The N4P Philosophy
Optimal Nutrition is Essential for Peak Performance in Any Area of Life.
Whether you are a teenager studying for the HSC, a parent at home with busy children, a corporate employee travelling frequently for work or an amateur or elite athlete – food is your fuel, it is your source of energy, your electricity.
Of course by food I don’t mean any food:
I mean real food, mainly plants, in the right proportions, mainly in the morning and not too much.
Australian farmers supply us with fantastic produce from fresh eggs and milk, to grass-fed beef and organic chicken to chickpeas, bok choy and broccoli. As this food is such good quality, we don’t need to cover it in sauces or add sugar and salt, just enjoy and reap the health benefits.
We need to be disciplined with ourselves and teach our kids that junk food really is treat food and treat food means once per month not every day.
Shopping, planning and preparing food should be part of our weekly to do list and part of the family discussion. If food is not planned, it is too easy to fall into the trap of take away and convenience foods – fine when really in need, however not regularly. We need to teach our kids how to do this at an early age . If they eat well and limit packaged food they will perform better and school and be happier kids!.
As per the Australian guidelines we need to aim for 5 serves or cups of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit each day in addition to fibre, quality protein (eggs, pork, chicken, beef, yoghurt, almonds, milk) spread throughout the day. Of course good fats found in oily fish such as salmon, avocados nuts and seeds are also essential. Don’t forget my all-time favourite anti-oxidant is berries of any kind frozen or fresh. Make sure they are on your weekly shopping list.
If there is one thing I encourage you to do this year it is fall in love with green vegetables of any kind.
Challenge yourself to include then in every meal. Spinach with eggs for breakfast, cucumber and hummus for morning tea, steamed broccoli with grated cheese for afternoon tea and bok choy in a stir fry for dinner!. How easy is that!
So if you want to get the most out of your performance , start prioritising both the quality and quantity of your diet today. Little changes make a big difference and it is never too early or too late to make this a focus.
I promise you – you will notice a difference.
Happy Eating!
Edwina