I won't lie, my girlfriend Zara (three-day event rider Zara Phillips) does all the cooking in the house. She's an awesome cook. She doesn't have a speciality, she's very good generally and can do a lot of fancy stuff. She does lamb cutlets with a pea-minty-mushroomy thingy which is nice. She does steak in bean and tomato, which is difficult to describe but is very good.

I am very aware of what I eat. All week I'm preparing for a game and very careful but at the weekend I'm more relaxed. It's all about balance. Dietary advice has changed a lot. When I first started all we ate was pasta, potatoes and rice because carbs were supposed to give you energy. Now I'm told to have a lot of high protein and salads during the week. The night before a match I'll have a really big, carb-heavy meal. I always have lasagne. I love lasagne. My mum got me into it but Zara's is equally good. I definitely wouldn't say one is better than the other, I know better than to compare the two. My last meal would either be that or fish fingers with parsley sauce and mashed potato.

I can put on weight quite quickly so I don't eat vast amounts of food in one go. Today is typical. Breakfast was four poached eggs on toast with cooked ham. At 11.30 I had a chicken salad wrap and a fruit salad. After I'd done weights in the afternoon I needed some protein so it was another chicken salad wrap and at dinner I'll have two lamb shanks with veg. I might allow myself a little mashed potato if I'm living dangerously.

I'm quite a carnivore, I have to be: to keep the muscle on you need a lot of protein. I grew up in Wakefield and my mother is an awesome cook. It's always been meat and two veg but that's the food I love. She does fantastic roasts and a great stew with amazing dumplings that weren't exactly healthy but God they were good. She spoilt us and probably overfed us a bit. When I was 15 I weighed about 14 stone - a big lad, but it's better to be healthy and well-fed than the other way.

After the match I'll have a couple of pints of Guinness with the lads. I've always loved Guinness but it's got to be really cold. The pies-and-pints culture in rugby has changed and I barely drink any alcohol during the week, maybe a glass of wine, but there's nothing wrong with a few beers after a match. It might occasionally end up with five or six but that's not too bad once in a while. On Sunday I eat what I want. It'll be a bacon and poached-egg sandwich in the morning, lunch will be out and about. We love our roast-beef dinners down the pub and in the evening it'll depend. If Zara is away competing I'll have my only takeaway of the week. It would definitely be a Chinese - it might be a banquet for two but obviously that would just be for me. I can do that in fairly easily.

Mike Tindall is a Guinness ambassador; guinness.com

Chinese takeaway

A takeaway once in a while need not be a problem for someone as active and robust as Mike. However he should review the chips-and-rice intake at future sittings.

Fish fingers

Fish is fine food, though this is pretty bereft of omega-3 fats found in species such as salmon and sardine. Breadcrumbs and salt do not have much going for them. Fine as occasional comfort food.

Guinness

Other than water, beer is mainly carb - too much of which will tend to cause Mike to pile on the pounds, particularly around the midriff, although Mike's Guinness intake seems relatively restrained.

Chicken salad wrap

Wraps tend to contain less bread and more filling than sandwiches. A greater protein-to-carb ratio will help ensure that any weight gained will be of muscle, not fat.

Lasagne

Delicious, but its carb-rich nature is likely to cause surges of insulin which stimulate fat-making and deposition in the body - not a great food for someone who struggles a bit to make his fighting weight.

Poached eggs

I'm glad to see Mike's advisers have shifted the spotlight on to protein for muscle growth and power. Eggs are a good source of protein, but also offer a hefty dose of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.