Let's Not Get Hangry

On the day after Thanksgiving, most people are doing two things: recovering from their food coma and taking the day off work. Thanksgiving leftovers typically last for days afterward, so I'd be willing to bet that most people are so full of mashed potatoes that they turn into couch potatoes for the duration of their time away from work.

At least, that's what I'm doing.

My theory on why Americans gorge themselves on Thanksgiving has nothing to do with its origins in celebrating the harvest (or the myth of Native American and Pilgrim harmony): it's simply that taking time away from work is rare for most people working in the USA.

Americans get ten days of paid vacation in the world, 2nd to only the economic powerhouse of Micronesia. They also work longer hours than most of the citizens in America's economic peers. The first thing anyone would do after a long day of work is sit down to guzzle some gravy.

Taking time off is useful for three main reasons:

• It lets us rest.
  Sleep isn't just for physical recovery, essential for those who work in blue-collar, physically demanding jobs, but also a necessity for knowledge workers who exert their minds. It's crucial for mental health and managing stress.
• It lets us revitalize.
  When we feel energized, we're more likely to have a positive mindset and make informed decisions. Being motivated is critical for overall job satisfaction and success, and time off helps with that.
• It lets us reevaluate.
  Stepping away from work allows us to focus on the big picture, much like a painter stepping away from the canvas in order to see if everything goes together nicely.

It’s the last part that I want to focus on, especially as it's the holiday season. This all still applies for the rest of the year, but something about winter, food comas, and the calendar flipping to the next year makes this a good time to reevaluate. But what exactly should we reevaluate?

It's best to start with the fundamentals: we all make decisions largely based on how we feel. And nothing impacts our mood more than our food.

Here's a completely unrealistic scenario: Imagine you've overslept and as such, skipped breakfast. You've got a day full of meetings, and you don't have anything except coffee until late in the day when you order some Grubhub to stop your stomach growling. Unless you cancel your plans that evening, you're likely to repeat the cycle tomorrow.

We've all experienced some version of the above and know exactly what it feels like. There's even a word for it: hangry, that special anger that results from an empty stomach. It's the basis for possibly the most iconic candy commercial in the world: You're Not You When You're Hungry. Here are all the best Snickers commercials in case you want to take a break from reading this to watch them:

One interesting thing to notice here is that every aspect of our diet affects us. It's not just Thanksgiving meal-induced food comas but also a lack of food that plays a major role. If you've ever walked into a grocery store when hungry (or after a workout), you know exactly how hunger affects decisions.

There's a famous saying attributed to the New England philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Sow a thought, and you reap an action." Our relationship with food is critical to our decision-making processes, which directly impact real-world outcomes.

It's not just 1800s philosophers saying this: there are multiple scientific studies to back this claim up. The connection between the gut and the brain is well known, and here's a study that lays out how eating heavy meals causes hormonal changes in the body that promote sleepiness (which dramatically affects decision-making). For those who like Andrew Huberman, here's a great episode on how food controls our mood.

Nothing impacts our mood more than our food.

Put simply: You are what you eat. There's so much to unpack when it comes to the impact our food has on us, and examining our diet helps us make sure we have a clear mind before making decisions.

Before we start waving around the axe of whatever mental model applies to our situations, we need to take the time to make sure we're swinging it from the proper stance so that we don't accidentally hit something else.

Future posts will dive deeper into the effect our internal state has on our external actions - more to come!

-Sid

Thoughtful strategies for sustainable success.