Simone Staffa

Three meals, sized to the training day.

I train fasted in the morning, so breakfast is the real post-workout meal. Protein stays high and steady every day; carbohydrates rise and fall with the session, most after intervals and the long run, least on the recovery day.

This is my log, not medical or dietary advice.

The baseline

Before any numbers, the food is anti-inflammatory by default. A few things are out entirely, a few are rare, and everything else on this page is built from what's left. Each line says whether it rests on evidence or on how my body responds.

Out

  • Alcoholevidence

    None. The best-supported line here: after training it cut muscle protein synthesis by up to 37%, and it lowers heart rate variability during sleep even at low doses.

  • Added sugarevidence

    No sweetened drinks or desserts. The evidence is strongest against sugary drinks; fruit is fine.

  • Glutenpersonal

    I treat gluten as inflammatory for me: I feel and recover better without it. In its place: chickpea and lentil pasta, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, chickpea flour.

  • Dairypersonal

    Same for dairy: I feel and recover better without it. Calcium comes from tofu, greens and fish.

  • Ultra-processed foodevidence

    Packaged snacks, ready meals, processed meat. People eat about 500 kcal a day more on it.

Rare

  • Red meatevidence

    Rarely. Processed meat is the clear risk; for unprocessed red meat the evidence is low-certainty.

  • White meat

    Once or twice a week.

Every day

  • Waterevidence

    2.5–3 L over the day, none in the last hour before bed.

  • Fishevidence

    Salmon or white fish most days, for omega-3.

  • Extra-virgin olive oilevidence

    The main fat, raw or for cooking.

  • Vegetablesevidence

    500–600 g, rotating colours and families.

  • Fruitevidence

    Berries, kiwi or citrus, after training.

  • Soy and legumesevidence

    Tofu, tempeh, chickpea flour, legume pasta.

  • Turmeric + black pepperpersonal

    For flavour, not therapy: the anti-inflammatory effect in trials comes from supplement doses.

The targets

What I aim for on an average day at 187 cm and 76 kg, training six times a week. A plausibility check, not something I count at every meal.

Protein

150–165g

2.0–2.2 g/kg, every day

Carbs

240–370g

3–5 g/kg, follows the session

Fat

100–120g

EVOO, fish, avocado, nuts

Energy

2,900kcal

2,600–3,100 by day type

Where the macros land on a strength day

MealPCFkcal

Breakfast

10:15 · after training

43 g60 g25 g637

Lunch

13:30

51 g76 g33 g805

Dinner

20:00

45 g63 g14 g558

Top-ups

fruit, nuts, edamame, extra grain

25 g90 g40 g820

Day total

2.2 · 3.8 · 1.5 g/kg

164 g289 g112 g2,820

Protein is spread evenly across the three meals. Carbs sit mostly at breakfast and lunch, around training. Three clean meals come to about 2,000 kcal, so the top-ups close the gap with carbs and fat, not more protein.

Carbs follow training

The same week as the training page. Protein barely moves. The carbohydrate dose follows the session and lands mostly at breakfast and lunch; dinner always has some, but it is never treated as the post-workout meal.

CarbsBLD
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
  • Low-carb
  • Some
  • Medium
  • Most of the day's carbs

Wednesday is the only training-free day: breakfast can go low-carb, and the carbs move to lunch and dinner.

A day on the plate

Pick the kind of day, or shuffle for other meals from the rotation; the carbohydrate portion follows the day. This is a strength day: train fasted at 09:00, eat within the hour after.

06:0012:0018:00
  • Train 09:00
  • Breakfast 10:15
  • Lunch 13:30
  • Dinner 20:00
  • 10-min walk

Breakfast the post-workout meal

Chickpea piadina + salmon

  • Eggs2
  • Chickpea flour60 g
  • Salmon90 g
  • Rocket, spinach, tomatoa handful
  • Kiwi or berries1–2 / 150 g

≈ 40 g protein

Lunch most of the carbs

Quinoa + salmon

  • Quinoa, dry90–100 g
  • Salmon170 g
  • Vegetables250–300 g
  • EVOOa little

≈ 50 g protein

Dinner carbs present, not loaded

White fish + potatoes

  • Cod, sea bream or bass200 g
  • Potatoes300 g
  • Vegetables250–300 g
  • EVOO10–15 g

≈ 42 g protein

Carb portion by dayCardioStrengthRecovery
Quinoa, buckwheat, millet (dry)100–120 g90–100 g70–80 g
Legume pasta (dry)110 g100 g90 g
Potatoes or sweet potatoes350–400 g~300 g200–250 g
Chickpea flour at breakfast60–70 g50–60 g0–50 g

The rotation

Five options per meal, rotated through the week. Open one for the recipe. Fish most days, tofu and tempeh often, white meat once or twice, red meat rarely.

Breakfast35–45 g protein

Lunch45–55 g protein

Dinner35–50 g protein

Vegetables

250–300 g at lunch and dinner, about two or three big handfuls, rotating colours and families through the week. Potatoes count as carbohydrate, not vegetables.

  • 150 g broccoli + 150 g peppers300 g
  • 150 g aubergine + 100 g courgette + 75 g cherry tomatoes325 g
  • 100 g leafy salad + 100 g tomatoes + 90 g carrots290 g
  • 150 g fennel + 100 g courgette + 75 g mushrooms325 g
  • 150 g cauliflower + 100 g peppers + 50 g spinach300 g
  • 125 g mushrooms + 100 g spinach + 100 g tomatoes325 g

Evidence

What each choice is based on, how strong the evidence is, and where it does not fully back what I do. Bars show strength of evidence.

No alcohol

  • Muscle protein synthesis
  • Heart rate variability
Evidence
After a strength and interval session, alcohol cut muscle protein synthesis by 24% even when taken with protein. In 4,098 people it raised sleeping heart rate and lowered HRV, from low doses up. The intake that minimised overall health loss was zero.
What I do
None, ever.
Caveat
The 'no safe level' figure is population modelling, and the protein-synthesis study used a binge-level dose. At low intakes the absolute risk is small.

Sources: GBD 2018 · Wood 2018 · Parr 2014 · Pietilä 2018

An anti-inflammatory pattern

  • CRP
  • IL-6
Evidence
Across cohorts, the most inflammatory diets carried 36% higher cardiovascular risk than the least. In trials, a Mediterranean diet lowered CRP by about 1 mg/L and IL-6 by 0.4 pg/mL.
What I do
Fish, EVOO, vegetables, fruit, legumes; little sugar, no ultra-processed food.
Caveat
Mostly observational. For a healthy person, lower blood markers have not been shown to mean a health benefit.

Sources: Shivappa 2018 · Schwingshackl 2014 · Marx 2021

Gluten- and dairy-free

  • Personal
Evidence
Over 26 years and 110,017 adults, gluten was not linked to heart disease, and trials find dairy neutral for inflammation in healthy people. In blinded challenges, people who felt gluten-sensitive reacted to fructans rather than gluten.
What I do
No gluten, no dairy. Chickpea and lentil pasta, buckwheat, quinoa and millet instead. I treat both as inflammatory for me because I feel and recover better without them.
Caveat
A personal call, not a general claim: large studies don't show harm for people without coeliac disease or a milk allergy.

Sources: Lebwohl 2017 · Skodje 2018 · Bordoni 2017 · Ulven 2019

Protein, 2.0–2.2 g/kg

  • Muscle protein synthesis
  • Leucine threshold
Evidence
Across 49 trials, extra protein stopped adding lean mass from lifting at about 1.6 g/kg a day; the upper confidence limit was 2.2.
What I do
150–165 g a day, every day, training or not.
Caveat
Above about 1.6 g/kg the extra adds little. My 2.0–2.2 is a safety margin, not a proven benefit.

Sources: Morton 2018 · Nunes 2022 · Jäger 2017

Three big protein meals

  • Muscle protein synthesis
Evidence
After whole-body lifting, 100 g of protein gave a larger and longer anabolic response (over 12 hours) than 25 g; no upper limit was found.
What I do
35–55 g at each of three meals instead of many small feeds.
Caveat
Short synthesis studies favour four feeds of about 0.4 g/kg. Three larger meals is a practical compromise.

Sources: Trommelen 2023 · Areta 2013 · Mamerow 2014 · Schoenfeld & Aragon 2018

Breakfast after fasted training

  • Anabolic window
Evidence
With total protein matched, timing made no significant difference to muscle or strength across more than 20 studies; the window is several hours wide.
What I do
Breakfast within about an hour of finishing.
Caveat
The window is wide after a fed session. After a fasted one there is nothing in the tank, so I don't delay.

Sources: Schoenfeld 2013 · Aragon & Schoenfeld 2013 · Schoenfeld 2017

Training fasted

  • Fat oxidation
  • Glycogen
Evidence
In a 12-week trial, fasted and fed lifters gained the same quadriceps thickness (+1.21 vs +1.18 cm). Eating first helped performance only in aerobic sessions over 60 minutes.
What I do
Lift and run on an empty stomach, eat straight after.
Caveat
No muscle advantage, and it may cost a little on the long run and the intervals. I do it because it fits my morning.

Sources: Vieira 2025 · Aird 2018 · Schoenfeld 2014

Carbs follow the session

  • Muscle glycogen
  • Fuel for the work required
Evidence
Sports-nutrition consensus scales carbohydrate with load: 3–5 g/kg for light training, 5–7 g/kg for about an hour a day, 6–10 g/kg for high load.
What I do
Most on Saturday and Monday, least on Wednesday.
Caveat
Built and tested mostly in trained endurance athletes. At 3–5 g/kg I sit below the 5–7 range for an hour a day.

Sources: Thomas 2016 · Impey 2018 · Marquet 2016

Tofu, tempeh and legumes

  • Soy protein
  • Leucine
Evidence
Soy matched animal protein for lean mass and strength, and a high-protein vegan diet matched an omnivorous one over 12 weeks.
What I do
Tofu or tempeh most days, legume pasta and chickpea flour for carbs.
Caveat
Non-soy plant proteins did slightly worse in a 2025 meta-analysis, so soy carries the plant side and fish covers most days.

Sources: Messina 2018 · Hevia-Larraín 2021 · Reid-McCann 2025

Fish most days

  • EPA + DHA (omega-3)
Evidence
Marine omega-3 lowered heart attacks (RR 0.92) and cardiovascular death (RR 0.93) across 13 trials and 127,477 people.
What I do
Salmon or white fish at most meals; red meat rarely.
Caveat
The large VITAL trial found no overall effect on major cardiovascular events, and the muscle link is weak.

Sources: Hu 2019 · Manson 2019 · Mozaffarian & Rimm 2006

Vegetables, fruit, olive oil

  • Fibre
  • Polyphenols
Evidence
Each extra 200 g of fruit and vegetables a day was linked with 10% lower all-cause mortality. A Mediterranean diet with EVOO reduced major cardiovascular events.
What I do
250–300 g of vegetables at lunch and dinner, fruit after training, EVOO as the main fat.
Caveat
Mostly observational. PREDIMED studied older adults at high risk and was re-analysed in 2018.

Sources: Aune 2017 · Estruch 2018

Mostly unprocessed food

  • Satiety
Evidence
On an ultra-processed diet, people ate about 500 kcal a day more than on an unprocessed one with the same macros on offer.
What I do
Whole foods, little added sugar, gluten- and dairy-free.
Caveat
One small inpatient study (20 people, two weeks per diet).

Sources: Hall 2019

Every source links to PubMed. Grams and macros are estimates: tofu, tempeh and legume pasta vary a lot between brands. This is a personal log, not medical or dietary advice.

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My week: meals and training A strength day Is fasted training worth it?