Eating to stay energised throughout the day

We have always heard that you need to eat 5 meals a day to feel energised throughout the day. Recently, however, healthy eating trends have changed, and what they are telling us is that we should try to eat only 3 meals, and as far apart as possible. And we might wonder: Is this a trend? Well, it seems not. When we eat, our body goes through processes to digest the food, and this has consequences: it causes fatigue in our organism, depletes our energy and, on the other hand, causes inflammation. In other words, our digestive system gets tired, and if we eat too many meals a day, we don't give it a break, and we also feel much more tired and hungry.

 

It has been observed that if we allow more time between meals and don't eat as many, our bodies stay healthier, we feel more energetic, and we don't have as many cravings for snacks.

 

Another current recommendation from nutrition experts is that it is very beneficial to go 12 to 14 hours without eating during the night. For example, having dinner at 8 or 9 in the evening and not eating until 8 or 9 the next morning. In this way, as well as providing a break, we help the digestive system to do its own maintenance and cleaning, which keeps it much healthier.

 

So, it is important to have two clear premises: firstly, a good night's sleep without food (drinking water is allowed and recommended), and secondly, main meals without snacking in between. What are the best foods to have a productive and energetic working day, helping us to concentrate and be efficient at work?

 

We will start with the foods that should be avoided as much as possible and only consumed on special occasions:

 

• Processed foods. And what are they? How can we tell them apart? There are several ways to spot them. Firstly, any pre-cooked and packaged food with a long use-by date is no longer trustworthy. Secondly, if we look at the ingredient list and find more than five ingredients, it is not a good option either. For example: processed meats, ready meals from the supermarket.
• Pastries, especially industrial pastries, and salty snacks. These are also considered processed foods and contain a lot of sugar and salt, which is bad for you if you eat them regularly.

 

What foods should we put on our plate?

 

• Foods that should form the base of our plates are vegetables, greens and fruits.
• Next come proteins such as meat, fish, eggs, tofu, seitan and pulses.
• Tuberssuch as potatoes, sweet potatoes or whole grains are also excellent companions.
• Finally, healthy fats such as avocado, raw and unsalted nuts, seeds, salmon, cream cheese, nut creams without added sugar, etc. They are also valuable for adding colour to our plates, but without going overboard, as they are high in calories and in excess can lead to weight gain.

 

Here's a menu for a full working day:

 

Breakfast: It's much better to have a savoury breakfast. It will make us feel fuller and we won't feel hungry so soon, so we'll have energy for longer and won't feel the need to snack. We have several options:

• Whole-grain toast with avocado, salmon, cream cheese, seeds on top, nut creams without added sugar, etc.
• Oatmeal with red berries, plain yoghurt, seeds on top, cinnamon, etc.
• Chia seed pudding with plant-based milk, a kiwi, nuts, etc.

 

All these options can be accompanied by tea or coffee, especially with little or no sugar.

 

Lunch time: About 4 hours have passed since breakfast and we will have stayed well hydrated throughout the morning, either with water, infusions, or some black coffee without sugar. The combinations are endless, but to keep it simple and balanced, we should imagine a plate and divide it into three parts:

 

• Half of the plate should be filled with a variety of vegetables in many colours (each colour, in natural foods, provides different vitamins and minerals).
• The other half will be divided into two equal parts, one of which will contain carbohydrates such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, quinoa or other grains, legumes, and so on.
• The other half is filled with a portion of protein (if you choose legumes, it doesn't have to be that much), whether vegetable or animal.
• Finally, for dessert, a piece of fruit, yoghurt or a handful of nuts with a piece of 85% dark chocolate.

 

Dinner: This is the last meal of the day, 4 hours after the previous meal, and we will have been properly hydrated. Dinner can be very similar to lunch, but if we have less appetite or do not want to feel as full, we can reduce the amount of carbohydrates and replace them with quality fats, as mentioned above.