What I Eat in a Day

Time for another ‘What I Eat in a Day’ post. I love doing them… let me know if you like these types of posts as much as I do. They’re meant to inspire, share insight, show what I regularly eat and reveal how vibrant, colorful and delicious plant based foods can be 🙂 which are the total opposite of boring.

As you probably know, I eat a plant based whole foods vegan diet and have been for over 2 years now. It makes me feel my best and works for me. Living vegan is a choice you have to make every single day. The hardest part is the learning process because the food tastes absolutely amazing! It’s getting acclimated to the lifestyle that takes months, just like anything else that’s “new” in life. 

I avoid processed foods as much as possible and minimize oils (at least when I’m cooking at home) while being mindful about my fat intake; I don’t keep track of specifics and definitely don’t count calories… I count colors instead. I try to keep it simple and easy, incorporating variety each day which means that no one day is the same, but is always super yummy. 

I would rather not stress about the specific numbers and prefer to listen to my body. I only say this because I often get comments and emails asking for the nutrition facts and specifics for my recipes. I understand people want to know (I used to be the same…) but it’s life-changing when you transition to focusing on the ingredients rather than the nutrition facts. Can you pronounce all of the ingredients? Are all of the ingredients whole foods or are they processed? These are the questions we need to be asking ourselves rather than worrying about how many carbs there are.

This intuitive way of eating works best for me but you may prefer to monitor your food intake a different way – that’s okay – there’s no right or wrong way to do it, we’re all trying to find our own path, right? 🙂 the less restrictive and less stressful, the better, in my opinion. Not saying that it’s acceptable to eat vegan cupcakes all day long (!!) but it’s supposed to be a sustainable lifestyle for the long-term, so getting caught up in specifics isn’t worth the time or worry, in my opinion. 

I’ll promote plant based eating all day long… but if you want to incorporate more plant foods into your life without going 100% vegan – I think that’s amazing too. Focus on lots of greens, lots of fresh veggies, lots of fruit and whole food carbs (brown rice, oats, sweet potatoes, beans, quinoa etc). Any kind of effort like choosing non-dairy milk over cow’s milk and occasionally choosing a veggie burger over a beef burger is amazing and makes a difference. Just wanted to throw that out there!

So here’s what I ate (keep in mind these meals are from one day last week; before getting sick, if you saw on my snapchat – @glowingfridge!) 

BREAKFAST:

First thing, before eating anything, I always make sure to drink 24 ounces (3 cups) of filtered water with 1/2 lemon (after oil pulling, of course!). I use this mason jar all day every single day. Water helps to rehydrate the body after a long night’s rest where we can get dehydrated. It starts the day off on a healthy note!

Then I made a cup of coffee with my favorite dairy-free creamer – the Silk Almond Vanilla Flavored Creamer (check out my superfood coffee elixir recipe too!). I savored that while responding to emails and then made breakfast 30-45 minutes later. Listening to our bodies is so important! There are days when I’m starving right as I wake up and there are days when I don’t feel hungry until mid-morning. I don’t stress about it – just eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full.

This colorful breakfast bowl had 1 juicy mango that I cut into cubes, fresh blueberries, the Chia Coconut Granola from Nature’s Path organic and a splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I have some sort of cereal bowl like this every once in a while…. so good! I call it my homemade adult cereal. Usually I’ll do a smoothie every morning (like this one) but like to switch it up too.

SNACK:

A few hours later I went to the gym and then needed a little snack after, so I had a pink lady apple and a coconut chocolate chip CLIF bar. Later in the day, after lunch, I sipped on the Evolution Fresh Green Lemonade for a little pick-me-up. 

LUNCH:

Glow Bowl salads are often my go-to for lunch. You can add so much goodness to glow bowls! I go with greens like kale or spinach and then add in whatever veggies and plant protein I have in the fridge. Today was one that I make often with kale, brown rice, tempeh, celery, bell pepper, avocado and lemon juice.

I also drank another 24 ounces of water (with 1/2 lemon) before my salad.

DINNER:

I’ve been craving spring rolls like crazy lately! I made them over the weekend and already twice this week. They’re so FRESH and light yet filling and satisfying at the same time. Perfect for hot summer nights. This is a variation of my popular spring roll recipe with the essential spicy peanut sauce. I filled these rolls with romaine, sliced cucumber, purple cabbage, thinly sliced carrots, edamame and cilantro. You must try these!! And yes, I ate 4 of them, plus finished the last roll later on in the night.