It’s 4pm. I’m currently sitting at my desk at work feeling hungry and physically low. Why? Because I forgot to bring myself adequate food for lunch and take a proper break.

I ate my measly ham and cheese roll at my desk while I updated invoices and wrote an article on autumn fruits and vegetables. All I’ve drunk today is two coffees and my only snack was an apple at 11am. Now I feel lethargic, a little sleepy, unmotivated and am considering the chocolate brownie at the cafe downstairs…

I’m not going to get the chocolate brownie, because I know it wont make me feel better. My problem is not needing sugar – my problem is I haven’t eaten enough food to fuel my body and taken adequate breaks to rest my mind.

Your body is telling you things all the time. Sleep more, drink more water, eat good quality carbohydrates, eat more vegetables, drink less coffee…

It tells us these things by the way it feels and the way it reacts to certain situations. We must learn to listen to our bodies and understand why it’s reacting the way it’s reacting. It does things for a reason and if we’re going to look after ourselves we need to learn to speak its language.

So what are my problems?

Dehydration

I have drunk 500ml of water all day and that was at the end of my training session at 6am this morning. This lethargic nutritionist is dehydrated.

The two coffees I’ve had today do have a small hydrating effect but nowhere near as effective as good old H20.

Dehydration results in lethargy, poor concentration and an unregulated appetite.

Solution – Drink more water

Drinking plenty of water throughout the day will make you feel great! You may pee constantly for the first week or two but you’re body will get used to it. I promise!

Adequate hydration will help curb food cravings, improve your concentration skills and pick up your energy levels.

Coffee has a nett hydrating effect, but it’s nowhere near as beneficial as water. I’m just about to go fill up my water bottle right now… Preaching to the choir!

Try a jug of water and a glass at your desk. Sip regularly from a drink bottle. Herbal teas are a good way to get warm. Have a glass of water at each meal and snack. It doesn’t matter how you get it in, just get it in.

Avoid cordials, fruit juices and soft drinks. Not great habits to get into.

Too little food

The reason I’m ravenously hungry and craving sugar is because I haven’t eaten enough food today.

I completed a rather hard training session this morning. This was followed by a good sized breakfast but one apple and a small bread roll is not enough food to get me through the day and help me bring my A-game.

Solution – Eat more during the day

A common problem that I see among people who are conscious of their weight ,or trying to eat healthily, is that they minimise their food intake during the day because of this common thought that healthy eating means limiting your food intake. Often this leads to people feeling so hungry or low in energy by the end of the day they reach for chocolate or something sweet to help pick up themselves up, or they overeat by snacking or at their next meal. This is very counterproductive behaviour.

If you are active, busy and need to use your brain during the day, then you need to eat the majority of your food during the day. This means that when you start to wind down at the end of the day, you’re naturally not overly hungry either because you’ve given your body food when it needs it.

Most days I eat this:

Breakfast: 40g muesli with 100g yoghurt and a large cappuccino.

Morning tea: Banana or apple with a small handful of nuts.

Lunch: 150g BBQ chicken in a wholegrain bread roll or wrap with avocado and a large salad. This is then followed by yoghurt parfait or just yoghurt by itself.

Afternoon tea: By this time I’m not that hungry because I’ve eaten plenty already. I don’t usually feel like eating. If I do, I might have another piece of fruit or just a cup of tea.

I’m then hungry again at dinner time where I eat a range of different things – there are loads of recipes on my website.

This style of eating is not me me feeling hungry all day and having awesome willpower. This is me eating sufficiently all day and meeting my body’s energy needs enough so that I don’t overeat or binge, and I’ve got plenty of energy to do all the things I’ve got to do.

Poor carbohydrate choice

So many people hate carbs and think they shouldn’t eat them. This is not true. You need to eat them, you just need to learn to choose the more helpful types. My white bread roll had no fibre, wasn’t very filling and will do nothing to help my regular bowel movement.

Solution – Eat helpful carbs at breakfast and lunch

High fibre carbohydrates are the best types. These include minimally processed starchy vegetables (potato, sweet potato), whole grains and their products (bread, pasta, couscous, rice etc), quinoa, oats, legumes etc. Check the nutrition info panel for the fibre content. Fibre is good!

These types of carbohydrates give you plenty of energy to function without spiking your blood sugar levels and leaving you with an appetite that’s out of control. Poor carbohydrate choices will do the opposite, as will not eating them at all. Cut them out completely and you’ll just crave them incessantly. You body needs them, it just needs the right ones.

Too busy for a lunch break?

You might think that ‘powering through’ is the only solution, but Emma Grey from WorkLifeBliss advises resting your brain, fuelling up, getting some fresh air, or ‘switching channels’ for half an hour (read a book, chat with a friend, go for a walk – anything other than what you’ve been focussed on all morning).  You’ll be far more productive in the afternoon for having listened to your body.

I believe that this is really important. I love popping out of the office for a walk or a coffee date with a friend. It really breaks up my day and I achieve much more in the afternoons than if I’d stayed at my desk all day. If you’ve got a busy schedule with other commitments before and after work, using your lunch break to exercise is a great way of ensuring it gets done each and every work day. In fact, I’m going to do a 30 minute run in my lunch break tomorrow for a nice endorphin boost to get me through the afternoon.