My Day On A Plate
Thankfully now when I write one of these I can be totally, completely honest with you guys. In the past I have been asked to do these whilst dramatically limiting the volume of my food. I would have to spend time thinking about what a normal, healthy person would eat in a day. I felt like such a liar and I would feel really guilty about it. Then when I would have to do interviews that were based around my physical appearance, I would remind myself of the lies I had told about my eating habits. It really was a nasty cycle, and it was a large reason why I decided to get well. Then it was a large reason why I decided to get honest.
I do not want to mislead any of you. And I do not want to be irresponsible with my platform. I don’t have a huge amount of interest in doing these sorts of posts anymore – I find them to be a little bit opposite of what I hope to achieve with my writing. My day on a plate is not your day on a plate. I look the way I do largely because of genes. And my genome seems to thrive off of the way I eat. The more I follow my intuition with my diet, the better I feel.
So in that vein, I want all of you to pay close attention to how you eat. How does something you eat make you feel? How is your energy and life force after a meal? Look into intuitive eating – it is certainly a way of eating that has set me free. Try for a month to let go of any fear of weight gain, and dieting mentality. Just eat the way you feel. I can guarantee after three days of junk food your body will be crying for some greens. You just have to let it get there. Chocolate is awesome, but I found that it makes me queasy after. Brazil nuts are an amazing source of selenium, but they make me want to throw up. You get the drift!
Basically, there is no typical day on a plate for me. Not anymore. I used to eat the same thing every single day, and it made me dangerously underweight, and extremely anxious. My life was based around fear, and it wasn’t very enjoyable. I don’t usually eat exactly the same thing every day, but I do tend to follow the same eating structure. Please note also, that I have some gut issues that do limit my diet. I am lactose and gluten intolerant. I do not like meat. So this is how my diet looks. Yours will be different. This is ok. 😀
6:00
wake up, meditate
7:00
black coffee
8:00
Breakfast
Smoothie: (vega one, greens, hemp seeds, flax seeds, wild blueberries, half a banana, mucuna pruriens, spirulina, cinnamon)
10:00
Workout
12:00
Lunch
Bowl of some sort (arugula/kale/spinach, lentils/black beans, tempeh, roasted sweet potato, quinoa, Kalamata olives, handful cherry tomatoes, kimchi, avocado, balsamic vinegar + hummus + lemon dressing)
3:00ish
Snack
Handful of dry roasted almonds, bag microwave popcorn (no butter no salt)
6:00ish
Dinner
Pasta sauce with black bean pasta ( I love Rich Roll and Julie Piatt’s new cookbook – Plantpower Way Italia… Their recipe here is insane!) green curry with quinoa, veggie stir fry, another bowl similar to lunch, tacos made with lettuce cups, black rice sushi
And then desert is always an option. Often I am too full. I went through a stage of eating it nearly every night, and I just went with it. After a while I found it was making sleep a challenge, so now I have it a couple of times a week. Intuitive eating at work! My favorite deserts are always coconut milk ice cream. Van Leeuwen is my go-to brand. Anything with cookie dough, caramel or chocolate and I am sold. Or I really like pressed juicery freeze – I try to tell myself it is healthy. It is right?!
So this is my ideal day on a plate. As far as portion sizes, the coffee is always massive, and everything else is about as much as makes me full. Sometimes it is a lot, sometimes it isn’t. I wish I could be of more service here, but there really isn’t a set amount for me. I also don’t track my macros or calories, because it would drive me insane and make me obsessive about how much I am eating…
And ain’t nobody got time for that! Life is so much more enjoyable when you let go of some of the control. Your body knows exactly what it wants, you just have to let it talk to you. Usually after a long period of restriction there is some blow back. You will be insatiable. Lean in and let it happen. Because it will not last. Take it from some one who has been there – it never lasts. Any weight gained in this period will quickly fall off once your body finds its natural balance point between appetite and body weight. You just have to let it get there through trusting your body, and nurturing its hunger
So listen to your body. Honor its signals. Eat when you are hungry, and stop when you aren’t. If you want to eat all the cake, eat all the cake. Show your body that you are on its side now, and it will honor you with trust.
Peace and love!
Bridget
Photograph | Dove Shore
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THANKS SO MUCH
Bridget Malcolm