For the past six months my exercise regime has been slashed to a minimum by an annoying stress fracture in my foot. Stress fractures are an over-use injury and my particular one was called a ‘march fracture’ because armies who marched long distances often suffered them. In my case it was vanity – some flimsy, pretty sandals which I teetered around on every day for four or five months. It’s taught me an important fashion guideline. Similar to the number one dietary guideline ‘eat a variety of foods’ my new mantra is ‘wear a variety of shoes’!

“No walking or running for at least three months,” my physiotherapist commanded me. I was devastated. How could I cope without even a walk in the fresh air and sunshine? And how would I stop from morphing into the Michelin man? Overnight I cut out 25km of running and 10km of walking each week. All I had left was 5km of swimming and some Pilates. I went through a few months of exercise withdrawal before I finally settled comfortably into slothfulness. It’s been great sleeping in until 6.45am rather than dragging myself into the icy dark streets at 5.30. And the surprising thing is that I didn’t gain any more bulges than I usually do over winter. What was my secret? Don’t eat after dinner at night. It’s easier said than done so here are my top five tips for resisting the after dinner nibble urge.

• 1. Brush your teeth straight after dinner
• 2. Keep your tight jeans or skirt on when you get home rather than slipping into some sloppy, spacious track pants
• 3. Do some exercise after dinner. I would go to Pilates one night and swimming another night. It really helps to do this with a friend so you stay committed. If the evenings are light, walking or tennis with a friend are also great options. I’ll be trying these soon now that daylight saving has started in NZ.
• 4. Eat a reasonable sized lunch which includes protein and ideally a vinaigrette dressing. Protein has lasting power and vinegar lowers the glycemic index which also makes the meal last longer. Yesterday I went out for lunch and had a delicious salad of grilled salmon on baby spinach leaves with a soy sauce, ginger and lime dressing. I wasn’t hungry until 8pm! If you can’t have a decent lunch, have protein mid-afternoon. Try sushi or a handful of raw nuts.
• 5. Go to bed early and read a good book. Compared to blobbing in front of TV with a block of chocolate you’re more likely to expand your mind and shrink your stomach!

OK, I know eggs are a great food but I cannot believe that anyone would recommend eating 15 a day! That’s exactly what’s been recommended for the Indian rugby team to do in order to bulk up for next year’s Commonwealth Games Rugby 7’s. That’s a load of cholesterol and most nutritionists would have a heart attack just thinking about 15 eggs a day, not to mention the blokes who are actually eating them! I’m all for eggs but not that many (more about this later in the week).

More protein does not equal bigger muscles. If you want to bulk up and build bigger muscles you do need a bit more protein but not that much. An 80kg person needs around 100-160 grams of protein a day. 15 eggs provides 105 grams of protein but for all round good health and optimum energy for training this combination of foods suggested by the Australian Institute of Sport would be much better:  2 cups breakfast cereal with milk, 2 slices toast and a glass of juice; 2 chicken and salad rolls, a fruit bun, carton of flavoured milk and a banana; 2 cups of pasta with 100g lean meat and vegetables, a cup of low fat custard or creamed rice plus some extra fruit and a couple of cereal bars as snacks.

These foods provide carbohydrate as well as protein. It’s the carbs that give you the energy to train and it’s the training, not the protein, that builds more muscle. If you eat more protein than you need it doesn’t turn into muscle, it’s stored as fat!

I think a sports dietitian needs to offer his or her services to the Indian rugby team – soon!

Go to my other article on health benefits of eggs

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P.S. I’m not sure who needs to offer their services to our All Black rugby team after their two losses in South Africa against the Springboks. Maybe they feel OK, but I’m sure a few of their supporters could do with some grief counselling now that we have lost our number one world ranking!

Last night’s first of four transtasman rugby battles between the All Blacks and Wallabies for the Bledisloe Cup was a great game – that is if you support the All Blacks! After a shaky start, they beat Australia 22-16. Before you assume I’m a rugby fanatic, I have to admit loving rugby does not come naturally. I am training myself to enjoy watching rugby with my husband because, apparently, ‘recreational companionship’ is one of a husband’s top 5 needs from his wife. I’m sure you can guess what number one is!

Talking about training, I promised yesterday that I would give you some food ideas for the recovery meal which you should eat within an hour of finishing training. This meal is really important for athletes who are in serious training each day to reduce the risk of burning out and getting run down. You need 1-1.2 grams per kilo carbohydrate and about 10g (grams) of protein, as well as rehydrating about 1.5 times the amount of fluid you lose. If that all sounds a bit technical, just try one or two of these food combos plus some sports drink and water. Each one has about 50g carbohydrate and 10g protein…

• Large bowl fruit salad and 200g yoghurt
• Meat, chicken, tuna or cheese filled roll and a banana
• 600ml low fat flavoured milk
• Glass (300ml) fruit smoothie or milkshake
• 2 cups breakfast cereal with milk
• Large baked potato with cheese or cottage cheese and a glass of low fat milk or 200g carton yoghurt
• 300g creamed rice

For more details, check out the Australian Institute of Sport’s website. The dietitians who work there are at the cutting edge of sports nutrition.

It’s rugby season in New Zealand and every few Saturdays most of the country sits glued to the TV watching our ‘boys’, the All Blacks (that’s them in black, and still No. 1 in the world) tough it out against another nation. Tonight they play the Wallabies (Australia – that’s them in green) in Auckland for the Bledisloe cup (usually these transtasman games are epic encounters of huge guts and determination). It’s blowing a gale and intermittently pouring with rain. Great Kiwi weather, and it favours the home side! It’s great to finally have our captain, Richie McCaw, back on the field. Let’s hope he’s fully recovered from his injuries.

Talking about recovery, it’s a critical part of the eating plan of any serious athlete. An athlete’s body will recover much more quickly from a game or training session if he or she eats carbohydrate (1 gram per kilo) and protein soon afterwards.  Protein, along with carbohydrate, is more readily taken up by the muscles if it’s eaten straight after training. It’s important for replenishing glycogen stores, muscle repair and immune system recovery. As well as carbohydrate and protein, athletes need to replace lost fluids. Even on a cold winter’s night like tonight, the All Blacks and Wallabies will lose at least a couple of kilos in fluid.

When I was the dietitian for the Brisbane Lions Australian rules football (AFL) team, we would get them to calculate how much fluid they lost during training so they would know how much they needed to replace. Some of them lost five or six kilos in a training session! This meant they needed to drink five or six litres – and more – to fully recover. AFL players can run up to a half marathon in one game (amazing!). No wonder they lose so much fluid!

In the ‘good old days’ our tough rugby players recovered with steak, chips, burgers and beer – plenty of fluids consumed there! But in the brief television glimpses of the AB’s recovering after a game I have spotted sushi amongst the recovery meal laid out for them. It’s an amusing picture – our gladiator AB’s delicately popping little rounds of sushi into their battered mouths. But it’s fantastic sports nutrition – protein and carbohydrate rolled into one. I bet the beer is locked away until they have at least drunk a few litres of sports drink, juice and water.

For those of you who won’t be watching the game, I’ll let you know the score tomorrow – along with some recovery food ideas and amounts.

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Morning after: AB’s gutsed out a round 1 Bledisloe cup win at Eden Park, Auckland 22-16, after being down 10-0 early in the game. Real determination and character to come back and win, with inspirational ‘old-timers’ back in the side leading the way. Good on you boys, travel well to South Africa this morning (4.30am), for next game against our traditional old foe, the Springboks! Match reports:

All Blacks shake off rust

ABs make winning start

Old guard add steel to All Blacks