photo by kaibara87
I’m embarking on a new health kick. It happens fairly often. Whenever I feel like my level of processed goodies, white flours, and sugars has started to escalate (like during holidays), I pull myself back with lots of veggies, fresh fruits, and whole grains. Here’s a typical healthy day:
Breakfast
Oatmeal or high fiber cereal with soymilk and a multi vitamin.
Coffee!! Or tea. Or both. I pee a lot.
Snack
Fruit! Like raspberries. Combine with soy yogurt, if I have any.
Lunch
Vegetable stir fry, or steamed veggies. Or a salad.
Snack
Nuts (sparingly)
Dinner
More vegetables, perhaps with some brown rice
or a nice big salad filled with fresh veggies and seasonings!!
If I’m still hungry
Another highly fibered bowl of cereal or more fruit
Tippies:
Hydration! Drink lots of water. Drink it before meals. Drink it between meals. Drink, drink, drink. Did I mention I pee a lot?
Salt! It can be easy to overload on salt. Don’t forget about all the salt-like seasonings out there that contain no salt at all, like Mrs. Dash, or Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute! Could save you a world of bloat later on.
When eating so many veggies, it’s important to get creative with your seasonings, otherwise you could get bored out of your gourd. Pick up new produce you haven’t tried and look up recipes. Last night, I made a killer butternut squash dish by adding balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Combine with brown rice and place on a bed of lettuce and you’ve got yourself a tasty plate! Some other great health foods to combine with your veggies are lentils, wild rice, beans, roasted pine nuts or other nuts, and sunflower seeds.
Go seasonal! Pick foods that are fresh this time of year.
Go dark! The darker colors in fruits and veggies indicate phytonutrients. Cancer prevention! And we could use more of them to hide from the flu season, as well. I should know. My fiance had a rough night last night with hot and cold sweats, and stuffy sinuses. Hopefully I won’t be next. Pass the blueberries, please.
Roo Says:
Sounds really good! But don’t forget about protein. Otherwise you’ll start feeling weak after a week or so.
Plus protein makes you feel full.
You’re creative. I’m sure you can figure out how to work it in.
December 7th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Emily Says:
Thanks for the reminder! Let’s break this meal plan down and see how much protein we get.
High Fiber Cereal- Like Nature’s Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola, an excellent source of Omega-3 has…………6g per serving
Soy milk -Like Trader Joe’s Organic Original, has……..3.5g for half a cup.
Totaling 9.5g for breakfast
Alternatively, Oatmeal for breakfast- a half cup of Old Fashioned Rolled Oats, with Soy milk (I like to replace the 1C water with soy milk)……7g for the oats, 7g for 1C soy milk
totaling an impressive 14g
Snack
raspberries….. 1g per serving
soy yogurt, Like Stonyfield Farm……7g per serving
totaling 8g
Lunch
Vegetable Stir Fry, which includes Chinese Pea Pods, Bean Sprouts, Bamboo Shoots, Green Soybeans, Water Chestnuts, Carrots and Mushrooms is 10g per serving. I easily can have 5 servings (sounds like a lot but it’s really not) for 225 calories, and a ginormous 50g of protein!!
Snack
nuts, like almonds, 8g per serving (1/4C)
Soy nuts are 19g per serving!!
Dinner
Vegetables, like broccoli, 2g per serving, but I generally eat more like 5g worth
Brown rice is 5g per serving. (Wild rice is 6.5g per serving) Totalling 10g
If I’m still hungry, add more cereal for 9.5g
What’s my total for the day? If I start off with oatmeal I’m at 99.5g! 83g if I cut out the yogurt and skip the evening cereal. Still more than enough!
How much do you need per day? Multiply your body weight by .36 and that will give you the number of grams you should be getting. (example: a 150lb person should get about 54 grams of protein)
It’s important to keep track of protein, but I wouldn’t worry. Protein deficiency, especially in the U.S., is incredibly uncommon. If anything we get far too much.
December 7th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Jenny R. Says:
I was reading over your site and like what I saw. I just wanted to say keep up the good work.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
the other Emily P Says:
That sounds like a satisfying, healthy day! Another non-boring vegetable is eggplant with zatar, which is a really nice middle eastern spice. You make 1/2 inch slices, then put a bunch of salt all over the eggplant and put it in a colander (to “sweat” it; if you’ve ever had a weird mouth-feel after eating eggplant, this gets rid of it). After a half hour or so, wash the salt off of the eggplant. Then roast it in a pan with olive oil and zatar! It’s soooo good!!
December 8th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Roo Says:
I had no idea there was so much protein in oatmeal. I have been enlightened!
Now I have to look up what zatar is. Thanks the other Emily P.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:34 am
sağlık Says:
That sounds like a satisfying, healthy day! Another non-boring vegetable is eggplant with zatar, which is a really nice middle eastern spice. You make 1/2 inch slices, then put a bunch of salt all over the eggplant and put it in a colander (to “sweat” it; if you’ve ever had a weird mouth-feel after eating eggplant, this gets rid of it). After a half hour or so, wash the salt off of the eggplant. Then roast it in a pan with olive oil and zatar! It’s soooo good!!
December 13th, 2008 at 2:29 am