{"id":376014,"date":"2026-04-12T14:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/376014\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T14:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:36:16","slug":"the-esca-group-executive-director-shares-his-daily-diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/376014\/","title":{"rendered":"The ESCA Group executive director shares his daily diet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nicole<\/p>\n

April 12, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

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Ibrahim (Ibby) Moubadder is a restaurateur. The 37-year-old shares his day on a plate.<\/p>\n

\" Photo: Art by Eliza Iredale<\/p>\n

6.30am I start every morning with a large glass of water mixed with 10g of creatine, essential amino acids and hydrogen to keep hydrated before a 90-minute gym session, 20 minutes in the sauna and a three-minute ice bath.<\/p>\n

9.30am I arrive at work and have two egg whites. It\u2019s a simple, light hit of protein before the morning meetings.<\/p>\n

10.30am A matcha latte while coordinating suppliers for new Sydney wine bar AALIA Wine Room. I used to drink it first thing, but it made me nauseous on an empty stomach, so now I only have it after I\u2019ve eaten something.<\/p>\n

2.30pm Lunch at Henrietta between meetings and site visits. My go-to is my own creation \u2013 charcoal chicken breast, half an avocado, kale, beetroot, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, and an olive oil and lemon dressing.<\/p>\n

4.30pm Six raspberries and a small glass of organic chocolate coconut water in between work.<\/p>\n

8.30pm Roasted wild salmon with kimchi, broccoli, avocado, cauliflower, carrot and a walnut salad. A small serving of coconut yoghurt with some berries.<\/p>\n

Dr Joanna McMillan says:<\/p>\n

Top marks for \u2026 A colourful, veg-rich lunch and dinner. Your diversity of plant foods (and those berries) will do wonders for your gut microbiome and polyphenol intake. The inclusion of salmon, nuts and olive oil (make sure it\u2019s extra virgin) also delivers valuable healthy fats to support heart and brain health.<\/p>\n

If you keep eating like this you\u2019ll \u2026 Struggle to properly recover from those intense morning workouts \u2013 two egg whites provide only about 10 grams of protein and very little energy after a long gym session. By skipping the yolk, you\u2019re also missing out on micronutrients including B12, choline and fat-soluble vitamins, as well as the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, essential for eye health.<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t you try \u2026 Upgrading your post-gym nutrition to a more substantial breakfast such as a whole-egg omelette with a side of fruit, or a wholefood smoothie with milk or soy. If you prefer to avoid dairy, include calcium-rich options like sardines with bones, plus more nuts and seeds such as almonds and tahini.<\/p>\n

Ibby Moubadder is executive director of ESCA Group.<\/p>\n

Get the best of Sunday Life magazine delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning. Sign up here for our free newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"NicoleNicole Economos<\/a> is a Social Media Producer\/Journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 12, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,111,139,556,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-376014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nutrition","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}