I've had many people - especially friends, asking me what is it that I eat for my daily meals, how am I able to consume adequate protein everyday (I try to get about 170g protein daily), is fried rice after a workout okay, and so on. In fact, a friend sent me at least 10 text messages last night just to ensure that what he was about to eat for dinner wasnt going to ruin his nutrition plan.

Actually, I think getting sufficient protein/carbohydrates in a meal isnt really difficult at all. When I eat, and when I plan my meals - what I do is to go by what I feel and what I have. Of course, I don't go eating everything in sight, but try to accomodate and improve whatever I may already have prepared and waiting for dinner at home, for example. For me, back home there's always rice and other side dishes. However, there is almost always insufficient protein for it to be a decent meal for me.. so what do I do? Easy - just boil some eggs and eat it in addition to your dinner. See my writeup on why eggs are an excellent source of protein.

Or if you can already anticipate that there's not going to be a decent meal at home, then be like me and get a roasted chicken from a nearby hypermarket (these are cheap, approx RM5 - 8 per bird) and keep it in the fridge - ready for you to cut out whenever you wish to bump up the protein content of your meals.

As for me, it helps when my mom (yes, yes, I live with my parents :P) tells me beforehand what she's preparing for dinner. So if there's not enough protein to satisfy my requirements - I'll know and will usually stop at a store to pick up more eggs, etc if I don't have anything stored at home.

For the hardcore lazy and clueless ones, to be safe - you can make it a point that there is always an ample supply of eggs, milk, and some sort of cereal present at all times so you can always have a meal if there really is nothing to eat.

As you can see, it isn't a picture of the typical 'perfect' balanced meal that you always see in fitness magazines or most people would think I'm having everyday, but hey - it does the job for me. I can see decent improvements and am still able to get lean with just slight increases to the amount of cardio I do. That, for me is all the nutrition that I need. Simple and straightforward, and with a touch of mom's cooking even.

Bon Appetit!