Why Did You Eat That? [Daily Eats]

Hi hi hiiiii! It’s Wednesday and tomorrow is freaking October…like what?

It’s 8:30pm on a Tuesday night and I’ve been up since 5:30 and had a full day of clinical so let’s dive right into some good eats and a little commentary answering the question,  “what does a dietitian eat?” and “why’d you eat that?”

On early mornings when I have to leave the house before 7am, I always pack a breakfast I can take with me on the go since a) I’ll take 20 extra minutes of sleep instead of cooking + eating breakfast at home any day and 2) I’m usually out of the house within 30 minutes of waking and I’m not quite ready for a big breakfast before my coffee so I’ll eat a few bites of banana before I leave [which I never post on WIAW, oops] and then bring breakfast to go. So while I prefer to eat pancakes instead of overnight oats, oats are what can be made the night before and are portable!  Nobody likes cold, soggy pancakes.

Into the pyrex went 1/2 cup oats, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1 tsp vanilla and a lot of cinnamon. I put that in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I through in some blueberries, top with sunbutter and coconut oil [try it!] and throw it in my bag to eat on the subway. Enough protein between the chia + oats + sunbutter, lots of healthy fats from the chia, sunbutter and coconut oil and carbs to hold me over until lunch.

Butternut squash is back! Guys, I will literally eat a variation of this salad for the next four months so be prepared. On Sunday I roasted up a butternut squash, beets, and broccoli by simple cubing the squash and chopping the broccoli into tiny florets and coating them in coconut oil before roasting at 400 for 20 minutes for the broccoli and 35-45 for the squash. All I did with the beets was wrap each beet individually in foil and roast for like 50 minutes at 400 degrees. Then rub off the skin and you have freshly roasted beets! I whipped up a super quick maple dijon dressing by whisking together:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsp dijon mustard

sea salt to taste

Threw all the roasted veggies over some baby kale, added a couple tablespoons of dressing and then ate it with some rice cakes and this lentil curry hummus [which was good, but interesting], an apple and a leftover brownie from last week.

This lunch keeps me full for a few hours and satisfies everything. I don’t really care for salads during the colder months, but roasted veggies over kale with a great dressing totally gets me. Plus hummus + rice cakes for salty crunch and some protein and the apple + brownie for carbs and fats and sweetness!

Afternoon snacks on the way home included dried mango and almonds because I was craving sweet, but knew I needed fats + protein to hold me over so I ate the almonds too. I honestly prefer nutbutter over nuts, but nuts are way more portable. And these to-go packs from Trader Joe’s are the best thing ever. And then I wasn’t really that hungry, but was bored slash wanted chocolate so I ate this leftover 1/2 of a Vega bar. I was tired today for some reason and so all I wanted was allthecarbs and allthechocolate. So I worked with what I had in my lunchbox.

I came home, had a quick call, and then went on a 7 mile run that included hills – the marathon is almost here and I’m looking forward to tapering! I chugged a post run smoothie before showering made with 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 scoop Vega Sport, 1 cup frozen organic spinach and 1 cup blueberries.

Dinner was summer rolls from Madison Square Eats, which is basically a bunch of food vendors out in Madison Square Park. Nick and I split these summer rolls filled with lentils + goat cheese, quinoa + tofu + some sort of peanut sauce and then I forget what was in the other one. Plus this kale, black bean and brussels salad that I won’t lie, wasn’t that good. The rolls were amazing though and totally hit the spot. I love a summer roll filled with all kinds of fresh veggies and grains and sauce. Protein + fat + carb, satisfied.

Lastly, Van Leeuwen’s for ice cream! One vegan sea salt carmel cone and one chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich with vegan mint chocolate chip split between the both of us. If you are ever in NYC, go get this ice cream. They have vegan and non vegan ice cream and I’ve had both and the vegan is AMAZING. Super rich and so good. Plus all their ice cream is super fresh. Was I hungry for this? No. But was I craving it? Absolutely.

And that’s a wrap!