My food in pictures

"Do you follow a special diet??"

I get asked this question A LOT! And whilst I am sure some athletes do, I don't. Over the years however what I eat has changed as I have understood more about food, what is in what and how it can be used to fuel me for training and life. I don't pretend to be perfect! I have the occasional McDonald's, pizza and Gin but for the main part I try to eat unprocessed, homemade and appropriate food for my life. For me, working full time as well I really notice in myself when my diet isn't great. I feel sluggish and have no energy which then leads to poor choices and it just snowballs!!!

Breakfast... is my favourite meal of the day! And so important as it sets you up for the day, I literally have to have breakfast before I do anything else as without it I don't really function. 

Porridge or fruit and high protein yoghurt are my go to breakfasts! Fage Total 0% is the best. On a weekend I might have scrambled eggs on toast as I'll have more time. I always try to start the day with protein as it keeps me fuller for longer and then some fruit for one of my five a day. 

Snacks

I get hungry if I don't eat something every couple of hours or so! And no one likes me when I am hungry. I try to chose 'natural' ish snack bars such as Eat Natural or Nakd. Nuts are a good shout too as they contain protein to help me last until the next meal. There are some treats in there though if you look carefully - I have a weakness for sweets and chocolate but who doesn't. I am also a massive tea fan. The picture above is my current collection!! Green tea with peppermint is my no. 1 at the moment, although it is hard to resist a normal cuppa. Decaff is for post-work as normal interferes with my sleep! 

Lunch/Dinner

I don't really discriminate between lunch and dinner.... most of the time I'll eat leftovers for lunch as I find I eat better quality food that way. It also means that two or so times a week I'll cook a big meal and that will keep me going for lunch and dinner for a few days. I guess it isn't the most varied but as I am not a massive fan of cooking it works for me.

Here are some of my favs/regular dishes.

Cooking enchiladas

The finished product with homemade guac

About as close to a salad as I get... more avo, I am obsessed

A classic. Fajitas.

So I eat a lot of Mexican! For a treat I'll sometimes get a burrito - last year it was tradition for our athletics squad to have #burritothursday after our long session. I'm sad it no longer exists!

When we were down in Bath we had a BBQ and below is the meat we cooked! I can't ever imagine being a vegetarian - I love meat :)

The finished product!

And lastly... I don't deprive myself.  My friends and I went to Anstruther a few weeks back as they are renowned for their fish and chips! Safe to say we were not disappointed. I also eat out often (any excuse not to cook!) - the last pic is a meal I had in Bath at the Firehouse Rotisserie which was delicious!