so carefully constructed. But this is something that you can change. As with so many things, it’s knowing the why and the how that will help you to make the great leap forward.
The brain responds well to certain foods. Eating them can help prevent distraction, improve focus, drive productivity and lift moods. While you can expect to see the usual suspects listed – fatty fish and broccoli, we mean you – the list of brain foods is busting with office-friendly options that can be consumed across the day:
Coffee
Blueberries
Pumpkin seeds and nuts
Dark chocolate – the darker and purer, the more optimal the result
A study published in 2011, in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, states that an increase in circulating blood glucose can facilitate cognitive functioning. This is called the ‘glucose memory facilitation effect’, where steady glucose levels fuel the brain and improve memory. You could be looking at increased productivity simply by supporting, promoting and providing brain-friendly snacks for your employees to nibble on.
Give the slump the slip
When lunch digests and the body hits the post-sugar slump, you can experience disturbed concentration, a grumbling stomach and even headaches. This can be as true of having a no lunch as having a stodgy lunch. It can be kicked to the kerb (temporarily) with an afternoon coffee and a handful of biscuits. But, this is an artificial high – a spike – that won’t last. Providing healthy snacks can help prevent this cycle and maintain performance. Why not provide an afternoon snack that maintains blood sugar levels? On the surface, it might not seem like a master plan, but imagine a workforce that is as engaged and dynamic in the afternoon as they are in the morning and not liable to a sugar slump/spike that eats into their afternoon.
You get what you give
Isn’t it up to employees to keep themselves fed? Maybe, but caring for your teams through some carefully considered snack options won’t break the bank. It will, however, highlight your investment and belief in your teams and it will make healthier choices a part of the company culture.
A step too far?
More nanny state shenanigans? No more than putting a stellar training and development programme to support and help your staff to realise their potential. Giving your staff healthy choices and encouraging conscious eating can become part of your company culture.
It was made harder to smoke during work time and going to the pub every lunchtime is no longer a protected practice; yet, we’re still shy of setting great examples when it comes to optimal nutrition in the workplace.
21 days to better
That’s how long it can take to adjust to eating different foods (and not eating so much of others). That’s less than a month to increase productivity, happiness and wellbeing. Change can be hard, but we’ve gone through change in the past.
Workplaces are full of evidence of our evolution in working practices; the statutory Health and Safety Certificate, recycling bins, inclusivity and diversity policies and practices have paved the way for the healthy eating revolution to truly embed itself in our workplace psyche.
It’s not about disciplining ourselves and denying treats; it’s about reframing what a treat looks like and the difference that eating one thing over another can make to your health outlook, both in the office and in the years ahead.
And isn’t your talent worth it?
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Lindsey Wilson
Recocoa