I was given lunch money for a working week to help me eat more healthily at Pod – and it wasn’t from my Mum. The fast food company make their healthy offerings from scratch each day. Not least, contents are balanced to provide fuel for your body. Their ‘poductivity’ report takes a close look at how food affects productivity in the workplace. As a journalist, I’m mostly office based, work long shifts and need to think on my feet. Would a week of prescribed healthy food help me survive my working week better? I never eat breakfast, rarely eat fruit, eat late and at odd hours and sleep badly. Something needed to change.
The nearest Pod to my office is Tottenham Street in W1.
Day 1
Still not keen to break my fast with anything involving too much work, I opt for a ‘blitz’. Blueberries, banana and strawberries , strawberry puree and agave syrup are whizzed up with yoghurt (£3.75). I should mention that Pod make a bunch of hot breakfast items from toasted sandwiches to porridge.
For lunch I opted for the Gym Box (£4.99). This is packed full of slow release carbohydrates to help recover from a lunchtime workout. Perfect post-spin. This small box was jammed with tasty hummus, falafel, broccoli, pearl barley, lentils, leek, kale, carrot, peas, edamame beans, tomatoes, chia seeds. The dressing was spicy turmeric, chilli and mango chutney.
For the afternoon dip, I grabbed a super fruit energy bar (99p). Stuffed with pumpkin seeks and mixed fruit, this gave me the extra afternoon boost I needed.
For supper, it was a grilled piece of chicken and a green salad no dressing.
Pod Nutritional values:
Blitz: 220kcal/4.1g saturated fat/carbs 37.1 – GF/WF/V
Gym Box: 429kcal/2.1g saturated fat/carbs 45 – DF/V/Seeds
Exercise: 40 minutes Psycle
Sleep: 7 hours 45 minutes.
Day 2
I loved the Smooth Berry Blitz on day 1 so much. I had another. I grabbed another box with chicken, mango & roasted cauliflower salad. Packed with anti inflammatories, cholesterol lowering almonds and vitamin C packed mango, this box is low in fat and high in taste.
Supper consisted of a pitta bread stuffed with salad and chicken.
Pod Nutritional values:
Blitz: 220kcal/4.1g saturated fat/carbs 37.1 – GF/WF/V
Chicken, mango & roasted cauliflower salad: 401 kcal/0.6g saturated fat/carbs 63.6 – NUTS
Sleep: 8 hours 30 minutes.
Day 3
Again, no time for porridge but another Smooth Berry Blitz which I’ve come to love and look forward to each morning. Today I had a superseed baguette stuffed with mozzarella, avocado, fat sun-blushed tomatoes, pesto and basil (£3.65). This 6-seeded baguette is high in fibre and again slow to release energy. I had a banana (the first in a very long time), sparkling mineral water and a bag of popcorn for my afternoon snack.
For supper I had a mixed salad with chicken.
Pod Nutritional values:
Blitz: 220kcal/4.1g saturated fat/carbs 37.1 – GF/WF/V
Baguette: 551kcal/8.6g saturated fat/carbs 57.9 0 V/SEEDS
Sleep: 9 hours
Day 4
The benefits of Turmeric – the bright yellow spice – has long been used in Chinese and Indian medicine as an anti-inflammatory. The Pod turmeric and mango blitz sounds wrong but is SO right. Orange juice, yoghurt, apple, mango, lemon curd, chia seeds, mint and turmeric are all whizzed up with ice to deliver a thick tasty shake full of goodness.
This kept me going until 4pm when I remember to eat the Mediterranean tomato, pesto and mozzarella salad with chicken. Quinoa is dressed in pesto and mixed with salad leaves, mozzarella pearls, sweet potato and roasted pepper, along with a few seeds and Greek Basil. Large chicken chunks are thrown in for good measure and at £5.99 this meant I didn’t want supper.
Pod Nutritional values:
Blitz: 353kcal/9.3g saturated fat – GF/WF/V
Salad: 495kcal/7.5g saturated fat/27g carbs – GF/WF/V/SEEDS
Sleep: 6 hours and 57 minutes – up at 5.30am for work.
Day 5
After yesterday’s blitz I had to have another. One thing’s for sure, it’s got me more than hooked.
Another box of delicious salad came in the form of the Vegetable Power Box which is a bit of everything I love (except for the chilli decoration). Sweet potato, seed-dipped avocado, hummus, soya beans, sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella. A bargain at £5.99 and full of flavour and filling, meant I didn’t want supper when I finished work.
Pod Nutritional values:
Blitz: 353kcal/9.3g saturated fat – GF/WF/V
Salad: 548kcal/7.7g saturated fat/27g carbs – GF/WF/SEEDS
Exercise: 40 minutes Psycle
Sleep: 8 hours 45 minutes.
There are plenty of hot dishes and it’s worth checking out the menu as there are heaps of choice, with new dishes being added all the time.
Don’t get me wrong I eat well, I write about food for a hobby but I’m not sure my diet is consistently great.
After a week of thinking about the food I was putting into my body, my energy levels buoyed and I started to sleep better. I also felt fuller after lunch, snacked less, ate less later on in the day. And, shock, horror I lost 2lbs in weight. Bonus.
It’s not just me that loves what Pod are doing, World Champion and double Olympic Gold medallist in cycling, Laura Trott has become their brand ambassador for the next three years.
Fancy eating healthily for a week? I’m offering anyone who can get to Pod’s London shops the chance to have lunch on them. Follow me @BexWills and RT on Twitter and I’ll pick someone at random to receive vouchers to have lunch on Pod.
