Mark the builder
Mark is a 36-year-old builder. He probably gets a bit of lunch envy on site as he’s a bit of a gourmet compared to most builders. He loves to cook, especially Vietnamese and Thai, and will make enough for his lunchbox the next day. If not, it’s home-made sandwiches, or the occasional pie from the bakery that his fellow builders usually have. He works physically hard all day, rewarding himself with more than a few beers at the end of the day.
7.00am Drive to work early to avoid traffic, have breakfast in the car outside work site: a pottle of yoghurt, an apple and 2 bran muffins my wife made, and a coffee with milk and 2 sugars.
9.30am Flat white (2 sugars) from the nearby cafe, an apple and a bottle of Powerade.
10.30am Coffee with a splash of milk.
Midday 4 homemade sandwiches with ham, cheese and lettuce on wholemeal bread, an apple and three digestive biscuits.
7.00pm Home-made pad-thai noodles (cooked by me), I eat lots of it as I'm always really hungry at dinner time, but I save enough for lunch tomorrow! Have four beers (if not beer, its wine) to wind down. No dessert tonight unfortunately — some crumble and icecream would have gone down well!
9.00pm 4 chocolate wheaten biscuits.
Nadia Lim’s nutrition quick-fix
Home-made muffins are a great option for breakfast on the run, especially if they have some bran, fruit and nuts in them to up the fibre. You are drinking a lot of empty calories — the sugar in coffees, Powerade and beer. I
suggest cutting down to only 1 sugar in each coffee and limit yourself to 2 beers a night. You don't need the sports drink everyday — water is fine unless you are working much harder or it is a very hot day and you are sweating much more than usual (then sports drinks have a place). Dinner is carbs upon carbs — add some lean protein and vegetables so you feel fuller (and add more vitamins and minerals) and you might only feel the need for one or two biscuits after dinner.
