I’ve received a few emails recently asking me about what I eat in a typical day so I thought I’d take food photos for a day.
Gluten free toast with ham, cheese and avocado and an unsweetened almond milk and banana smoothie with cinnamon and nutmeg.Β
Breakfast – Always a smoothie and if I’ve been to boot camp or for a run I’ll have something carby like toast or porridge.
Vegetable sticks with low-fat cottage cheese.Β
Morning Snack – A piece of fruit, some vegetable sticks, a hard-boiled egg, a green smoothie or a takeaway skim milk flat white are regular early morning favourites.
Left over Chilli Beef with avocado and extra brocoli.
Lunch – Usually left overs with added vegetables, a salad with protein like prawns or chicken, soup or an ommelette.
Apple slices and dried apricots.Β
Afternoon snack – Fruit, nuts, dried fruit (small amounts), a smoothie, some yogurt with cinnamon and always a cup of tea with skim milk
Dinner – Some kind of meat with vegetables.
After dinner – A cup of tea and maybe a square of Lindt chocolate or a gluten-free biscuit.
I’m a disgusting creature of habit and my diet rarely changes from what’s pictured above. If it’s the weekend you could add several glasses of wine and one dirty, dirty takeaway meal like a burger or Thai food but I have to have my veggies every day. No exceptions.
Tell me… what’s your typical day of eating? Is there a particular food that you must have everyday? Are you an habitual eater? Or do you mix it up?
24 Comments
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All of that looks great. Have any advise on not getting sick of the veggies? I think my cravings for veggies is very cyclical.
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You inspired a post! π
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Yay, I need some help for sure. I really want to love veggies, but there are a lot of times I just feel like I can’t choke them down.
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I pretty much have the same thing every day whilst I’m back at my parent’s place for university holidays: glass of fresh orange juice for breakfast and some Sultana Bran with skim milk; a bowl of garlic fish served with rice and chopped up vegetables for lunch; and some kind of salad and meat for dinner (generally fish or chicken or sausages). If I have a snack it’s generally some scrambled eggs or chopped up celery.
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I actually find that I eat badly when staying my parents because my dad loves to BBQ and my mum saves bottles of red to open when I’m around. :-/
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You are so feaking healthy all day long, I wish I had your will power!
I normally have 4 kiwi fruits for breakfast and a few cups of green tea. If I’m being really BAD I will have a piece of wholegrain bread with Vegemite.I like to have a really light lunch because I’m trying to lose weight, so on a good day I will have a teaspoon of peanut butter or a handful of seeds and a tsp of pine nuts.Then for dinner I will have a piece of lean chicken or some baked fish. Depending on what’s for dinner, the meat will be accompanied by green vegetables or a cup of brown rice or quinoa.
However, I cannot go without my daily fix of Turkish delight! I allow myself one piece a day if I’ve been extra good on the calories and have done my 10km walk/run. Of course…there is at least one social occasion every week where I snap and end up having a vanilla thick shake, ice cream, or a piece of cake. F*ck.
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Hi Harlow – I don’t mean to sound like I’m sticking my nose in – of course, you can choose to do whatever you like and I’d hate to sound like I’m judging! – but I admit, when I read your comment I thought, ‘Whoa, lady you are NOT eating enough!’
Especially if you’re doing 10 km runs. A mouthful of peanut butter for lunch? I am surprised you haven’t fainted yet on such severe caloric restriction! Or just fallen asleep at your desk. You must be starving!
A piece of wholegrain toast with veg is not ‘bad’ at all, it’s totally normal! Neither is the odd piece of cake, by the way – every single person, ever, does it. Because it’s nice. You’re not ‘snapping’ when you relax the reigns a little.
Sounds like you could afford to be a little more gentle on yourself, is what i mean…but good on you for being so committed to your goal, I hope you get the results you’re after. Just sounds a bit severe, that’s all! Take it easy!-
Ladies, I assure you I am just fine! I just haven’t had much of an appetite lately so the amount that I eat is enough for me. I’m not one of those tiny skinny girls or anything, as you can see here I do indeed have more than enough meat on my bones.
http://suburbanretro.blogspot.com.au/But I do appreciate your concern π
And my dear Smaggle, I am actually off salads for now! I over did the rocket and baby spinach thing recently so for now I am adding broccolli and bok choy to my meals π Until I get sick of that and get back on the salads π
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It sounds like your will power is way greater than mine! Perhaps you should add your handful of seeds to a giant salad? π
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Hi Harlow,
Ditto Mother! Harlow, I think you are being way to hard on yourself as well- you’re diet is completely fine, just really restricted!! There’s nothing ‘Bad’ about food…well maybe not all of it…baconnaise anyone? π
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I am such a habitual eater from Monday to Friday – breakfast is yogurt with a few teaspoons of muesli stirred in and a coffee. Lunch is a bowl of soup and either a sliced apple or some grapes. Afternoon snack is a yogurt rice cake or a sliced apple. Dinner is a picnic plate with some cold cooked chicken, some raw veggies, a little hummus, some cheese and a few grapes or strawberries, or if it’s a really cold day I’ll go for a bowl of porridge with some dried cranberries. If I want a snack in the evening it’s usually a handful of jellies or a huge mug of tea. It’s not the best diet but it’s not bad, although when I go visit my parents some weekends I go to town on bread and baked stuff. I have no will power around toast.
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ME TOO! I’m even half-Coeliac. As in I live with one and I’ve developed a slight intolerance but if you let me near a French bread stick it’s hell for leather.
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There is no such thing as Half-celiac. I know you mean well and mean you have a slight intolerance, but when people use phrases like that, it minimizes the medical importance of not having ANY gluten for people with celiac disease.
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I’m in love with a coeliac and no one takes his health and disease more seriously than I do. I’ve spent 7 years of my life making sure that people take his disease seriously to the point that I order gluten free food EVERY SINGLE TIME we go out for dinner so our shared table is completely safe. I live in a 100% gluten free household. I often say I’m Coeliac just so I can get enough food for him at a wedding. When I say I’m half-Coeliac I mean because I share his disease in a practical sense. Because I do.
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So glad you do wine on a weekend x
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Always! And preferably with you. x
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This post is bittersweet – like seeing all your amazing salads on twitter – it all looks delicious, but reminds me how shitty my eating habits are. It’s partially my laziness and partially brain issues like my circadian rhythm sleep disorder and anxiety. My husband and I have trouble making meals that don’t have a bunch of preservatives in them and come out of the freezer because it’s hard to work fresh produce into a rotating sleep schedule that very rarely lines up with that of the other eater in the house.
This post is encouraging though. The food I currently eat (way too many frozen meat pies ugh) just leaves me feeling like sluggish crap – and likely does nothing positive for my brain.
I love avocado and obviously you do too. I’m guessing you don’t eat an entire one in one sitting though so I’m wondering how you store it between meals.-
My sleeping habits aren’t amazing either (hello late night inspiration!) but you need to have a semblance of ‘normal’ meals in the day – breakfast, lunch and dinner – no matter what time you wake up and go to sleep. A few tips!
* Always have a good breakfast no matter what time you wake up with something fresh like fruit in a smoothy or spinach in an ommelette
* It’s just as easy to heat up a single serve bag of frozen veggies as it is to heat up a meat pie π you can have microwave or oven fish with it to make it healthier.
* Have veggies at both lunch and dinner every day.
* I wrap left over avocado in plastic wrap and keep the stone with the other half/three quaters. But generally I’ll half a one in a sitting (which is more than I should have!) because it’s a bit easier!
x
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I appreciate the tips. Inspired, I made a quick trip to the store and picked up stuff for a simple salad (baby steps) and some vegetables for roasting. Definitely want to incorporate omelettes into my morning routine. Do you saute the spinach before you put it into the eggs? Also, I missed what the sauce on top was of your last omelette instagram, would love to know.
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I just throw the spinach in about 30 seconds before the eggs just to wilt it. Then I pour the eggs on top, cook the bottom on the hotplate then chuck the pan under the grill to cook the top, then add a little bit of cheese and cook again. It’s just plain old BBQ sauce… it’s full of sugar and I shouldn’t have it but I just have a tiny drizzle. π
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My eating habits are unrecognisable from 3 months ago. 3 months ago I weighed 113kgs. I have had Type 2 diabetes (have had for 12 years) and have been insulin dependant for 3. HIGH levels of insulin. I was on Oxycontin for pain, I have Fibromyalgia, neck, back, shoulder and hip problems (not just a weight thing) and I was housebound (depression/anxiety).
Now, I eat a mostly plant based diet. I eat a home made (non-toasted, fruit free) muesli for breakfast every morning, and it is my biggest meal of the day (also my favourite). I eat fruit fro lunch and Salad with Lean chicken or Stir Fry for dinner with lots of steamed vegetables. I gave up caffeine almost entirely (from a 6-8 cup a day coffee habit) and now drink mostly tea. My idea of a treat now is a low fat yoghurt. Yes, I know they have sugar and there are better options. But I’ve discovered that I LOVE them, so I’m ok with them being my treat.
3 months ago – this would have all been unthinkable. It was nothing for me to have high sugar cereal AND several slices of toast for breakfast with 1-3 lattes. Sugared ones at that.
I’m 16 kgs down, inches upon inches smaller and I’m almost off insulin entirely (I’m off the short-acting completely and I’m on less of the long acting).
(Sorry for the essay. I’ve found your blog just today, from Eden. Just looking around, I feel like this is going to be an inspirational place for me to be. I think it will be an enormous help to me as I have so, so far to go).
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Any reader of Eden is welcome here! Good on you! It’s all about making it a habit and making sure you’re doing it to feel good about yourself as well as for weight loss. It’s easier to not eat chocolate because you’ll feel gross if you eat it than to not eat chocolate because you’re trying to lose weight. Well for me any way. π
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I’m not the healthiest eater but I’ve gotten a lot better over the past few months! Finishing grad school I was eating multiple bowls of ice cream, chips, dessert for breakfast, skipping meals and snacking all day…not good.
I start every morning with vitamins, a cup of green tea and a low fat yogurt. Then on my first break at work I’ll usually have a bowl of cereal (currently: gluten-free chocolate Chex. Quite good!) or, if I’m super hungry, a bagel. I work at Starbucks full-time and being on your feet for 8-9 hours a day, sometimes you just want a damn bagel! Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before, some sort of protein and leftover veggies, or if there’s no leftovers I’ll get Korean (chicken bibim bob-it’s just raw veggies, rice, chicken and spicy sauce with an egg on top). Last break at work snack is either a naked juice, tea, sweet potato chips, a low-fat chocolate pudding or a bit of a pastry if I’m being bad. Dinner varies wildly, depending on if the bf or I cook or if we’re both just feeling too lazy. I eat sushi at least once a week, though; I’m addicted to raw fish and seaweed. Weekends are totally different, though, with wine and brunches and going out to dinner and sleeping in…I love weekends.
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This is me (well except for the GF stuff). I wrote recently about how, since I stopped working to study and write full time, my diet has become so predictable. I realise that in order to get through everything that I want to complete every day I took the choices out of my day – same breakfast, same coffee place, same lunch and a few variations for dinner. It keeps me focussed and adding lots of colour to all my food with lotsa veggies makes me feel stronger and more in control. Ive been following you on IG for ages but I never visited the blog. Love your writing and love the reframe of predictable to habitual. People seem to think that Im odd that I stay on one food path…it works for me.
