My food day.

There is a lot of press around these days about what you should and should not eat. Warnings about the levels of fat, or salt, or sugar or whatever else may have some negative effects; maybe. I will absolutely not argue that a diet of wine, cheese and processed meats is not great for you. What I will argue however is that there are benefits other than the easily measurable physiological ones. The joy of eating a grilled cheese sandwich, or some chocolate for instance; will leave you feeling happy. Something that has a high level of value, for me anyway. That isn’t to say that I don’t think you should try to be healthy with your food, just that there are more things to think about.

I eat a very small amount of red meat during the week in general, in part because of living on my own and the difficulty in getting reasonable portions for one person. But I have no issue in eating red meat, in fact I enjoy it greatly. Every Saturday my parents come around for chilli con carne, which of course contains beef.

Below is an example of a typical day’s food for me.

Breakfast

Smoked salmon and cream cheese on crumpets.

A glass of fruit juice and a cup of coffee.

Lunch

I rarely eat much for lunch when I’m not at work, I’ll usually stick to something quick and simple such as Soup and crusty bread.

Dinner

If I only had a small meal at lunch time then I will have something more substantial for dinner. Some sort of pasta dish is common, often with some variety of fish.

Snacks

I do of course get hungry between meals on occasion, and although I do like things such as chocolate I try to avoid eating them too often.

One of my favourite go to snacks is houmous with either carrot sticks or sugarsnap peas.

This is just an example of what I would eat on any given day. I’m not saying it is the best diet, nor is it something that would work for everybody. It just happens to work for me.

I think the best thing for anyone to do when looking at their diet is to pay attention to what your body is telling you. The recommended diet is designed for the average person, and in my experience the average person doesn’t exist. Eat and drink what you like, in moderation. If you notice yourself putting on some unwanted weight, change things. The same if you find you are not feeling well, or if your physical performance is suffering.

No one knows your body better than you.