Our muscles use stored chemical energy from the food we eat and convert it into heat and kinetic energy (motion). Ensuring our muscles have sufficient fuel to function is more important than many of us realise. If your muscles do not have sufficient energy supplies available, you may experience sluggish performance, slow fitness improvements and your motivation levels may start to drop. Eating good quality foods throughout the entire day will assist fuelling your muscles. To further fuel your muscles, eating quality pre-workout and post-workout snacks will definitely place you in a good position to have consistently faster fitness improvements while maintaining higher motivation. To grow and repair our tissue, we need energy sources such as protein, carbohydrates and fats. To ensure my muscles are recharging between workouts, I make sure I eat quality proteins such as chicken and salmon, carbohydrates such as bananas and occasional avocados for fats.

Many experts recommend having 4-6 meals each day so I always aim for 6 balanced meals. I personally like to start the day off with a couple of eggs and a piece of toast. For my morning snack, I usually reach for an apple. When lunch time comes around, I have already pre-cooked my chicken so it only takes a couple of minutes in the microwave to reheat. To accompany the chicken, I have some fresh vegetables and brown rice. When the afternoon comes around, I snack on a banana and if my energy levels are starting to fade, I reach for a couple of dates which usually pick me up. For dinner (evening meal), I like to have Salmon, Pork, Chicken or Beef as my protein.  I always have vegetables or salad. In the evening if I’m feeling hungry, a small portion of frozen blueberries with about 100-150g of Greek Yoghurt does the trick. I enjoy the Greek Yoghurt with blueberries best when I stir the blueberries into the Yoghurt to thicken the consistency. I would like to express, I am not a dietitian or a nutritionist, however I do find this works really well for my energy levels and satisfies my appetite. Also, the attached photo is one of my lunches I had this week. Using chop sticks is another way to enjoy the experience of eating. Also, using chopsticks can help you to slow down your eating speed which helps aid digestion.