Your Best Ever Body: Day 3!

Not surprisingly, Day 3 of Your Best Ever Body follows the trend started by Day 2 and focuses on lunch. I bet you can’t guess what Day 4 is going to be about!

So, lunchtime. Lunch certainly has its own challenges, being the meal that most of us have outside of the home most days of the week. The meal that we have much less influence over as it is not prepared by our own fair hands in our own kitchens with our own selected ingredients. And if you work in an office, in the city or on the road then your choices can be very limited.

In Day 3 Ian does his level best to offer a solution to those of us who are more often than not faced with the dilemma of balancing lunch on the run with finding a healthy and satisfying meal.

Straight away he hits on a point that is very close to my heart – the fact that the lunch we eat is the sole reason why 99% of us get that nodding off feeling halfway through the afternoon.

I remember back in the days before I knew much about anything to do with health I used to head to Russell & Porter in Birmingham for a giant brie, grape and avocado bap with mayo. It was delightful. But then I used to literally fall asleep at my desk at about 3pm and wonder why!

Once I started to train for the marathon, my wonderful girlfriend used to make us both a big pot of alkalising, raw soup for lunch which we would have with ricecakes. The difference was amazing. Not only was I not craving a sugar fix 20 minutes later but I would be full of energy and not thinking about food ’til 6-7pm.

Anyway, I digress slightly away from Ian’s advice for the second day running, so without further adieu – here is the rundown on Day 3 – Your Best Ever Body:

Chew food slowly and thoroughly to avoid taking in too much air, which can cause bloating. Chewing slowly also allows the food to be broken down by saliva, which allows it to be digested more easily. A sluggish digestion can lead to fatigue, constipation and abdominal discomfort.

Salads make an excellent summer lunch, full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And raw foods are rich in enzymes, which can help the body digest more effectively and renew and repair cells so you can look forward to a better figure and youthful, firmer skin.

Lightly steam vegetables to preserve fibre content and stir into a warm salad. Avocados are excellent anti-ageing foods, rich in skin-protecting vitamin E and essential fatty acids,

All good points, but I feel a bit unloved after reading this article. Hey Ian, where are the suggestions for lunches on the run? What about the types of lunches we can make in bulk and take to work a day or two on the trot? What about when all we have around us at work is sandwich bars and coffee shops – whats the healthiest option?

I must say, I am not overly impressed by Day 3 as he simply gives us information about which vegetables are good for us. I don’t want to be overcritical, but Ian, we have heard this all before – where is the advice?

Something else I cannot believe he missed is the importance of restricting bread from your diet at lunch, as it is bread that will cause the biggest amount of bloating, weightgain, blood sugar surges and ultimately more sugar, salt and preservatives.

As ever, I am amused by the ridiculous female slant to this series (because of course, us men don’t give a ***t about our health do we) as he then dips into a big list of things to eat that help fight cellulite. Cheers for that Ian – maybe I will be able to wear a bikini this summer after all!

Anyway, he does save the best for last, as this simple salad of Avocado and Sprouted Seeds is well worth a look.

I hope he rediscovers his best form for Day 4 tomorrow!