food/endurance combo

Question
I always hear that eating breakfast helps to keep you in shape. True or false?
I sometimes eat breakfast, maybe 4/5 days a week b/c i never have time
before school. If eating breakfast really does help, what do you recommend
in the morning?

For lunch i usually have a sandwich, chips, one fruit, crackers, and a
100calorie desert. Could that be contributing to my unhealthy diet or is that
a neutral meal?

When i get home from school all i ever crave are chips chips chips. I always
tell myself that i'm going to eat something healthy but i can never push
myself to do it. I have lacrosse about an hour after i get home and i've noticed
lately that my endurance has decreased. Could this be from my unhealthy
diet? I'm usually really really fast on the field and i'm worried my diet is
making me slower.

Sorry its such a long question... I've just needed help for so long and finally
found this website! I'd love your input. Thanks so much.  

Answer
Eating breakfast is an absolute MUST for a healthy diet! You can prepack some fruit and nuts to take with you, or keep hard boiled eggs handy- they are easy to keep on hand and they provide lots of good protein.

For lunch you just need to make a few upgrades. Make sure your sandwich is on real wheat bread and add good veggies to your turkey or ham (or whatever). Choose either the crackers or the chips (I would take the crackers, and save the chips for after school, when you seem to crave them)keep the fruit and add a veggie to the mix. Also make sure you are drinking plenty of water, that can really effect your endurance.

The craving for chips may be a salt craving because of all the sweating you are doing at lacrosse. Sports drinks during practice might help this. Since you didn't have chips at lunch you can feel okay about having SOME after school, but put something healthy like some veggies or a piece of fruit with it to help fill you up so you don't binge on them.  

Hope this helps,
Lela Simon

Feel free to check out my website and join for special members only pages with forums, recipes and my blog,
WWW.LelaSimonWellness.com

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