The old adage is true, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day when it comes to replenishing your liver glycogen stores following your overnight fast.

It is especially important to kick-start your day correctly when you have an event planned, even if it seems like hours away. Breakfast should be carbohydrate-based, containing at least 30g of carbohydrate. This could be porridge, two slices of toast, a bagel, or a large bowl of muesli for instance.

Choosing lower GI (Glycemic Index) carbohydrates helps the energy to be released more steadily through the day. Including some lean protein such as scrambled eggs, beans or smoked salmon helps to keep you feeling fuller for longer.

Lunch

Have a substantial serving of carbohydrate at lunch. A jacket potato with baked beans for example contains approximately 70g of carbohydrate. Wraps, bread, rice or pasta could all be used as potential sources.

Snacks

You should then plan to have another small meal or snack at 4pm/5pm, depending on the time of your evening event. You should aim to have at least a two-hour gap from your snack to the start of your event.

As much as it feels as if this goes against general healthy eating advice, choosing high GI carbohydrate and avoiding fruit and vegetables is the best thing to do here. You don’t want anything too high in fibre that will slow down the transit of food through your gut. Options could be white toast, some low fat flavoured yogurt or a SiS GO Energy Mini Bar for example.