Top up your tank

Your body is a machine. And unless you put the right fuel in, it won't hit peak performance Ever got up in the morning and wanted to get straight back into bed? Low energy, tiredness and can't-be- motivated days of lethargy are probably costing you the chance to enjoy life. Fitness and eating healthily helps, as food is the cornerstone of all things that create energy. If you didn't put petrol in your car every week you wouldn't get very far. Food works in exactly the same way.

If you drove a formula one racing car to work and you stopped at the garage to put in high-octane fuel, your car would purr with delight and function to the best of its capabilities. If you put in unleaded fuel, it would splutter and cough its way to work and wouldn't function properly. It's the same with you and food. If you skimp on fuel/food you won't get the right results, so if you have no breakfast in the morning you will be running on a low tank of energy and, as you won't be functioning properly, you may as well have stayed in bed. Your body has been working all night repairing itself, so if you don't top up your energy tank you will flounder and feel low as the day goes on.

Eat breakfast. No excuses. Toast and jam counts with a cup of tea. Change your cereal if you're bored with the same old routine, a cup of cornflakes isn't a big meal, but it gets vital blood glucose to your body to get you started. There are loads of cereals to choose from or you can try other low-fat high-energy alternatives - fruit is great to eat at the bus stop, on the way to work or at work and is not messy.

Look at eating energy foods that create a spark in your life. A Snickers bar and a cigarette washed down with a can of Coke doesn't count. Energy creates energy. Even just seeing the sun helps your body produce vitamin D.

It's all too easy to settle in to the same old routine of sugary, fatty 'convenience' food and it's equally easy to find we can't be bothered to change that routine because we don't have the energy to try. Even writing this I want to have a bar of chocolate because it slides down with no effort and tastes great but it will be a short- lived kick.

Try keeping dry fruit in your desk at work to munch on instead, or a cup of soup with bread for lunch - they all give out energy - and nothing pleases the eyes and the belly like a colourful sandwich.

Walking during your lunch break is worthwhile. Unless you work on a small boat you can walk around the building a couple of times, you can go for a run, jog, swim or have a fitness routine at work. I know it sounds absurd, but I know a company of manual workers who do five sets of 15 press up, sit ups, tricep dips on chairs, lunges and squats every lunch time. It takes them 15 minutes. Build it up, but do it. Change your routine: join a gym to go to straight after work. Do it.

When you go home, do you eat, sit down, spend time with your family, but that's all? Are you putting any effort into it or are you truly working on autopilot? Do you do the same things, say the same things and lie down at the same time every night? Go to the gym and create energy by moving before you go home and eat at the right time. A banana, fruit snack or small sandwich after exercise won't kill your appetite but it will create energy. Go home after a day's work and look at what you do. Take the kids swimming at night, go for a walk at night or join a club of some description.

I'll bet many of you don't go out after you get home from work. Try taking your partner out for a long walk. If it is cold, wrap up - nothing beats that feeling when you feel the cold on your face and you have achieved something. Then you can go home and know you can enjoy your cup of tea and toast. Despite the current fad for cutting down on the amounts of carbohydrates in the diet, they are vital for delivering the high energy levels that your body needs to perform at its best.

If you start walking to and from work or come home and go running at night, it will be only a matter of time before you get up in the morning, wanting to eat breakfast and raring to go. Get into a good routine and energy will flow, put the best fuel in to start the chain reaction to achieve the best results for you and your body.

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