photo credit: avlxyz

Despite reports to the contrary, it's quite possible to enjoy your club cricket tea, remain healthy and keep your performance levels up.

The mid-game meal is extremely important to cricket because, as Lucozade are keen to tell everyone, the right (or wrong) fuel can have a noticeable effect on your game.

photo credit: NickStenning

How long can you play club cricket at a decent level and still enjoy it?

You don't find many professional cricketers playing beyond 40 these days. Club players can go on longer as the demands are less. However for most of us the glory days are in our 20's. What follows is a gradual drop in standard as we hit 40, 50 and beyond.

photo credit: Spoungeworthy

Back in the mists of ancient history (the 1980's) the Soviets were kings of sport. Their state funded athletes became a huge experiment in maximising performance.

This included the development of periodisation: the planning system that most sports follow to this day, cricket included.

image credit: Cronfeld

A friend who I had not seen for a while was staying with me for a few days. He was shocked when he saw what I ate.

"Are you trying to bulk up?" he asked.

I'm not sure what prompted the comment. I was eating a salmon fillet with spinach at the time. Perhaps he had seen in my supplement cupboard. A place that I admit appears to be bulging with all kinds of powders and pills.

Balancing a busy life with good nutrition for cricket is tough. I'm sure we have all been in a position like Darren, who emailed me recently:

"I'm finding it hard to control my diet and to find something suitable to eat due to my unusual hours of work/activity and mix of office work and coaching.

Name me a couple of foodstuffs that you would count as unhealthy. Chocolate? Doughnuts? Anything deep fried?

You can probably come up with more given enough time.

We have all been conditioned over the years to think of food as healthy or unhealthy, fattening or slimming, good for sport or bad for sport, guilty or good.

The first time I ever kept wicket in a senior cricket match was quite an experience. I was used to youth team 20 over evening thrashes at the time; done in a flash and home in time for dinner.

After 30 overs I was pretty tired of crouching, after 40 I wanted to go home and by the time 52 overs had passed and the innings closed I had to lay down. The day after I tried to get out of bed only to collapse on the floor and be forced to crawl to the bathroom. The DOMS in my thighs was that bad.

Still thinking about starting to get fit for the cricket season? A huge round of applause to you for trying and an even bigger one for this massive in-depth guide to losing weight:

Weight loss information is finite. Everything you actually need to know about it already exists and has existed for quite some time… It has not changed, and it never will change. It will never improve. It will never become easier, it will never become harder. The way cavemen lost weight is the exact same way flying-telepathic-super-humans will lose weight in 4028.

One of the most common questions I get asked about cricket nutrition is: "what should I eat on playing days?"
While there is a simple template, it's a difficult question to answer. Players have different nutritional needs and play longer or shorter versions of the games. That said, there are certain things everyone can do to make sure they are getting the right fuel at the right time.

You know the importance of good nutrition on your cricket, but are you tired of the complexities eating rules? Here are some simple strategies laid out in a simple fashion. More or less.

More

• Eat more healthy fats. Fat has a bad rap. Fats from nuts, fish oil, flax, avocados and olive oil have proven health benefits, including body fat loss.