Welcome to Eat This, Not That podcast, brought to you by Bob's Redmill.

Now, Bob's Redmill makes it possible to eat healthy and cook delicious food, and this is really

important for me.

Not just because I worry about what I fuel my body with, but I think about the foods that

I'm feeding my two young boys and my friends that come over for a cookout or a nice family

dinner.

And that's why Bob's Redmill has a very prominent place in my pantry. Every product is of the highest quality and is minimally processed from their stone mill in Oregon to your table. And if you or someone you know has a gluten allergy or celiac disease, all Bob's Redmills gluten-free products are processed in a 100% gluten-free facility to ensure no cross-contamination so you can feel safe and confident with your sensitivities. It doesn't matter if you're catering to a paleo, gluten-free, or vegan diet. With Bob's Redmill, you're not just getting quality, you're getting flavor-packed, healthy food that actually tastes amazing. So what are you waiting for? Visit bobsredmill.com today. All right, I'm John Hammond and back with Megan Murphy. Hi, everyone. And in this episode, we are taking a look at some foods that you may be surprised to know that can be as energizing as a cup of coffee, maybe even more so. What about you, Megan? Are you, are you, do you need that jolt of caffeine first thing in the morning?

You know, I like it. I don't, maybe it's more of a habit for me. When I first wake up, I usually chug a huge glass of water with lemon most of the time, but then pretty quickly after that, I'm onto the coffee train. Yeah. What about you? I made the same switch. I used to, coffee was a crutch, right? Like, first thing in the morning, had to have it,

like, before I did anything. And then I just, I didn't want, for whatever reason, and it's not to say whether it's good or bad. Like, if you wake up and the first thing you need is a cup of coffee, by the way, that's totally fine. I just wanted, I just didn't want that kind of dependency in the morning. Um, so what I do is, same thing. I usually have a tall glass of water. And then I'll, I'll work on getting the boys breakfast together and ready. And just, just to give myself some time. And, you know, I'm, I'm glad that I do this. And I, and I focus on this a lot more because we did the episode with Max Lugabeer on brain foods. And he was saying that, you know, you want to kind of, when you wake up in the morning, your cortisol is really high,

so you don't want to hit that coffee right away. Give yourself a few minutes. All it takes is a few

minutes so you don't just kind of like overdo the cortisol, that stress hormone in the morning.

So I get a buffer there. I have my coffee. And then usually later in the day, not really for a pick-me-up, just out of habit. Like that 3 o'clock. Definitely, like 233 o'clock. After lunch, it just kind of, again, signals, you know, in-between meal kind of I have a few more hours of work to bang out.

Curb the appetite.

You know, caffeine is good for curbing the appetite. So, yeah, and that surge for work or whatever it is, right? Yeah, I think if I get a good night's sleep, I don't necessarily need coffee in the morning. I think it's more of like a daily habit. But in the afternoon, I sometimes feel like, okay, now I need a little mid-afternoon pick me up.

And that's why I'm really excited about this episode, because a lot of these foods, and one thing that I realized recently and really, you know, focusing on my own diet is how energizing food can actually be. When you're eating the right food. When you're eating the right food. And I changed, you know, it was a whole perception shift for me. You know, so many of us think about foods to quell hunger, right? I have to eat a breakfast. I have to eat at dinner. I have to eat a lunch. Maybe I have some snacks in between or cravings, right? Right. Stress. Like we, we associate food with those kinds of things. And I mentally, you know year ago, just decided that I was going to associate

food with fuel, right? Like I put gas tank in my car and that like moves my car to get it

somewhere. I put food in my body to get me somewhere, right? Exactly. So it's like, I don't want to

put junk in there. That's going to make me feel sluggish. I want energizing foods, healthy foods,

nourishing foods. And those are the kinds of things that can really help pick you up naturally.

And when you make that shift consistently, it's really amazing because then you see how junk food

or some of the garbage foods that you think might pick you up like a candy bar in the afternoon

really slow you down. Like you might get that initial pop but 15 minutes later you're like

...