¡Hola the monbento family !
For this new article, let’s focus on the composition of my lunches and dinners, which are based on my daily energy needs. They always include a starter, a main course and a dessert (yogurt or cheese or fruit).
For more information, take a look at my article about my breakfasts, snacks, habits and food supplements.
Daily energy requirements – what is it all about?
Energy needs represent the nutritional intake necessary for each person to go through the day without lacking energy.
For a better understanding, let’s take the example of an engine that needs gas to run. Like this engine, our body needs to be well nourished to optimize all its functions. These needs are specific to each individual; they depend on several factors such as sex and age but also, as you have probably understood, on the physical or intellectual activity of the day and the metabolism of each person. They are expressed in calories or kilocalories.
Usually, a woman should consume around 2.000 kcal/day, and a man around 2.700 kcal/day. This index remains an average: this indicator is actually specific to each individual and related to their daily activity.
For my part, as a 25-year-old young woman, after studying my body composition with the “Podpod Cosmed” (a machine estimating body compositions), I need 3.192 kcal when I practice twice a day. So, although my slender, athletic figure suggests otherwise, I do eat a lot to meet these nutritional needs.
As a professional athlete, I‘ve easily had access to this machine, but it’s not the case for everyone. However, if you are interested in discovering your own needs, some specific weighing scales (often available in gyms or at dieticians) can indicate your own body composition and your related energy needs.
Focus on my plate
As I said at the beginning of this article, I always make sure to eat a starter, a main course and a yogurt/cheese or fruit to meet my energy requirements.
- Starters: I love to prepare mixed salads with seasonal products. I usually include avocado, chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, dried seeds and fruit (brown flax, squash, sesame, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, cranberries, pomegranate, etc.)I often enjoy my starters with slices of bread and guacamole/hummus/fresh cheese spreads.
When it’s the season, I also like to cook soups or prepare my own vegetables (and fruit) juices such as: celery, beets, spinach, limes, green apples.
- Main course: contrary to popular belief, I almost never eat pasta, even the day before a competition or on the D-day. Instead, I combine vegetables, dried beans and cereals, or different types of rice (red, wholegrain, etc.). As I said in my first articles, I replaced meat by fish, eggs and different homemade veggie steaks.
- Dairy products: coming from the Auvergne region in France, I can’t live without cheese: I eat some at least three times a week. Although I have reduced my consumption of cow’s milk products, I still eat some from time to time.
- Dessert: I like to bake cakes without refined sugar or butter and eat them with a piece of fruit. Let me recommend you by the way the healthy and tasty recipes from the Healthyfood_creation website!
I know a lot of people recommend not to eat too much in the evening in order to sleep well, but I am always very hungry when I come back from practice! That’s why I keep the same meal composition for dinners; I just try to favor products that are easy to digest.
On game days and the day before, I follow the same routine. Here is what my lunch looked like on my last game:
Starter: grated carrots + avocado + cold potato + seeds (brown flax + sesame + cashew nuts).
Main course: salmon cooked in foil with bell peppers, eggplants and brown rice.
Dairy product: soy yogurt.
Dessert: fruit salad (banana, clementine, kiwi).
My March advices
I am currently taking:
- some vitamin D, although the sun is shining more and more, it helps reinforce the immune defenses and fight against the small current viruses;
- some turmeric capsules for my joints. At the Tango Bourges Basket club, we are almost at the end of the season and we play games on Wednesdays and Saturdays. That’s why it is essential to offset the intensity and the many practices and games that my body goes through!
Laëtitia