Odele is 25 and works in marketing and sales.
She is a keen horse-rider, starting her day at 5.30am, so she can take one of her horses out for a ride before she goes to work. It gets her off to a good start, but unfortunately doesn’t leave much time for breakfast which is usually a banana or toast eaten in the car on the way to work. Horses are expensive to keep so she’s on a tight budget — instead of buying lunch from cafes like her workmates, she always brings a packed lunch (usually leftovers from the night before) or stops at a supermarket on the way to pick up a cheap heat-and-eat or salad type meal. Once home at 6pm, she’s back with the horses, grooming, training or walking them, all of which can be quite physical work. Once a week she gets takeaways (usually burger and chips), and during the week she will have at least one night where she "binge drinks" or has at least a few Cokes and vodkas. She is mildly lactose intolerant so avoids milk and milk products.
5.30am Get up and ride one of the horses. Drink a glass of water on the way to the stables.
8.15am 2 bananas. Running late for work so ate the bananas in the car on the way.
9.30am Bored and hungry by this time. Eat probably a good handful of dried fruit (pineapple, coconut, apricot) and nuts (brazil nuts, walnuts and cashews). One bottle of water.
12.15pm Falafel, hummus and tomato salad, home-made, with a Coke Zero from work's vending machine.
5.45pm Not much traffic so got home early with enough time to take a horse for a walk. Trudging through mud in general is hard work and I do it in-between everything.
8:30pm Beef, bean and chickpea stir-fry with teriyaki sauce and udon noodles. 1 glass of wine with dinner and 1 glass of water while painting. By now I am tired and very much ready for bed!
Nadia Lim’s nutrition quick fix
Your meals, particularly lunch and dinner, sound well balanced and healthy. You could have something more substantial for breakfast to avoid feeling so hungry at morning tea — what about making up a batch of healthy muffins at the weekend and freezing them to take for breakfast throughout the week (just warm up briefly in the microwave). Though you will not be able to have milk, most people with lactose intolerance can eat yoghurt and cheese without any trouble as the lactose has been "pre-digested" by live bacterial cultures. Choose a good quality yoghurt with live cultures in it. This will provide you with calcium, and would also make a great portable snack.