Cherry Juice and I

I was back to my normal routine yesterday and it really showed in my diet. Over 7 servings of fruit and vegetables, very high in fibre and no junk food! I wouldn’t want to get less than 1600 calories a day when I am training, but for a rest day in the middle of my rest week, 1600 calories is fine. I could have done with fewer calories from fat, but I did get enough protein and carbohydrates, so that’s OK. Overall, a great rest day diet!

You may have noticed that I have a great fondness for apple and cherry juice in the morning. While I do enjoy the taste, I have ulterior motives for drinking so much cherry juice. A study in 2008 found that cherry juice reduced inflammation, oxidative stress and muscle damage when consumed by marathon runners before, during and after a big race. In other words, it helps your body recover from the damage caused by exercise much faster. It’s also very high in antioxidants, like most berries, which reduces the free radical damage caused by exercise. The only problem is that pure cherry juice can be very tart and very expensive on its own. My compromise is to drink Sainsbury’s pressed apple and cherry juice, which has 18% cherry puree (making it higher in fibre than plain juice). I’m sure it’s not the same as drinking two glasses of pure cherry juice a day (like they were in the study) but it is a way for me to get the benefits of the latest findings on food without spending a fortune or drastically changing what and how I eat.

And in the end that’s the key to a healthier diet: Small changes that don’t cost more and that I can stick with!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
1617.20	98.15g	179.68g	57.75g	0	38.04g
	24%	44%	32%
Calories burned through exercise:		Rest Day

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:45	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Whole Scrambled egg with 2 egg whites	3 eggs
	Heinz Beanz, reduced sugar and salt	185g
	Mushrooms	100g
	in butter	5g
	Raw tomato	130g
	Sainsbury's pressed apple and cherry juice	200mL
09:30	Black Tea	500mL
10:30	Irish Yoghurts Diet Strawberry	125g
	Cox Apple	108g
12:00	Raspberry and Echinacea tea	250mL
13:30	New Covent Garden Pea and Ham soup	300g
	Genius brown bread toast	2 slices
	one slice with Sun-Pat Smooth peanut butter	13g
	Alpro Soya Original	200mL
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill
14:15	Green Tea	250mL
15:30	Green Tea	250mL
16:30	Sponser Protein Snack bar	1 bar
20:00	Orange, mango and cinnamon tea	250mL
20:30	Baked salmon	84g
	Parsnips	98g
	Carrots	60g
	Beets	88g
	all roasted and brushed with olive oil	7mL
21:30	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.