Have you ever brought a nice, nutritious salad for lunch that's just full of vegetables, and then an hour later you find yourself completely starving and not satisfied? I used to do this when I was in college. I'd try and eat healthy where I'd just eat a salad from the salad bar that really just consisted of vegetables, and I'd have an orange on the side and I wondered why eating "healthy" felt like such a test of willpower all the time.

It's not that those weren't good choices. It's really just that I wasn't eating balanced meals that were allowing me to feel full and satisfied for longer periods of time. Read on to learn how to balance meals for more even, sustained energy!

Last week we talked about the importance of eating regular meals and planned snacks in order to get out of the energy zapping cycle that you might currently find yourself in. In Step 2, I want to focus on exactly what types of foods you’ll want to prioritize in order to balance blood sugar and avoid the blood sugar roller coaster!

You know that 3pm crash? The one where you want to put your head down on your keyboard and mainline coffee and fiend for peanut butter cups? It’s not necessarily normal, and it doesn’t have to happen every day although it might be right now. I know because that used to be me.

I knew that what food I put into my body had an impact on how I felt in general, but I mostly focused on how to eat to maintain or lose weight rather than fuel my body. I had never known any other way. It wasn’t until I learned how to eat for energy and fuel that I finally turned things around.