Power Recipes

If you have to drag yourself out of bed each morning, can't function without a gallon of coffee and find yourself running out a steam before midday, you need to make a lifestyle readjustment.

When battling to keep those eyelids open during the working day you will not be able to concentrate on your tasks, you will be irritable with colleagues, will probably look awful and certainly will not be the next person in line for promotion.

To address the problem of your lack of energy, firstly you need to stop watching those late night movies on Channel 5. You also need to take heed of the Jobsite energy food recipe guide.

The official 'We hate Alarm Clocks Club'

Getting up in the morning can be tough, particularly in the UK in winter when your bed is so warm and the rest of your house is so very cold. To make it easier it is advisable to go to bed early the night before.

The quantity of sleep per night required varies between individuals and different age brackets. The average adult gets six hours and fifty-seven minutes of sleep per night during the working week, while experts say the average sleep needed is eight hours.

Even if you do have a good night's sleep but still have trouble getting out of bed then you should set more than one alarm clock to go off in series. Make sure the alarm clocks are located away from the bed so that you can't just bash them into silence. It may sound daft, but it works!

Breaking your Fast - Quickly

Have you been under the misapprehension that a liquid lunch is the most important meal of the day? Our brains (and central nervous system) run on glucose, that is the fuel we need to think, walk, talk, and carry on any and all activities.

If the last time you eat something at night is at 7 or 8 p.m. and the following day you miss out breakfast but wait until about noon or so to eat - you will have gone about 15 hours with nothing in your system.

Your brain will be deprived of the fuel it needs to operate properly and your body will have to work extra hard to break down any stored food into a usable form to make your brain function.

That's a lot to ask for when you're sitting in an office, trying to concentrate on a project, or you are in a meeting.

Eating breakfast has been proven to improve concentration, problem solving ability, mental performance, memory, and mood. You will certainly be at a disadvantage if your colleagues have eaten breakfast and you've gone without. On average, they will think faster and clearer, and will have better recall than you. Work or job hunting can be tough enough without this extra-added pressure.

Recommended breakfast

To begin one or two of:

• Half a Grapefruit
• Glass of fresh Orange juice
• Fruit salad
• 2 Aspirin taken with water, very little movement or noise (if needed)

Followed by one of:

• Milk and Cereal containing oats, bran, with chopped banana/strawberry
• Porridge with fresh fruit
• Toast with marmalade or peanut butter
• Eggs - either boiled with soldiers, scrambled or poached on toast
• Croissants

If all this sounds like too much work first thing in the morning, do still try to eat something before leaving the house even if it is just cold leftovers from the night before heated up in the microwave.

Work Food

You have had a tasty nutritious breakfast (or some reheated Lamb Madras) you should not neglect your stomach though the rest of the day.

Lunch should ideally be light and nutritious whilst not filling you up so much as to result in stomach cramps in the afternoon.

If you eat too much you will feel lethargic and in no mood to work.

Recommended Lunch

• Baked potatoes with an exciting filling are never exciting enough! Instead try a range of assorted bohemian treats: Tasty salads, couscous, rice cakes and humus, or stuffed peppers.
• Fill a container with cooked pasta mixed with pesto, cooked onions, peppers, aubergines and mushrooms.
• More cold pizza - man/woman can live on pizza alone!

Sandwiches can be so dull, especially if you have the same ones everyday, try some of these suggestions:

Recommended sandwich fillings:

Vary the type of bread you use to make your sandwiches, instead of boring white sliced try brown, a white bloomer, whole meal, chapatti, pitta, French style baguette.

• The Sub - Lettuce, Mayonnaise, sliced tomato, sliced egg, onion, anchovies (optional)
• The Boogaloo - Grilled Aubergine slices, cooked chopped red onion, lettuce, mayonnaise
• The YankyDoodle - Peanut butter, mashed up banana, drizzled honey
  

A satisfied worker = A satisfied stomach

If you eat a decent breakfast and lunch you will not find yourself having the desire to snack in between. Snacking can lead to weight gain - a balanced diet consisting of a breakfast a light lunch and then an evening meal is far better for your metabolism.

If you cannot wait for your meal and do need a snack at 11:00 or mid-afternoon, instead of having a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar try some rice cakes and humus, raw vegetables with humus, a whole meal bar or flapjack.

If you are to perform at your peak both in and outside of work you have to provide your body with the fuel it needs to function efficiently.

Fitness and exercise go hand in hand with healthy eating, if you eat well and do a small amount of exercise a couple of evenings a week you will surprise yourself by how much more energy you have to guide you through the day.