How productivity is transforming our eating habits

The modern professional doesn’t skip meals. They skip proper ones. The cost shows up in energy, decision-making, and long-term health. In modern urban professional life, food is no longer a break from work. It is something we incorporate into work.

Meals are no longer driven by hunger or recovery. They are scheduled between meetings, delayed by a long call, or rushed because the next task has already started. Breakfast is often just coffee. Lunch depends on whether there is a free slot in the calendar. Dinner happens late, when the day has already drained attention, patience, and energy.

Most working adults in India consume sufficient calories. The difference is that their meals no longer make them feel better.

Across clinics in Indian cities, doctors observe young professionals who seem well-fed but test low for iron, vitamin B12, or vitamin D. They report fatigue, brain fog, bloating, frequent illnesses, and poor sleep. This isn’t due to food shortages. It’s a work-schedule issue.

Public health data matches what clinics see. The World Health Organisation has noted that urban diets are increasingly dominated by refined carbohydrates and added sugars while lacking essential micronutrients. In India, the problem isn’t about people eating too little; it’s about consuming enough calories but still being deficient in vital nutrients.

Workdays have become longer and more compressed. Screen time is constant. Eating now happens during calls, while answering emails, or while scrolling. People don’t sit down to eat; they "consume" something while doing something else. The body stays in work mode even when food arrives.

When you eat while stressed or distracted, your body diverts blood away from digestion toward muscles and alertness. Put simply, many professionals are eating enough but getting less from their food. Under chronic work stress, digestion becomes a low-priority function, which means even a "healthy" lunch eaten at a tense desk can provide less usable nutrition than a worse meal eaten calmly, without rushing or stress. Small swings in blood sugar also affect attention and decision-making, so the way you eat at work directly influences how you think.

Dr Anoop Misra, chairman of the Fortis-C-DOC Centre of Excellence for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, has noted that erratic meal timing and constant snacking destabilise metabolic balance and cause fatigue even in people who otherwise eat "normally." Many finish meals unsatisfied and keep grazing throughout the day, not because they are hungry, but because their blood sugar keeps rising and crashing.

The change is not in food access, but in how decisions are made. Food choices now focus on convenience and speed. Items that can be eaten quickly, carried easily, and stored effortlessly replace meals that require time, variety, and freshness. Over time, dietary diversity decreases. People eat often, but their meals lack real nutritional depth.

Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health links regular, balanced meals to more stable energy levels and better cognitive performance. This affects judgment, impulse control, concentration, and endurance, exactly the skills professionals rely on during long workdays. Instead, many professionals now depend on coffee, sugar, supplements, and sheer willpower to get through the day.

Regular meals are often the first to be sacrificed in the name of "stay productive."

The fix isn’t just another wellness trend; it’s a fundamental shift in how workdays are organised.

Consistent meal times. Genuine breaks from screens. Sitting down to eat without multitasking. Proper meals instead of assembled snacks. These simple workday habits preserve energy, improve digestion, and support long-term productivity.

In an economy that values speed, food is treated as something to squeeze in, not something to slow down for. But nourishment remains one of the most important factors for focus, stamina, and career longevity.

The real question now is not what we eat, but whether how we organise work still allows us to eat in a way that supports the performance we expect from ourselves.

Also Read: When work eats into the meal: How urban Indians are nourishing themselves today