Fuelling Success: Why Women Leaders Need to Eat Smart to Lead Strong

Nutrition

Are you sabotaging your executive presence one meal at a time? 

As midlife women, we can find ourselves at a critical time in our careers, at the pinnacle of our influence - commanding boardrooms, leading teams, and shaping industries. 

However, alongside this professional momentum we can also be navigating hormonal shifts, fluctuations in energy and new health challenges that can undermine our executive presence.

What’s often overlooked? 

Nutrition - how we fuel ourselves. This actually matters more than ever at this stage to keep our minds sharp, and stay focused and energised at work.

Brain fog isn’t just “in your head” - it could be on your plate 

Decreasing levels of estrogen can affect our memory and concentration. We can counteract this by increasing our intake of foods rich in omega-3s - like oily fish and walnuts, as well as leafy greens - which support brain function and mental clarity.

We also want to increase our levels of BDNFs. These are brain-derived neurotrophic factors that are a bit like brain fertiliser - they are essential for neurogenesis, or the process of producing new neurons in the brain to keep our minds sharp.

What foods do you find these in? Oily fish (again), the curcumin in turmeric, red berries - blueberries and grapes, eggs, olive oil, green tea and dark chocolate (hurrah). Soy products if they are organic can also have a positive effect on BDNF production, as can coffee.

The Leadership-Nutrition Connection You Haven't Considered

What to avoid

Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS); HFCS is a common sweetener that is added to fizzy drinks, sweets, cakes and biscuits, ice cream, and also to things, which contain refined carbs. It is not only bad for your brain, but is also linked to a fatty liver, and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Balanced blood sugar = balanced moods

I know how mid afternoon I can have a drop of energy and reach for something sweet.  However eating refined carbs or sugary snacks can lead to a spike of energy and then a drop that leads to irritability and low energy. Rather than these, we need to keep our blood sugar stable by eating fibre-rich foods, whole grains and proteins that keep us calmed, focused and resilient at work when we are under pressure.

So now I snack on nuts and seeds rather than biscuits and pastries, with the odd date thrown in!

Sleep better, perform better

We know how bad sleep affects our mood, judgment, and mental processing. Foods that can help regulate our melatonin and serotonin can help improve our sleep quality and, by extension, our productivity.  

Some foods that are good for this: bananas, kiwis, tart cherries, almonds, eggs, turkey, tofu, salmon, oats, milk and whole grains. For example, a dinner of salmon, chickpeas, or tofu with brown rice, quinoa or sweet potato.

For us midlife women balancing leadership, life, and hormonal shifts, food is more than fuel—it’s a professional power tool. What we eat can directly impact how we show up in the boardroom or our next Zoom meeting.

It's time we treated nutrition as part of the performance conversation.