Brain Food: How to Keep Delegates Awake

Food needs much more thought than just filling the 1-2pm slot.
Every presenter knows that the worst presentation slot is the one straight after lunch. You can guarantee that at 2pm your guests and colleagues are either drifting off into a carb induced slumber or tapping furiously away at their Blackberry in a sugar craze.

And why? Because someone choose the wrong conference lunch.Your delegates are what they eat and I’m sure that you would rather have a team of lean, mean, energetic machines than a bunch of sluggish doorstop sandwiches.

So how exactly do you feed a group of hungry managers with high expectations? How do you ensure that you choose something to ensure they are full yet focused, satisfied yet (most importantly) awake?

Here are the 10 things to sneak into the menu:

Water - just 2% dehydration reduces the capacity for work by 20% since most water is gained through your food, make sure your menu is fresh.

Wraps - by choosing wraps you can cut out the sleepy carbs and sugar crash ingredients found in white bread and processed baking.

Vitamin E - not just for beauty but for brains too. These ingredients can help boost memory; nuts, avocados, sweet potato, mayonnaise, olives.

Vitamin K - is the vitamin that helps enhance cognitive function and improves brainpower; broccoli, spinach, lettuce.

Berries - Brain boosting blueberries and strawberries as well as pineapple help to improve short term memory and keep you alert.

Tomatoes - contain powerful antioxidants that help protect braincells. Stay organic to get the best from them.

Green tea - both calming and stimulating, used to help Japanese monks endure marathon meditation sessions.

Espresso - yes coffee is good for your brain as long as it is freshly ground, gently roasted, served strong and dairy-free.

Chocolate - cacao contains theobromine which effects cognitive enhancement and can create a blessed out state - the darker the better!

Oily fish - contains that renowned brain booster omega

Chicken - a good as it contains L-Carnosine, a strong antioxidant