What Do I Eat?

at 4:52 AM

At the request of a friend, I will be periodically posting what I eat on a given day. After you look at a few of them, you will realize that my eating pattern is very consistent. Generally I eat a small meal before my first workout at 3 am, which consists of 1/2 a cup of milk with a low-carb tortilla (50 cal) with a little cream cheese and low-sugar or sugar-free jelly. After my first workout, I eat mostly a high protein meal. Sometimes it is egg whites with a little cheese on it and coffee, other times I make a high protein pancake made with protein powder, egg whites, ground flax seed and almond slices (you can look up the recipe on my blog). Often if I have nothing else in the fridge, I always have some plain low fat yogurt, to which I add some frozen fruit and some splenda. It makes a great breakfast or snack.

Typically I get hungry after 2 to 3 hours. I snack on FRUIT. No crackers, bread or baked items. By 10 or 11 am I have had an apple and another type of fruit depending on the season. I eat lunch fairly early, around 11:30. I fill up a plate with spinach, or kale, add tomatoes, radishes or cucumbers and onions. The vegetable part of the salad varies vastly depending on what I have available. The salad NEVER has iceberg lettuce. To my vegetable plate I add chicken, tofu, grilled salmon or canned tuna and nuts.

Right around when my son comes home from school, it's his snack time and mine! I either have a protein shake or fruit and nuts (almonds, cashews, or walnuts-very rarely peanuts).

When I'm making dinner, I have a plate of fruit so I can snack on it while I'm cooking. Because the days are so long during the summer months sometimes we don't eat dinner until 7:30 or right before 8, so I make sure I am not starving when dinner comes around.

My dinner is again a 'fitness pyramid' (as you may know I really don't care for the word salad) consisting of A LOT of vegetables and 3-4 ounces of protein.

I do not have snacks after dinner. Coffee is an exception! Plus I get up so early, by the time I sit with my family for a little while it's time to go to bed :) Personally I don't like feeling full when I go to bed, I like it when I'm empty a little bit.

Every time you want to snack after dinner on something unhealthy (let's be honest,if you are snacking at 10 pm chances are you're not eating an apple or steamed brocolli), first ask yourself: "Why do I need the extra calories?" If you are going for a run at night, or getting on your stationary bike for at least 45 minutes or doing some other strenuous exercise then maybe a little snack won't hurt, if not SKIP IT. You will only store the extra calories as fat molecules in your fat cells while you are sleeping.