Why Is Startup Culture So Unhealthy?

This is not just startup culture, it's most professional gatherings in general. Go to a conference of any kind, other than one that's in some sort of health/fitness-related industry and you're bound to see the same thing.

The primary reasons are:

1. The average person eats pretty poorly, and would consider carrot sticks and fruit smoothies pretty crappy "free food" for an event. Cooking particularly healthy food that can pass as exciting for most people would be prohibitively expensive. Food ordered in bulk or made economically for a lot of people tends to be less healthy.

2. Drinking at networking events is "necessary" for most people who have a difficult time approaching and engaging with strangers without a little social lubricant. Plus, free drinks draws a crowd, whereas networking only partially does.

3. These events are often an opportunity for otherwise unsocial people to get out of the house, chat with others, and indulge a little. For some, particularly people with spouses and kids, it's the only time they get to drink more than a beer with dinner and not feel like they're doing something they shouldn't be. It's supposed to be as much fun as it is work, and eating pizza and drinking beer is fun.

As for the food being served at startups and the overeating it causes, that's just human nature. Let people eat whatever they want, and many will eat too much. Limit them, and they'll think less of your perk.

While this may very well be a problem within the startup community, I don't think this is a problem specific to nor originating in the startup community. Pizza, caffeine, desserts, beer -- these are all things that are easy to come across in many (most?) common social situations.

The office "christmas party" from the white collar mega-corp where you work is usually a big hit because of its free booze. After you win your game of adult <whatever sport you play>, the team goes out for pub food and drinks. When you invite a bunch of people over to watch <some important event>, you usually supply sandwiches, pizza, wings, booze, etc.

Heck, I can't remember the last time I've actively set up a meeting with someone that wasn't over a cup of coffee or a beer, and I don't own a startup or live in an area that even remotely resembles the common hubs for startup culture in the US.

People are just unhealthy, and in social situations, it is usually important to cater to the needs/expectations of the masses rather than the few.

Maybe it's not just startup culture -- but nerd culture in general. I also think that you want to be a bit obsessed and while that works well on tasks like code it doesn't work well if your default meal is pizza and red bull.

By the way I'm a fortysomething geek and I've watched my fellow geeks who are the same age undergo all sorts of health issues as a result: Everything from open heart surgery to diabetes. It's depressing to watch...

So I don't want to sound like my grandfather, but if you don't have your health you really don't have much else in life. So if you're a young geek reading this please try to find some balance in your life.

One observation I've made is that if I eat any food at an event, I am more likely to stick around and not bounce out if I think the speaker/topic/people are boring. By eating the food that organizers have provided, psychologically I am committing to staying there and providing value in exchange for the food I provided. So, to maximize this effect, it makes sense to serve the lcd of foods; junk.

There seems to be logical explanations for all of these...Pizza is the cheapest food to feed a large group of people. Caffeine is a stimulant that makes people work longer and harder. Free beer is a good way to draw people to an event and it makes conversation flow more easily among participants.

Perhaps "popular" startup culture doesn't focus on health as a priority and a reasonable temporary sacrifice? In reality, it's not temporary.

Taking care of your health is not lazy nor somehow less committed to your startup.

Taking care of your health and energy first is what makes the periods of extreme efforts productive instead of unproductive.

I was plenty unhealthy in my early 20's, it's almost glorified that we'll make up living later. While I am a deep believer in sacrifice, hard work, discipline, and focus... health, like time is difficult to make up.

I'm in this for the long haul, so I have to build my health to sustain me through it. If you can't be healthy now, juggling today's demands, it's hard to imagine it'll be easier in the future, when demands are even bigger and wider. One excuse often is simply replaced with another.

One thing I believe is crucial: include sustainable health and culture as a part of finding a startup's repeatable and scalable business model.

I've never been a guy who could go through the gym so I hacked my habits, and found something I could love doing (sports) early enough in the morning. I have never regretted one morning of getting up early, I am absolutely wired at 7:30 and fall into coding flow so easily.

Having now largely quit caffeine, greatly limiting my sugar intake except for fruits, etc, playing sports at 6 am a few times a week, managing my diet, and having a bit of Vitamin d and b12, my energy is absolutely through the roof.

Hacking my habits and myself has turned out to be a neat way for me to boost my energy and productivity, one habit at a time. Once I've explored and experimented with one new habit and got the hang of it, I add another thing.

This is coming from a life long night owl. I'd stay up 24-48 hours straight sometimes coding, and what I do now is more productive in more areas of my life. There's no comparison. Zero. Waking up early with a full and clear head of energy is 10x more productive than any late night coding I loved doing.

I'm not perfect at sticking with it for weeks on end, especially with a few late nights here and there. Every so often I reset the routine and I come out largely ahead from not doing it at all.

If startups are a temporary organization looking to find a repeatable and scalable business model, there's still a gap in sustainability, longevity and not burning people out, especially while working to validate through likely many iterations of an idea.

There's nothing wrong with caffeine, particularly in moderate quantities and if you don't use it to stay up all night. Red bull and other sugary drinks are a different story, but the problem there is sugar and not caffeine. I hate to have my precious caffeine unfairly maligned.

Try hanging out with Wall St traders some time. That will put things in perspective.

Saying pizza is unhealthy is like saying sandwiches are unhealthy, or that salads are unhealthy. It all depends on how they are made.

I'm offended that you've spoken of pizza in such a disgraceful manner. You're not welcome at any of my parties.

Undertake food hacking, or more pedantically, molecular gastronomy.

Some definitions of molecular gastronomy (from http://khymos.org/definitions.php):

    - The application of scientific principles to the understanding and improvement of domestic and gastronomic food preparation. (Peter Barham)
    - The art and science of choosing, preparing and eating good food. (Thorvald Pedersen)
    - The scientific study of deliciousness. (Harold McGee)
    - Combining the 'know how' of cooks with the 'know why' of scientists

And read <cite>In Defense of Food</cite>:

    - Eat Food.
    - Mostly Greens.
    - Not Too Much.

With those three principles, one can build fun analytical games with creating exciting dishes. I usually approach food in a modular way.

Remember the days when you would pick at your food and sort it? How is it that programmers tend to start off this way, as little philosophers about their food, only to grow up to consume it without mindfulness at all? Where did THAT come from? I believe that is the more pressing question. How is it that the intuition we have about food, of applying analysis to it, becomes completely washed out?

I'm sure someone with a penchant for post-structuralist interpretation may have something to note on this.