41-year-old Karen is a vegetarian. She likes to make meals in advance on her days off for easy dinners when she arrives home tired from her long shifts. Her days are rushed and she often doesn’t have time for breaks.
6am
Lite cereal with banana, organic yoghurt and vanilla soy milk.
11am
Handful of grapes in the staffroom as part of a birthday shout. Didn’t want to eat the cake.
1.45pm
Warm salad of chickpeas, pumpkin, broccoli, carrot, peas, avocado, tomato and parmesan cheese.
4pm
A couple of handfuls of potato chips, leftover from morning tea. I was starving and didn’t bring anything in.
8pm
Homemade vege soup, 1 piece of wholemeal bread, 8 almonds. 2 pieces of dark peppermint chocolate for dessert.
Mikki Williden’s nutrition quick fix
The variety of vegetables in your diet make it higher in fibre and nutrients. However, if you are starving by mid-afternoon, that's often a sign that you're not eating enough, or enough of the right foods. What we eat at the start of the day impacts on our energy levels and the foods that we turn to at the end of the day. This is particularly important given that you can't always rely on getting breaks to have something to eat during the day. By switching to a nut and seed-based muesli this will keep hunger at bay and possibly stop you reaching for potato chips. For mid-afternoon snacks take some hard boiled eggs, cheese, or raw nuts in to work. Pack them in snaplock bags at the start of the week to make it easy to grab something small but satisfying, and you don't need to worry about organising it on a daily basis. While preparing your weekly soup you could whip up the easy gluten-free bread which is higher in protein for a bit more substance in your evening meal.
Read more about Mikki Williden on her website mikkiwilliden.com.
