Food for Thought: Superfoods to Power You Up for Your CFO Duties

Being a CFO is tough. Working around the finance and accounting side of your organization and meeting with your fellow executives get you running (sometimes literally) around your office. For executives like yourself, taking time for food and rest during office hours is already a luxury. While we don’t advise you to skip your mealtime, it is understandable how you sometimes sacrifice it to meet your CFO duties.

 To help you in your search for well-balanced nutrition, here are some superfoods and habits that you should look into:

1.       Have a healthy breakfast

We all heard this from childhood – breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it truly is. The benefits of a proper breakfast include better concentration and performance, lower cholesterol levels, and strength to engage in physical activities. However, how do we define a proper breakfast?

A healthy and proper breakfast includes fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, low or nonfat dairy, and lean protein. Top choices include cereals/oatmeal, low-fat yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, salmon, green leaves, citrus fruits, and bananas.

2.       Throw away processed foods.

No matter how convenient they are, you must avoid processed foods and excess sugars as much as you can. In an interview, finance executive and author Gabriella Kindert justifies why we should all get rid of processed foods and excess sugars. She attributes her weight loss, better skin, and improved ability to think, focus, and sleep, to her decision to cut down on these unhealthy foods.

Most of them come in cans and plastic packaging that contains preservatives and excess sugars that increase the risk of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Opting for whole and natural foods, on the other hand, helps you avoid these diseases.

3.       Take time for a balanced lunch.

While it might be difficult to find time, getting a balanced lunch is necessary for you to sustain your ideal performance throughout the day. Just like your ideal breakfast, a balanced lunch should include protein, whole grains, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. In addition to having a balanced meal, it is also important that you should take your meals away from your computer or your desk.

When you are distracted by your work, you lose focus in feeling “full” and appreciating the meal in front of you. This will lead to getting more snacks in between your work, costing you more time than a proper lunch.

4.       Avoid too much caffeine

This might be heart-breaking for you as well, but too much coffee and tea is bad for you. While that quick cup(s) of coffee powers you in fulfilling your chief financial officer duties, remember that coffee can only give you small bursts of energy, and then leads you to a crash afterwards. Caffeine crash makes you sleepy giving you a stimulus to reach for another cup, and the burst-crash cycle repeats again.

It is better to limit yourself to one cup of coffee (or tea) a day, and drink more water instead to keep you hydrated and refreshed. Also, it is better to drink your coffee black, and your tea all-natural, without any sugar, juice, or cream. All of these additives count as “excess sugar” that we want to avoid, as discussed earlier.

5.       Move and exercise!

A normal day of a CFO is exhausting and stressful, and a good way to release the stress build-up is getting pumped up through exercise. Running, jogging, walking, going to the gym, or playing sports not only make you lose weight, they also help in relaxing your mind and building your overall stamina.

Normally, people exercise after office hours. But if you’re too tired after an intense day at the office, opting for a morning workout will prep you up for the day ahead and clear your thoughts before your work begins.

Remember to take care of yourself every single day in order for you to fulfill your chief financial officer duties flawlessly. Find time to prioritize your nutrition, move around, and your body will surely thank you for it.

However, if you have too much on your plate, take a step back and assess if you are in need of a hand. If you find yourself in that situation, never hesitate to contact D&V Philippines! Our finance and accounting outsourcing specialist are always ready to serve as your right hand CFO!

Learn how one of the largest supplier of dairy and nutrition products in Australia and New Zealand found the right CFO Solutions in D&V Philippines! Get a copy of our case study with Maxum Foods through the button below.