The Food Medic - S9 Ask Dr Hazel: What should I eat before an exam?

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

Welcome to Ask Dr Hazel, mini episodes that drop each week between our main epsiodes.This week's question is: “What should I eat before and during exams? I am sitting a 6 hour exam in a couple of months. There is a one hour break in the middle of the exam. We are not allowed allowed to have any food or drink during the exam, besides water. We can only eat before the exam and at the break. Do you have any tips for breakfast, and at the break?”If you would like to submit a question to the podcast please send your voice recorded question to [e-mail]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Thank you to everyone who's sent in questions already. And if you would like to submit a question of your own to the podcast on any topic related to health, fitness, nutrition, or mental health, please send your voice recorder questions to info at thefoodmedic.co.uk. So let's get into this week's question. Hi, Dr. Hazel, my name is Denise and I'm hoping you could offer some advice on what to eat before and during exams. I'm sitting a six-hour exam in a couple of months and we only have one one-hour break right in the middle of the exam. We're not allowed to have any food or drinks with us during testing time besides water, so really can only eat before the exam and during the break. Do you have any tips of best food to eat for breakfast and the lunch break? Thank you. This is such a great question and I wish I knew this information when I was studying my exams back in medical school. So you mentioned that you want something that's going to keep you

going for breakfast and also during the exam at lunchtime. My best advice would be to make sure that you're getting a good balanced breakfast before your exam. So you're going to think about having some complex carbohydrates, that could be some porridge oats, some whole grain toast, perhaps a bagel. You want to get some protein sources in there. So again, that could be some porridge oats, some whole grain toast, perhaps a bagel. You want to get some protein sources in there. So again, that could be some yogurt, it could be some eggs, maybe some smoked salmon. Smoked salmon is also a really great source of omega-3, which is really important for brain health as well. And also some healthy fats. So that could be nut butter. Again, it could be some seeds, some nuts, or some smoked salmon.

Like I said, you mentioned that you can still have water during the exam. That is great because dehydration can impair your concentration. So make sure to just keep sipping on water throughout the exam. And then at lunchtime, it's great that you have that break because you can also get in some really nutritious food. Same principles as breakfast time, getting in a balanced meal with complex carbs, a protein source and healthy fats. So some ideas might be maybe a pasta salad. You can make this whole grain pasta, some tuna, some chopped veggies, or perhaps you want to make like a pita bread. Again, you could add some roasted veg in here, some feta cheese. So you're getting in your your protein you can add in some healthy fats you could add in some hummus if you

wanted as well keep it really simple but make sure you're having foods that you enjoy as well and that aren't new so you know that you're going to tolerate them well and that will be my best advice try to kind of stay clear from energy drinks, high sugar foods that you think may give you energy in the moment but are probably not going to sustain you for the full day. So I hope that was helpful. Best of luck with your exam

and let us know how you get on.