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This thread takes inspiration from the following DeutscheWelle documentary, about the effect of food on the brain.
As traders, our job is to make rational decisions with incomplete and conflicting information.
Rational decisions are taken by our brain that, at the end of the day, is a physical organ.
The question is "can we really exclude proper nutrition as a crucial factor for decision making?"
We feed our body 3 times a day, very often with sugar, caffeine, chocolate and other foods that we know have an impact on our mood. In some way we must assume that food play a role in our trading related decisions, For instance what are the effect of trading under a protein based diet, rather than a sugar based diet?
Please share your thoughts on this subject.
-Do you take into account the effect of nutrition? -
-Do you follow a particular diet?
-Do you take supplements, like Omega-3 ?
I don't do anything of the above, but I am seriously wondering if I should.
Please let me know what you think.
I've learnt, over time, what upsets my thinking. And that's not just for trading.
If I have cereal breakfasts for more than a few days in a row my mind becomes cloudy and racey.
If I don't get enough fibre my immune system starts to become more susceptible to colds etc over a few days.
If I don't get enough protein my thinking isn't optimal.
So I've come around to rotating my breakfasts ...for starters.
Alcohol... I've had some great in-the-zone sessions while a little tipsy.
...But I've had many "it'll come back my way" decisions and revenge trading sessions on alcohol that have outweighed the good ones.
Sugar highs aren't the best for trading either. For me.
For me, as someone who is sensitive to the effects of what I eat, there's no doubt that decent nutrition is important for making good sound trading decisions. ( and non-trading decisions! )
(BTW, there are studies that suggest being slightly hungry can place you in a better state of mind for troubleshooting and making decisions.)
I also like the routine semi-meditation aspect of the process of making a green tea, for example, and sipping on it. Creates a state of mind before sitting down and going to work. Or even making an espresso/cappuccino.
l-theanine and caffeine might help. But the best thing that's helped me when trading early is good sleep, and exercise (simple walk or jog outside in fresh air is a good start).
What I'm about to mention below is completely my individual opinion and schedule, I've consulted my family doctor and gym nutritionist as well and I do not have any allergies to anything mentioned below.
First of all, I've had history of being sleepy during days, so much so that I've fallen a sleep during some very risky situations which could've caused accidents. I do not drink anymore (A year of soberness), I don't drink coffee more than couple of times per month for fear of addiction and I drink tea 3 times a day.
I'm a regular gym goer, I've bought some equipment for myself (came in handy during lock-downs) and I do work out for at least 4 days per week and cardio for 2 days at least. My cardio is simply taking long distance walks, no machines or running. My workout is not with heavy weights but more number of reps. I swap that program when I've access to gym where I follow typical 8-10-12 system with heavy weights.
Below is my vitamin and nutritional system.
I take
1. omega-3 (1000mg - 550mg EPA; 350mg DHA; 100mg Other Omega 3 Fatty Acids) - This is fish extracted and not flax.
2. Protein - 5 whole eggs + protein isolate with 26g per 30-32gm scoop size ones a day. Other than this I would buy ready to eat chicken breasts occasionally. Overall, my intake comes around 100 gm per day. Sometimes its less but not by much.
3. I take creatine monohydrate, simple micronized form (no pre or post workout) around 3gm scoop couple of times per week.
4. Alpha Lipoic Acid 300Mg - One capsul whenever I plan to take creatine.
5. In fruits I generally consume kiwi, apple, banana and lime/lemonade almost everyday.
6. In nuts I consume dry fruits and peanuts (not butter or shelf form, just ready to consume raw form which I heat up and eat with some jaggery)
7. Other than this I take vitamin D and C, but very sparingly, D I would take one capsule per week for 2 months and I will repeat that course twice per year). For other vitamins I would take 2-3 capsules of multivite per week but never on same or consecutive day.
I eat fast food 2-3 times per month, this will also be limited to the "one meal" only, this is my cheat or relief food which I would eat with my friends in social setting. Other than that everything I eat is homemade. Only little problem is that in my home people are still using refined oil and not olive for frying purposes and Indian food by default is not protein heavy.
Also, I strictly avoid fruit juice or any other "miracle juices", this includes ayurvedic/ancient medicine blends.
I do however, will consume 1 teaspoon of honey when I'm craving for suger. I do not take any "Sugerfree thingy" either, I just avoid anything that has possibility of having high content of suger (both regular and artificial), you will be surprised to find out almost everything you eat off the shelf is almost as or sometimes more unhealthy than a bigmac. But don't quote me on that, go do your own label reading adventure.
I might have forgotten something, but this is the basic structure. I will also regulate this based on how my body is feeling, for example if I've had really good session of workout and my body is feeling sore overnight, I'll consume little more protien next day to help recover it.
Take what you will from this but never consume any of it without consulting a proper doctor. Avoid homeopathy or ayurvedic or chinese medicine.
Wow that's quite interesting, when I started this thread I had been sleepy the whole day, and I was wondering if morning breakfast with cereals had to do anything with that. I had been taking cereals for 10 days in a row. This morning I read your post and I switched to fruits and I can see my brain is more awake.
Some years ago I used to eat milk in the morning and then I discovered that I had some kind of allergy, then I switched to soy milk. That was even worse. I discovered that for many men soy is very bad because it contains estrogen.
What I noticed in my self is that whenever I take milk, soy drinks or coconut water I get extremely sleepy.
The same applies to any milk derivatives, some years ago I got used to take some Greek yogurt and after that I used to get so sleepy that for a couple of hours after taking the yogurt I could barely stand.
Nothing has helped me more than cutting out carbs from being on a keto diet. Before when I was eating bread, pasta, oatmeal, etc I would often feel cloudy (and thinking man why is it so hard to think right now) and hungry which made it hard to maintain my weight. Now after being on this diet for 3 months and combining it with intermittent fasting, it is extremely easy to think, I concentrate so much better now, and sometimes I have to make myself eat from rarely feeling hungry. Also before cutting out bread my joints would usually hurt from inflammation and don’t have that problem anymore. All I have to do is make sure to eat vegetables otherwise I'll get headaches from a lack of minerals but otherwise this diet has been a blessing and I would recommend it to any trader.
Thank you for sharing that documentary I will definitely watch it. I'm a registered nurse and I appreciate content like this.
Before we talk diet, getting the proper sleep is most essential. If you don't sleep well it doesn't matter what you eat, your brain will not perform at its peak. When sleeping the toxins in your brain that accumulate throughout the day are cleaned out.
Also, people always focus on the amount of hours to sleep each night but what we should be focusing on is how many sleep cycles we are going through. Each sleep cycle is approximately 90 mins each and we need 4-5 of them.
Now as for diet, I drink a lot of water. Stay hydrated. The brain is about 70% water. Give it what it's made of. The brain also thrives on glucose because our brains cells are so energy demanding. Complex carbs are best because they are more steady
Simple sugars like candy and energy drinks cause crashes.
I also like to drink green matcha tea. The caffeine in this tea is more steady and doesn't cause a peak and crash. It has tons of antioxidants which also improve memory. It's best component is L-theanine which affects brain wave activity ultimately improving cognition and attention. Something we definitely need when trading.
Yes, I take omega-3s but not just any. I take the purified ones that have at least 250-500 mgs of EPA and DHA. EPA and DHA reduce cellular inflammation thus reducing cellular inflammation in the brain.
But just to simplify things get enough sleep, avoid fatty and processed foods, and drink plenty of water. This should give you a good basis. It helps me when trading and in my career.
Well, you are also correct. But it is both 70% water and 60% fat. The difference is that when the brain is inside our body it is 70% water but when it is outside of our body, with all the water drained out, (dry weight) it is 60% fat.
