Your performance and the performance of your employees begin far before you clock in at the beginning of each work day. Your performance each day is dependent on how much exercise you get, how much sleep you get, and especially what you eat. Countless studies have linked poor concentration and poor school performance to poor diet amongst grade school students. However, eating a healthy diet is just as important to adults in the working world.

In today’s culture of overscheduled lives and high consumption of fast food and convenience food, it is no wonder that many people have difficulty eating right. Without work-life balance, cooking a healthy meal at home may seem like an unattainable goal, and it is often much easier to pick up a fast food meal on the way from the office or order in a pizza for the whole family. Today, even vending machines are being upgraded to bring even more unhealthy food, such as instant cotton candy, to your rumbling stomach. When you are busy, sometimes it can seem as though any food is good food.

Unfortunately, this attitude could backfire, since poor diet can cause problems with concentration and focus, and it has been proven to contribute to other long-term health problems that might negatively affect job performance.

If you really want to make a commitment to personal accountability and improved job performance, changing your diet is a great first step.

5 Ways to Increase Personal Accountability Through Diet

1. Learn more.

Bring in a nutrition expert to offer a brown bag lunch series for your employees that covers such topics as how to pack a healthy lunch, how to make smart restaurant menu choices, and how to cook fast and healthy dinners at home. Don’t forget to attend these sessions yourself.

2. Plan ahead.

If you don’t know ahead of time what you will eat for lunch or dinner, it is easy to get sucked into the trap of purchasing unhealthy convenience foods when you are hungry. Try to create a plan of easy, healthy meals for the week, and shop for all of the ingredients in advance over the weekend.

3. Stock up.

Keep a stash of easy, healthy drink and snack options readily at hand so that you are less likely to be tempted by the office soda machine or the plate of cookies a co-worker brought in. Think plain popcorn, cheese sticks, juice, cans of nuts, yogurt, herbal tea, fresh fruit, water, and vegetable sticks instead of M & Ms.

4. Team up.

Brainstorm with your colleagues about their healthy weeknight favorites, and encourage your employees to do the same. Whole grain pasta with pre-chopped veggies, a jar of tomato sauce, and grated cheese is a quick and healthy meal option that covers most of the food groups.

5. Make work-life balance a priority.

If you keep trying to work at all hours of the day without making time for a healthy diet or exercise, then your personal accountability and job performance will ultimately suffer. It is important for you to not only find balance in your own life but to demonstrate a healthy work-life balance for the employees you manage.