The other day I was at a local grocery store and the manager was talking about a new vegan cheese product and asked me if I ate cheese. This question seemed silly to be as I’m now in an environment where most people / patients I encounter don’t have many food restrictions. Looking at a cheese aisle in any grocery store and scrolling through my IG feed, however, reflects differently.
I am very, very happy to be at a point where I don’t say no to any food. For awhile that wasn’t the case. But when I started to view my brain as the most important thing about myself, rather than my body, I felt a subtle shift that resulted in a huge sigh of relief. For my full food philosophy, you can read this post.
While I do sometimes eat cheese, it isn’t in my typical line up of weekly foods because quite honestly it makes my farts smell really weird. It’s a sometimes food. As in, sometimes I go to the candy drawer at work and snag a Twix. Sometimes I stop at Roche Brother’s on the way home from work and have three handfuls of chocolate covered almonds. Sometimes I order out Thai food. Sometimes I grab a slice of pizza. Sometimes I have a few glasses of wine. The sometimes’s. They are not restricted or used to cloak a negative feeling, but are there to eat when I’m in a good mood and to enjoy slowly and mindfully.
For a whole introduction to mindful eating, I like the raisin exercise (though I sub out a piece of dried apricot for raisin because I detest raisins).
But I think it can be confusing to know how to throw together a day of meals. A real dooms day dread is when the clock strikes 11am and you have to bargain with yourself whether or not to break into the snack you packed for later in the day, merely passing the buck to the same feeling at 4pm. Enter emergency snacks to be kept on hands at all time stage left!! While the day of eating below is in no way static, it provides a rough outline of a day of fuel for me.
Keep in mind that this is only what works for me and is a very rough guide to what an actual day of eating looks like. The only way to determine what works best for you is by doing a bit of mindful experimentation. Taking each meal and snack slowly, recognizing when you’ve had enough or need a bit more. Maybe more on exercise days and less on long days of sitting. Completely personalized to you, and not dictated by what you see on anyone’s IG feed or blog. And when you get a little confused, remember: whole, nutrient dense foods with lots and lots of colors.
Breakfast: coconut yogurt with granola, apples, and a drizzle of almond butter
Lunch: Lemongrass Chicken Crockpot with a few squares of chocolate (reciple below)
Snack: Carrots and roasted turnips with sweet potato hummus + blackberries
Dinner: Huge salad with kraut, avocado, veggies, and a protein (salmon, ground turkey, chicken, veggies burger, egg, etc.)
Additional ideas:
Breakfast ideas:
• Yogurt with granola, nut butter, and fruit
• Smoothie with fruit, vegetable, nut butter, and almond milk
• Eggs with veggies, fruits, and avocado
Lunch: a crockpot delight, like the one in this picture:
Lemongrass Chicken Crockpot recipe
• 1 package chicken breast
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp green curry paste
• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 1 tbsp fresh garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
• Salt and pepper
1. Chop all ingredients and place in crockpot on low for 8 hours (or high for 4 hours)
2. Remove lemongrass from crockpot.
Dinner: huge salad with a protein, kraut, a good fat, and dressing
Snacks:
• Carrots and grilled vegetables with hummus
• Berries and almonds
• Celery with nut butter
• Hot chocolate: almond milk, 2 tbsp cacao powder, 1 tbsp coconut butter, dash of cinnamon, dash of salt, 1 tbsp maple syrup or 1 date if needed
Storage:
- I like to store snacks in Stasher Bags
- I use glass Tupperware like found here
- And I store it all in a bag like this
- Something like this also looks great!
I hope this is helpful! Love you all, my sweet friends!!
