All in a day's work: Brendon the Head of Security

Brendon is 35 and head of security at a large company in Auckland city.

His shift starts at 7am, ending at 6pm Monday to Friday. Depending on what security issues arise on the day, his workload and break time can change drastically. To save money he brings left-over dinner for his work lunches.

Would he describe his diet as typical of someone in his profession? “No not really, with security you could be working all sorts of random hours and at different locations. So it all depends on what shift you are on and what you have access to.’’

5.30am 1 glass of orange/apple juice
7am 1 energy drink. I do not drink coffee
10.30am Some fruit, 1 small bag of snack chips, 1 glass of water to keep the hunger at bay until lunch.
Noon Leftover butter chicken and white rice and a can of coke from the vending machine. I am starving by now.
2.30pm Some biscuits, 1 small bag of snack chips, 1 glass of water. I don't always have afternoon tea.
6.30pm Homemade mince & cheese pie, peas and corn and mashed potatoes with tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Glass of coke. I made some extra for lunch tomorrow.
8pm A bowl of chips, a glass of coke and some lollies while watching TV.

Nadia Lim’s nutrition quick fix

It looks like you‘ve fallen into the energy drink trap — people drink these and other fizzy drinks for an energy boost, then after a quick sugar rush, the result is feeling tired and sluggish and in need of another “energy boost’’, and so the unhealthy cycle begins. In four glasses of fizzy/energy drink you are consuming a whopping 35 teaspoons of sugar! Even if you just halved this amount you’d lose more than 15kg in a year. There’s far too much sugar, salt and saturated fat in your diet. Go back to basics. Eat three good meals a day (so start having breakfast — how about eggs and avocado on toast?), stop unnecessary snacking, and drink water only and you’ll feel a whole lot more energised.