Alright, so everyone know the life of an entrepreneur/hacker is a 24/7 gig and there are certain foods/drinks an entrepreneur can't live without.<p>What gets you through the long days... cold pizza? energy drinks? loud music? cheap noodles?<p>share your "can't live without" diet
Balance (protein, carbs, vitamins) and variety. To save money (and keep the girlish figure) eat half of large-portioned dinners and have the leftovers for lunch the next day.<p>Coffee in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, just to get revved up. A liberal nap-taking policy, because sleep is the best cure for fatigue. Exercise and sunlight, go running/cycling/tree-climbing outdoors for efficiency.<p>And oatmeal! Plain old oatmeal is cheap, healthy, and filling. Try it with bananas or blueberries.
Ginormous amounts of h2o, and quick access to a bathroom that isn't unpleasant to visit. I dig red meat, but for long sessions, more vegetarian-inspired faire. Progressive trance if I'm insufficiently disciplined to choose the better option: classical music.
Coffee in evenly spaced doses is key for me. Too much and I go up a tree. It's about staying at peak alertness. I take naps too. Coding while tired=expensive. When I'm tired, solutions come slower, code-quality drops off and I end up fixing it later.
The <i>good</i> ramen. The imported stuff with big thick noodles, recognizable chunks of dehydrated vegetables and the kind of spice that our pathetic Western palates are unused to.
Caffiene doesn't do it for me anymore, so I've been experimenting with energy drinks. They seem to work better, but generally taste awful (Red Bull is the prime offender).
A similar post:<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40651" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40651</a><p>[P.S: Not that I condone messing with your brain chemistry. You can see my opinion there.]
I've found there's no net benefit to caffeine. A little bit can make me a bit more alert and optimistic, but then I pay for it with interest on the caffeine hangover / comedown. Besides, more than a little bit of it makes me much too restless and chatty to program anyway.<p>Junk food is a lose for me too. Anything that causes a blood sugar spike hurts productivity. I like peanut butter on bananas, red leaf lettuce, cheese, ... and of course burritos. Water to drink.
The best fuel for me is having a healthy physical life away from the computer. I've noticed that being in good shape helps a lot when pulling long shifts on the computer.<p>As far as beverages go, I usually drink more tea than water (mate or cold-brewed ginger and green tea). For a hard boost, espresso is the way to go but it doesn't last long and puts my metabolism into hyperdrive.
DMAE - it's a plant extract they sell at health food stores which is apparently metabolized into stuff that feeds your brain more oxygen. Commonly used with autistics because they often start to talk more fluently when they've been taking the stuff.<p>Best cure for programmer's burn out ever invented.
Coke Zero, Diet Coke with and without caffeine, milk, oatmeal and cinnamon. If I exercise, I also get cravings for meat, veggies, fruit and pasta, which helps confirm the healthiness of exercise. I wish I could get caffeine free Coke Zero, to reduce my caffeine intake.
www.digitalgunfire.com, cheese on toast, and instant coffee. (Every so often I think "real coffee is great! I must drink more of it", but as a result I'm building up a collection of filthy abandoned coffee makers...)
mountain dew (regular or code red). caffeine is like a legal performance enhancing drug for coding. Outside of that I try to keep hydrated by drinking lots of water (and keeping a restroom nearby).
carbohydrates, a good night's sleep, coffee in the morning, Rockstars in the afternoon (not at night -- makes me sleep poorly, even when I go to bed tired).