You Can’t Out-Lead a Bad Diet: A CTO’s Guide to High Performance Nutrition
A few years ago, I stepped on a scale and didn’t like the number. I was 39, running the technology team at a defense contractor that had grown from 12 people to nearly 100, and managing 30+ engineers. I was also raising two daughters. And I was tired — all the time. My approach to high performance nutrition was, frankly, garbage. Conference room pizza. Airport food. Coffee on top of coffee. I told myself I’d eat better when things slowed down. Of course, things never slow down.
So I made a decision. I would be in better shape at 40 than I was at 20. In less than two years, I lost 75 pounds. I broke my high school PRs at bench, squat, and deadlift. The biggest change wasn’t a fancy workout plan. It was food. What I ate, when I ate it, and how I built systems around it changed everything — my energy, my focus, and honestly, my executive decision-making.
This article is the playbook. Not theory. Not wellness fluff. This is what actually works when you have a packed calendar, a growing company, and zero margin for error.
The Executive Energy Problem
Why Most Leaders Run on Fumes
Here’s the typical C-suite day. You wake up, skip breakfast or grab a bagel, then pound coffee until lunch. Lunch is whatever shows up in the conference room or wherever you are meeting your next client or partner. By 2 PM, your brain is mush. You grab more coffee. Maybe some candy from the jar on someone’s desk. Dinner is the first real meal — and it’s usually huge, late, and heavy.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. In fact, a 2022 Deloitte survey found that 70% of C-suite leaders thought about quitting for a role that better supports their well-being. Additionally, most of them don’t connect food choices to how they feel. They blame the schedule, the stress, or just “getting older.”
However, the real problem is fuel. Bad fuel in, bad output out. High performance nutrition starts with seeing this pattern clearly.
What Science Says About Brain Fuel
Your brain is only about 2% of your body weight. However, it uses roughly 20% of your body’s total energy. That’s a massive demand. And glucose is its main fuel source.
When you eat junk — processed carbs, sugary snacks, or skip meals — your blood sugar spikes and crashes. As a result, your focus tanks. Your mood shifts. Your decision-making gets sloppy.
For a CTO making calls that affect millions in revenue, that’s not just a health problem. It’s a business risk. Therefore, the first rule of high performance nutrition is simple: stabilize your blood sugar, and you stabilize your leadership.
High Performance Nutrition: The Big Rocks for C-Suite Leaders
Protein Is the Cornerstone
Most busy leaders eat protein backward. They grab carbs all day — bagels, pasta, chips — and then eat a big steak at dinner. That’s a mistake. Research in the Journal of Nutrition shows that spreading protein evenly across meals improves body makeup and keeps you full longer.
Specifically, aim for 30 to 50 grams of protein at each meal. For instance, try eggs and turkey sausage at breakfast. Have grilled chicken on a salad at lunch. Choose salmon or steak at dinner. Add a protein shake after training.
This matters even more after 35, when muscle loss speeds up. And if you lift heavy like I do, it’s non-negotiable. Think of protein as the foundation. Everything else builds on top of it.
Stabilize Blood Sugar, Stabilize Your Day
Every meal should have three things: protein, healthy fat, and complex carbs. This combo slows digestion and keeps your blood sugar steady. For example, instead of a plain bagel, eat eggs with avocado and oatmeal. Instead of a sandwich on white bread, go for a grain bowl with chicken and olive oil.
In other words, pair your macros at every meal. This one habit alone ended my afternoon crashes. I stopped needing that 2 PM coffee. My energy stayed level from morning to evening.
That’s a game changer when you’re in back-to-back meetings for eight hours. High performance nutrition doesn’t need to be complex. It just needs to be consistent.
Hydration — The Free Performance Upgrade
This one costs nothing. Yet most leaders ignore it. A study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that even mild dehydration — just 1 to 2% of body weight — hurts focus, memory, and mood. Most leaders drink coffee all morning and don’t touch water until lunch.
Here’s my simple protocol. First, 16 ounces of water right when I wake up. Then, 8 ounces per hour during the work day. Finally, electrolytes during and after training. That’s it. No fancy gadgets. Just a water bottle and a habit. I always have one of my Jocko Fuel Ice Shakers with me.
Systems Over Willpower — Build Your Nutrition Framework
Meal Prep Like an Engineer
As a CTO, I build systems for everything. Network designs. Incident response plans. Automation pipelines. Yet for years, I left my food to chance. That’s like deploying a network with no monitoring or visibility. It will fail.
Now I treat meal prep like engineering. Every Sunday, I plan my meals. During the week, meals take five minutes to put together. Usually because I’m rocking a simple Factor microwave meal, but sometimes I also meal prep.
Moreover, when I travel, I pack protein bars, jerky, and nuts. I know my go-to orders at airport spots. I have a plan before I leave the house.
Think of it as PACE planning. Your primary meal is prepped at home. Your alternate is a trusted restaurant order. Your backup is a protein bar in your bag. Your emergency is knowing the best option at any fast food stop. Mission planning applies to meals too.
Automate the Defaults
James Clear talks about setting up your space in Atomic Habits. The idea is simple. Don’t rely on willpower. Instead, make the healthy choice the easy choice. Similarly, I stock my office with good snacks — almonds, jerky, protein shakes. I don’t keep junk in the house. I have standing lunch orders at two spots near my office.
As a result, I rarely have to think about food. The system handles it. This frees up mental energy for the choices that actually matter — the ones that move the company forward. High performance nutrition becomes the default, not the exception.
Strategic Caffeine and Alcohol Rules
I love coffee. But I used to drink it wrong. Most leaders use caffeine like a fire extinguisher — they feel tired, so they drink. However, research in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that caffeine taken six hours before bed still wrecks your sleep quality.
Now I follow two rules. First, I delay my first cup until about 90 minutes after waking. This lets natural cortisol do its job. Second, I have a hard caffeine cutoff at 12 PM. These two changes improved my sleep more than any supplement ever did.
On alcohol — I’ll be direct. Business culture treats drinks as required. Client dinners, networking events, parties. But a 2018 Lancet study of over 600,000 people found that the safest level of drinking is zero.
You don’t have to quit entirely. But you should know that “just a couple drinks” costs you REM sleep, next-day focus, and training recovery. Make it an informed choice, not a default one.
Advanced High Performance Nutrition for the Long Game
Anti-Inflammatory Eating
If you want to lead at a high level for decades, you need to play the long game. Chronic swelling — from processed food, excess sugar, and too much alcohol — drives mental decline, heart disease, and depression. The landmark PREDIMED trial showed that a Mediterranean-style diet reduced major heart events by about 30%.
In practice, this means more olive oil, fatty fish, leafy greens, nuts, and berries. It means less processed food, fried food, and added sugar. Think of it as risk control for your body — the same way you’d harden a network against threats.
Supplements Worth Your Money
The supplement market tops $55 billion. Most of it is noise. Here’s the short list that actually has data behind it:
Creatine monohydrate — boosts strength and brain function under stress. Omega-3 fish oil — fights swelling and supports brain health. Vitamin D — most adults are low, and it affects mood and immune function. Magnesium — improves sleep quality and muscle recovery.
Everything else? Look at it hard before spending a dime. Most supplements solve problems that good food already fixes.
Nutrition Is a Leadership Multiplier
Here’s what I’ve learned firsthand. When I eat well, I lead better. My energy is steady. My focus is sharp. I’m patient in tough meetings. I have the stamina for 12-hour days when a crisis hits.
Furthermore, I model discipline for my team of 30+ engineers. I show my daughters Harper and Vivienne what it looks like to take care of yourself while building something meaningful. As I’ve written about before as a dad, the habits we model matter more than the words we say.
In the defense contracting world, we’d never accept a network running at 70% uptime. Yet most leaders accept 70% of their potential energy and focus. They’ve gotten used to feeling average. That’s not okay.
As Dr. Peter Attia writes in Outlive, the goal isn’t just to live longer — it’s to live better. High performance nutrition for C-suite leaders isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s your personal high-uptime design. It’s what lets you lead from the front when things get hard.
Build the System, Trust the Process
You don’t need a complete overhaul tomorrow. Pick one thing this week. Start with protein at breakfast. Or set a caffeine cutoff. Or prep meals on Sunday. One change. Thirty days. Then add another.
The same discipline that builds companies builds bodies. I know because I’ve done both, growing Colossal from 12 people to over 100 employees and over half a billion in revenue, while also losing 75 pounds and breaking PRs I set as a teenager.
As Jocko Willink says: discipline equals freedom. The discipline of high performance nutrition frees you to perform at your highest level. So plan your meals like you plan your missions. Build the system. Trust the process. And watch what happens when you finally give your body the fuel it deserves.
Leave a Comment