Software engineering requires us to sit for long hours that makes our body deteriorate over time. Without proper eating habits the negative effects can slowly build up and make us vulnerable to life threatening diseases. However, with mindful eating habits and daily 30 min exercise, we can easily counter these negative effects.
In this post I will describe how I plan my daily diet to stay super efficient during the day. Like many developers, I also suffer from overweight, which can be very dangerous to our health. If we do not plan our diet mindfully we are bound to succumb to the desires of the moment and eat high sugar food or drink a lot of coffee.
A good diet requires careful planning and with right habits can be effortless to follow. I will describe my diet plan and my methods on how I follow it. Hopefully this will be helpful for you as well.
Pre-requisites
To stay healthy we need at least 30 mins of exercise and around 7-8 hrs of sleep every day. Therefore we must plan these two activities above everything else in our life. Exercising for 30 mins in the morning is what works for me. In my previous post I discussed my daily schedule, where I described why I like to start my day early.
Waking up early
I understand, people who are young can pull off all nighters without much issues and developers do like to work during the dark hours of the night. I used to do that as well in my twenties and really enjoyed dabbling with problems until early morning hours. But this is not a sustainable schedule, when you grow old. Hence, I changed my habits to become a morning person.
To prioritize my sleep and exercise, I wake up around 5 AM. For this I don’t need an alarm clock if I keep my bed time same every day. Waking up in the morning also gives me time to prepare for my daily meals. Therefore, it is the keystone habit in my life.
My Daily Diet Plan
At 7AM, I start my day with a glass of Coriander infused water around 7AM. My wife helps make it for me so that I can keep focussing on my Deep Work hour. The recipe is simple, lightly grind coriander seeds and then boil them in water. After it comes to boil bring it down to warm temp and then you can drink it. It keeps my digestive system in good shape and has lots of other benefits
At 8AM, I eat 10-12 almonds. Almonds are very good for your brain. If you can get them soaked in water overnight and eat them without the peel in the morning, it is much more beneficial. If not, then you can eat them as it is as well (Important thing is to eat them). It doesn’t take much time and are very good for instant energy
At 9AM, I make Coffee, which takes around 2 mins. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I make omellete from egg white, which I eat with a brown bread. On Tuesday’s and Thursdays I have Paneer (Indian Cottage cheese) Bhurji, Besan ka Chilla, Dosa or Idli. On Tuesdays and Thursdays my wife helps prepare breakfast and I try to make my breakfast protein rich.
At 11AM, it is Fruits time. I usually eat one Banana and along with that either an Apple or Strawberry.
At 1PM, I have my lunch which starts with lots of Salad (Cucumbers, Carrots, etc). Then I eat 1-2 bowls of Daal (lentil soup) along with a handful of white rice.
At 4PM, I eat Walnuts (around 8-10), which are good for heart health.
At 5PM, it is Tea time with my wife and we both sit together and have evening tea along with some biscuits
At 7PM, it is Dinner time. I usually eat high fiber veggies with 1 Chappathi. I like eating Asparagus which I sauté in little bit of butter and garlic.
Thats it, I do not eat after this. If I am really hungry after this I have one small cup of milk without sugar before bed.
I keep my weekends open for anything, so that I can eat things I love and enjoy life 🙂
Conclusion
Eating heavy meals makes us lethargic, therefore on workdays I try to keep all my meals light. Also I do not eat after 7PM that means I incorporate intermittent fasting in my daily routine as I eat my next meal at 8AM next day
