Tip: Whatever you do, don’t just sip coffee all morning and wait to eat until lunch, says Alpert. "You'll be so hungry, you won't make healthy choices."
Calorie count: 300 to 400
calories
All of our experts loved oatmeal for breakfast. Have one-half cup of uncooked oats or a packet of instant. "Your body digests the fiber slowly, so you stay full for a couple of hours," says Brooke Alpert, MS, RD, founder of B Nutritious, a private nutrition counseling practice in New York City. For protein, add a glass of fat-free milk, yogurt, or a hard-boiled egg. Or stir some nuts (almonds or walnuts) into your oats. For fruit, Alpert recommends one-half cup of mixed berries for vitamins and antioxidants and more fiber. You can also pour a small glass of OJ, which has nutrients like vitamin C, folate, and potassium.
9 am: Water
You know you're supposed to have multiple glasses a day. But it's better to sip a little water all day long instead of chugging a giant glass when you suddenly feel parched. "If your tongue feels dry to the touch or your pee is bright yellow, you're dehydrated,"
Get up, stretch, and stroll every hour to hour-and-a-half, says Heidi Skolnik, MS, a nutritionist at the Women's Sports Medicine Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Walk to a coworker's cube instead of shooting off an email or take the internal stairs when you head to another floor in your office.
10:30 to 11 am: Small snack(fruits)
Eat every 3 to 4 hours to keep energy up and avoid big mealtime binges. For fiber and protein, try an apple with a string cheese or a handful of nuts (especially if you didn't have them at breakfast). "Everyone should have an apple in her desk drawer," says Alpert. "They're the perfect take-along snack—they don't bruise in your purse and they're easy to eat anywhere."
11:30 am to Noon: Water, vitamin, and a walk
Finish your glass, refill it, and swallow your multivitamin. "I recommend clients take their multi shortly before lunch because the B vitamins and certain minerals help your body utilize carbs so you have more post-meal energy," says Koff. Then get up and stretch at your desk. These moves also help keep energy up, so you're not tempted to snack out of boredom or fatigue. Plus, some movement before lunch jump-starts your digestive system,
1 to1:30 pm: Lunch
Start this meal off with soup, recommend our experts. Studies show that people who do end up eating less overall. Have a cup of a low-fat broth-based kind, like minestrone, miso, or gazpacho. For the main meal, "I'd like to see a nice portion, 3 or 4 ounces, of grilled wild
salmon because it has lean protein and provides healthy omega-3 fats," says Alpert. Add cooked vegetables like sautéed broccoli or spinach and ½ cup of brown rice.
For a nonfish option, try turkey meatballs (roll in some whole oats for extra fiber and spices for antioxidants) over a bed of spaghetti squash, which has the texture of pasta but counts as a veggie serving. Use ½ cup of tomato sauce, and sprinkle a handful of pine nuts on top for extracrunchy texture. Have water with dinner, ideally, but a small (4-ounce) glass of wine is fine from time to time, our nutritionists concurred.
8:30 pm and AFTER
No food must be taken after that only water but of course not in huge quantity. Good night sleep is one the most important factor for living healthy. So go to bed and dream to be AS HEALTHY AS EVER and wake up to see everyday your dream come true.