The day in the life of my food
I love food. Some of my most memorable experiences revolve around having a great meal. When my husband and I reminisce about our past holidays, the conversation inevitably turns to the great meals we have had on our trips. Food plays an important part in my life and not just in the experience of it, but also its role in fuelling my body for optimal health and sports performance.
To get an idea of my daily food regime, I thought I would share with you all what a typical weekday looks like for me for meals. Generally I eat 6 meals a day and throughout the week, I look to have variety in my meals to ensure I get a wide variety of nutrients. Below is what I ate just a couple of days ago, all of which I made myself.
Meal 1, 5.45am
1/2 ham and vegetable omelette with low-fat cottage cheese and a drizzle of flaxseed oil. Plunger coffee with skim milk.
Meal 2, 9.30am
1/2 ham and vegetable omelette with low-fat cottage cheese and a drizzle of flaxseed oil store bought skim milk flat white.
Meal 3, 1pm
Cabbage salad with baked sweet potato with chicken and pumpkin rissoles, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and flaxseed oil.
Meal 4, 4pm
Porridge, raspberries and fat free greek yoghurt, sprinkled with flaxseed meal and a tablespoon of honey.
Meal 5, 8.15pm
Slow cooked indian spiced beef curry (with pumpkin, peas and cauliflower), dollop of fat free greek yoghurt, drizzle of flaxseed oil and fresh mint leaves.
Meal 6, 9pm
Strawberries, low fat ricotta, sprinkled with flaxseed meal and a tablespoon of honey.
Throughout the day I also drink approximately 2.5 litres of water. I also have a pre-workout and post-workout supplement before and after my training session. This is made up of a protein supplement, a carbohydrate supplement and creatine. Meal 3 is eaten during my training session and meal 4 is a couple of hours after training. It is important to include ‘high energy carbohydrates’ such as sweet potato and oats in to these meals, to help in the recovery process of my training. On a non-training day, I would exclude these foods.
Not every day looks like this though. I aim to eat 42 meals a week (that is 6 each day) and I allow myself 3-4 meals a week that don’t fall in to the meal framework that I follow, so they are more like ‘treat meals’.
As you can see I eat quite a bit for a 52kg woman and I eat often. The framework I follow is something I believe most people would get results from. I run a 12-week nutrition program to get people to better understand nutrition and help them make nutritional changes they can keep for life. The next program will start early next year.
Whatever your goals, good nutrition plays an important role in health, body composition, strength and fitness. If you are only focusing on your exercise, you have only half the equation. Make time to eat well.