Breakfast and Morning Tea

Fats:

• Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts, Cashews)
• Nut Butters (Almond, Peanut, Hazelnut)

Carbohydrates:

• Toast/Bread (Wholemeal, Wholegrain)
• Fruit (Bananas, Apples, Blueberries, Cranberries, Grapefruit, Dried)
• Oats
• Cereal (Weet-Bix, Muesli)

Protein:

• Protein Powder
• Eggs
• Milk (Skim, 1%, 2%)
• Yogurt

Examples:

• Oats with yogurt, fruit and nuts
• Egg omelete (add vegetables and cheese)
• Muesli bar, fruit and protein shake

Lunch

Fats:

• Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts, Cashews)
• Nut Butters (Almond, Peanut, Hazelnut)
• Cheese
• Avocado

Carbohydrates:

• Bread (sliced or rolls) (Wholemeal, Wholegrain)
• Fruit (Bananas, Apples, Grapes)
• Starch (Rice, Sweet Potato, Wholemeal Pasta)

Vegetables:

• Green (Lettuce, Broccoli, Asparagus, Green Beans, Spinach)
• Other (Capsicum, Tomato, etc)

Protein:

• Lean Meat (Turkey, Chicken, Lean Beef, Tuna, Salmon)

Examples:

• Salad and meat sandwich(es)
• Sweet potato salad with Tuna

Afternoon Tea

Any of the items from Breakfast, Morning Tea or Lunch (smaller portions though than Breakfast or Lunch).

Dinner

Any of the items from Lunch.

Preworkout

Eat  roughly one hour before you start training. Always eat before training.

• Protein shake
• Carbohydrate (Fruit, waxy maize starch, glucose, multidextrose)

Post workout

Same as pre-workout.

Feel free to have the occasional slice of pizza or cookie, just work your but extra hard next time in the gym. When I say occasional I mean like once a week, not once every couple of days. Also, try to keep variety in your meals. One easy way to do this is to have something different for dinner each night of the week.

Plans

Depending on whether I train in that day and how long I’m awake for really depends on when I eat. I recommend trying to eat every 3-4 hours, so for most people that’s about 5 meals. Eating regularly keeps your blood sugar levels more consistent, meaning that your energy levels should stay more even during the day rather than spiking and falling.

Typical training day:

Preworkout(6am)
Post workout(7.45am)
Breakfast(8.30am)
Morning Tea (11.00am)
Lunch(1.30-2.00pm)
Dinner(6.00-7.00pm)
Supper(9.00pm)

I skip afternoon tea because I’m usually so full after a big breakfast, morning tea and then lunch. Sometimes I’ll have a banana to tide me over.

Typical Non-Training Day

Breakfast(6.30am)
Morning Tea (9.30am)
Lunch(12pm)
Afternoon Tea(4.00pm)
Dinner(7.30pm-8pm)
(Supper(10.00pm)) Only if I’m having a late night.

Morning Tea

What is you current eat for morning tea? A muffin with your coffee just before you step into work? Donuts that someone brought for a morning meeting? Or a packet of chips that you bought from the vending machine to reward yourself for your 2 hours of hard work (talking :)) that morning?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not having a go at you. I too have worked in an office and have had the temptations coming at me from all angles. There’s nothing like having a big cookie with your tea or coffee as you sit reading your emails in the morning, but you have to ask yourself ‘is this worth ruining my fitness goals for?’

Instead of a cookie or donuts try eating a muesli bar and a banana. Both are high in carbohydrates to fuel you until lunch time. Eating regularly is also important in keeping yourself satiated until you next main meal. If muscle building is your main priority try having a protein shake or a small amount of leftovers from last night.

Try to make it a healthy option, I will cover these later. For now just ask yourself ‘is this food high in sugar or fat?’ if it is, eat something else. I like to have half a chicken/turkey salad sandwich and a homemade protein bar.

Lunch

Lunch is one of your 3 big meals for the day and in our fast paced lives is often overlooked or forgotten. The biggest key to keeping lunch healthy is to be prepared! Nothing like looking at the clock at 2pm and realising your hungry and then going to the nearest fast food outlet and stuffing you face.

Instead you should try to set out a time to have lunch in the morning. Look at your meetings and other agendas for the day and pick a time that you can fit in 30 minutes for lunch. If you have  a fridge and a microwave at work, bring a sandwich or leftovers in and heat them up. Sandwich toasters can also be good. If you only have access to a cooler, pack your favourite fruit and favourite sandwich. Take away food for lunch really isn’t doing you any favours. Pack your favourite Buy some good containers that keep food nice and fresh so that it still tastes good at lunch time. If you’re on a low calorie diet like the cabbage soup diet make sure you bring what you need from home.

I like to keep salad items, bread and some lean meat at work. I usually bring in the meat each day. I use them to make fresh sandwiches everyday, much to the jealousy of my colleagues.

View other parts in this series:

Part I – Breakfast

Part II – Morning Tea and Lunch

Part III – Afternoon Tea and Dinner

Breakfast

Breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day. No, this isn’t some lie made up so certain brands can cell cereal. Your breakfast is literally that, breaking the 8-12 hour fast from dinner. Your body needs to replenish what it lost during the night and fuel you for the day ahead. Lots of grains and fruit for energy and dairy and nuts for muscle repair and recovery will get you metabolism running.

I recommend eating breakfast as soon as close to waking as possible. I’ve found I feel more energetic and it stops my metabolism from slowing even further (I will write more on this in the future).

If you skip this meal all together, let me just say this: YOU ARE STABBING YOURSELF IN THE BACK! You are selling yourself majorly short of your goals, whether it be gaining, losing, maintaining your weight, putting on muscle, getting shredded or stripping fat.

I will try to counter some of your objections that you might have at this point.

• ‘I don’t have time for breakfast’

I am surprised how many people get up for work with only 30 minutes to prepare. This does not make much sense to me, I have always allowed myself at least an hour to prepare  for the day, how can you expect to perform at your best that day if you don’t allow your thoughts to settle and plan your day? I would suggest to start with try eating just one quick and simple item. A muesli bar, whole grain muffin, protein shake, meal replacement or a piece of fruit. Each week add one more item; you may even want to do this more often as you will find yourself getting hungrier in the morning. Next start rising a little earlier to put together this little feast you will now be eating for breakfast.

• ‘I want to lose weight. So I am trying to eat less’

Hmmmm… where to start… Skipping meals causes your metabolism to slow, now your metabolism has already slowed from being a sleep and not eating, therefore waiting longer will cause your metabolism to plummet even further until your body reaches starvation. Once you body is in starvation it isn’t expecting any food, so when you do feed it, it quickly stores excess calories as fat. So much for weight loss hey?

A calorie deficient state is important for weight loss, however it is much healthier to achieve this by cutting out that slice of cake you had with your coffee or that coke you had with lunch or by doing more exercise.

• ‘I train in the morning, so I eat after’

Fasted cardio or training while in the short term has been shown to have some effect on a higher percentage of weight loss, is actually quite useless in the long term. Studies have shown that being fuelled by carbohydrates during training creates more effective training and hence more calories expended. Try to have something, even if it is liquid like a meal replacement or Gatorade.

• ‘I’m just not hungry in the morning’/’I can’t stomach food first thing when I wake’

I hope by now I’ve convinced you how important eating breakfast is, and I hope you will at least try to force a small amount of food down in the morning. Try something liquid or just a piece of dry toast. If you are throwing up after eating (involuntarily) there could be something wrong and I would seriously recommend talking to your doctor about it.

Ok guys, this has ended up being longer than I thought, so I’ll leave it there for now. Stay tuned for Part II: Morning Tea and Lunch. Be safe.

Part I – Breakfast

Part II – Morning Tea and Lunch

Part III – Afternoon Tea and Dinner