This is going to be a very different post…

I found the study of Law in SUSS to be easier than the study of Economics in NUS. Even though I was studying full time in NUS and was working while pursuing a law degree in SUSS, I found that I was better able to concentrate in class. I found it easier to understand what was being taught and I digested what I read a lot quicker.

It dawned on me that it was not that law is an easier discipline to master. It could not be. There were many aspects of the law that I have yet to master and on many occasions I took multiple days to understand a certain concept. It took me days to complete the readings. The cases were long and judgements were sometimes winding… It took me some time to understand cases like Spandeck and Chan Yuen Lan. For those of you law students who do not know what I am talking about, you’ll get there…

Two decades punctuate my degrees. As I am in my forties, I took better care of my health. It stemmed from me one day returning to my office after a heavy lunch and feeling extremely sleepy. I hated that feeling. It happened often. When I got a spot in law school, I decided to clean up my diet. No more mid day crashes. I needed focus to clear my work so that I could make it to class in the evening. Heck, I am paying in excess of $160,000 for my legal education. I better make my monies worth.

Nutrition not only changed my afternoons. It changed my entire day. I started my mornings well, I was sharper in the afternoons and I could focus in the evenings. I started to prepare my own food in office or at home. I used my lunch time to catch up on my readings so having the ability to eat at my desk not only helped me save time from going out of the office for lunch, it forced me to prepare my meals ahead of time.

So what do I eat?

Well for starters, I am a vegetarian. I do not consume meat but I do take eggs and dairy. I only turned vegetarian a year before entering law school. I get my protein mainly from plants, nuts, seeds, eggs and soy. I subscribe to a low fat diet and I do not skimp on carbohydrates. However, I try to select carbohydrates with a higher fibre content. So think of brown rice versus white rice and whole wheat pasta.

Oh and I love noodles over rice. I have pasta almost everyday. This is how I meal prep for my lunch on weekdays.

This saves me a lot of time. I typically prepare either 3 days worth of lunch on Sunday for the next three days and then another 2 days on Wednesday evening of just the whole 5 days. For the latter I will proceed to store my Thursday and Friday meals in the office freezer instead of the fridge. The time savings alone make meal prep worth it. When you add on the fact that this is perhaps more nutritious than anything you can get at anything around your office, meal prepping should be a no brainer.

For 2026, I have started to include home made oat, nut and seed bars. This goes well as a snack as and when I get hungry.

Oh and trust me, this is good.

If anyone is interested…

 

High Protein Oat Bar Recipe

40g chia seeds (4 tablespoons. Soak in water for 15 mins.)

180g oats (about 8 scoops)

120g peanuts

Peanut butter powder (6 scoops)

40g peanut butter

75g sunflower seeds

Melted Hershey’s semi sweet chocolate

Sea Salt

Raw Cacao Nibs

 

This will last for about two weeks.

Breakfast is oats. Sometimes I start mixing oats with soy milk at the point I want to have them and sometimes I will prepare overnight oats. Top it off with fresh and frozen fruits.

I try to keep to a clean diet even at home. My meals look like this.

 

Of course I do snack. However, when you have been eating clean, you do not have cravings for sweet things as often as before. Well for me at least. But I still do enjoy the odd donut once in a while. Maybe once every 2-3 weeks? I believe I could go months without snacking and not feel a thing.

Oh and when I really have cravings for something sweet… there are always healthier options. Yes durians may be high in calories but it is a superfood packed with nutrients. If I have durians, I will just cut back on my breakfast the next day and/or ramp up my workouts for the next few days.

Trust me when I say that nutrition is extremely important. It may not be the single most important reason that got me through law school and my days at work. However, it is definitely one of the major contributing factor to how I was able to concentrate in class and juggle family, work and studies over the four years. Nutrition is more important than we think it is. I have been and am still trying to improve my nutrition to help me with my work.

Anyone who has worked with me can attest to the fact that I have almost the same meal just about every day I am in office (some have remarked “you buay sian ah?”. Well, save for days where I have lunch appointments. Of course when I am on holidays there is no way to meal prep but then a week or two of less nutritious food will not damage the long term benefits of consistent nutrition planning. Conversely, having one or two days of nutritious meals will not be able to outdo all the poor nutrition on all other days.

Law school is not a walk in the park, I genuinely think nutrition can help make it easier.

Yours sincerely,

Daryl