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| Spaghetti Squash and Sausage - looks and tastes like the real thing, without the food coma afterwards! |
I get this question a lot: "What do you eat?" I think knowing the science behind nutrition is important for buy-in, but sometimes you just need to know what other people eat! Some people have a pretty good routine of eating while others are still experimenting and learning what works for them. One of the best ways to figure things out is by sharing with others in hopes of learning something from them. I try to have a protein/fat/carbohydrate at every meal, especially the protein and fat. During a typical work week, our food looks like this:
Breakfast - 3 hard boiled eggs, V8 vegetable juice and or piece of fruit like a nectarine, nuts/seeds or avocado.
Lunch - spinach salad with baked chicken, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, avocado and/or nut bar.
Dinner - this varies, but basically we'll do protein/fat/carb (same for every meal). Examples are steak/avocado/asparagus, eggs/avocado/fruit, salmon/sweet potato/nuts, or the spaghetti squash and sausage pictured above.
Snacks - usually I don't snack, but I do keep some nuts/seeds and cans of sardines in my desk. Some people find that gross, but I like the taste and they are easy to keep. Jerky is another great option.
Here's a link to pictures and descriptions of things we have in the refrigerator/freezer/cabinets. We have gotten away from dairy a fair amount, so there is no cheese around anymore.
Snacks - usually I don't snack, but I do keep some nuts/seeds and cans of sardines in my desk. Some people find that gross, but I like the taste and they are easy to keep. Jerky is another great option.
Here's a link to pictures and descriptions of things we have in the refrigerator/freezer/cabinets. We have gotten away from dairy a fair amount, so there is no cheese around anymore.
On Sundays, we do a lot of preparation and cooking. We'll cook 30 eggs (3 each for 5 days), 5-10 chicken breasts which we season, bake, cut up, and put in spinach salads ready to go. (Different seasoning = more variety.) If we're good, we'll divvy up fruit into plastic bags also ready to go. This way, each night we can prepare the next day's food for breakfast and lunch at work. Yes, as you can imagine it is Tupperware Central, but it's worth not having to think about what to eat later in the week.
On weekends, it's pretty much the same except since we're home I'll make omelets or take more time to make stir-fry, or more elaborate dish. And yes, I have certainly indulged in a cheat meal or two, but mentally I know I am around 80/20% compliant.
For more food habits sharing, check out my friend, Laura's blog at Against the Grain.
What do you do for food? Do you have a routine or prepare ahead of time?
Great post Chris. I usually make up hard boiled eggs and chicken breast on the weekends as well. I am curious about what seasonings you use on your chicken. Lately I have been marinading with olive oil, lemon juice, basil & poultry seasoning. I would love to hear any new ideas.
ReplyDeleteI also go to school 4 nights a week, so I make a lb of taco meat to mix with avocado and greens and split that into 4 containers for dinner. YUMMY!!!
By sunday night my fridge is so full I can't fit anything else into it. By Friday, it's empty again.
I agree being prepared and having stuff ready ahead of time really helps. I find that I trend towards a similar lunch most days - leftvers or a salad with protein on top if I have noting left over I have cans of tuna in the pantry and that always works.
ReplyDeleteWe hardboil eggs for the week too and cut up veggies - one neat trick Chris told us was to keep your cut up carrots in water, it helps keep them from drying out so they are more delicous and keep more of their nutrients.
We cook dinner fresh most nights and take out fish, chicken, pork, grassfed beef in teh morning from the freezer for cooking that night. I use trader joe's chicken sausages in my salads for lunch, and that is also a great quick dinner when you get home late its precooked so you really just need to heat it to taste.
Thank you Chris (and comments above). It helps to have concrete examples to follow for nutrition advice. Especially for those of us who feel like we have no idea what we're doing.
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