Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge — What I Eat On the Average Day

It’s time again for the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Today’s topic is: What I Eat On the Average Day

First off, I need to say to Danielle Maxwell and Rain City Reads — I’ve tried every week to comment on your blogs. I had a friend leave my comment a few times, but that’s difficult too. When I try to comment, and I’ve tried from every browser, I get this:

Not Acceptable!
An appropriate representation of the requested resource could not be found on this server. This error was generated by Mod_Security.

So, I’m not ignoring you, I promise. Your blogs just won’t let me say anything 🙁

Also, you guys should check out the Friday Five at LASR, too!~ I play every week. Here are my posts if you’d like to visit.

Now, onto today’s post…

Nutrition is one of those things I’m passionate about and I read every single book that comes out about it. As a side note, my absolutely favorite book in this genre is “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan. His idea of healthy eating is so simple but apparently hard to follow these days. It is:

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

It’s something I try to follow. Now, when he says “eat food” he means actual food… like food they ate 150 years ago. Not processed food full of dyes and synthetic additives. Something your great-grandparents would recognize as food. Not florescent green yogurt or Lunchables masquerading as food. Typically, if it comes in a box or has unpronounceable ingredients, it’s probably not “food”.

And “not too much” sounds simple enough, but here in the good old USofA we’ve forgotten what a serving size is. We do everything big, and that includes meals. A tablespoon of peanut butter isn’t what you think it is… and a serving of meat? That’s about the size of the palm of your hand. A good rule of thumb if you eat out somewhere is to bring your own to go container and put half of your meal into it before you even start to eat. I don’t know about you, but I was brought up with the “children are starving in Ethiopia so you should clean your plate” mantra. And now I find it difficult to leave even a small bite behind.

“Mostly plants” is pretty self-explanatory. I don’t think most people eat enough produce. Me included, and I probably eat more than many.

So … now that I’ve lectured, what do I eat in a typical day? In a perfect world when I’m not working two essentially full-time jobs, here’s what I eat.

Breakfast is usually one of these:

Eggs/whole grain toast/sliced orange or apple.
Oatmeal with blueberries (unsweetened — the berries are usually enough sweetener)
Plain yogurt with blueberries and a sprinkle of granola

Lunch is typically:

A HUGE salad. And because I don’t actually like lettuce (or other green leafy things) I add lots of “stuff”. One of my favorite things to buy is broccoli slaw–it’s got broccoli, cabbage and carrots all grated up for me that I can throw onto my leaves. I add other veggies like tomatos and onions, but also will do things like add chopped apples or sliced grapes or berries. And I always put something like sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, or a few croutons. Add dressing, put it in a dish with a lid and shake the heck out of it so every one of those nasty leaves is coated with something to make it taste good.

If I don’t have salad, I usually make some kind of protein (chicken, steak, shrimp) and add a pile of steamed/stir-fried veggies and some kind of whole grain (like brown rice, quinoa or barley).

Dinner…

Well… honestly, I usually eat lunch so late in the day that I don’t eat dinner. If I do, it’s small … I find that I sleep better and feel better if I don’t eat several hours before bed.

I do snack throughout the day, though. Carrot sticks, apples, sometimes rice cakes (flavored ones), etc. And truthfully, I’m a sucker for dessert, so I let myself have something sweet.

I drink obscene amounts of water. I have coffee in the morning and one diet coke (and that’s “coke” as in “soda” or “pop” — I’m actually a Pepsi girl) in the afternoon to keep the caffeine headaches away (yes, I know I should wean myself off, but I don’t want to … it’s a pain, literally, and I’m not sure I’d like life without caffeine).

When I eat out, I try to choose “real” food as well. Chipotle, Kneaders, Subway (I get the veggie sandwich… yum), etc.

No, I don’t always eat perfectly. Yes, I know I need more protein in my diet. Yes, sometimes I just want a pizza, and I have that. But mostly I try to make sure I’m putting real food into my body. Not too much. Mostly plants.