What I eat

A lot of my clients quiz me regularly on what I eat. I often feel this is to find out if I too make mistakes, and am indeed human, so they don’t feel so bad! I have decided to write about my own diet today. It isn’t perfect and it is a constant work in progress. For me, the way I eat maintains my bodweight, gives me enough fuel for training and I don’t feel it is much of an effort to prepare the meals we eat daily.

By no means am I posting this as dietary advice or hoping anyone will copy what I do. Just providing a little insight! My husband and I did a 2 month trial without meat, which went very well, however I am still not sold on the benefits of being 100% vegetarian, and will continue to research more with regards to the benefits of eating animal based proteins and the arguments against it. I did feel better not eating any meat at all, and I struggle to force myself to eat it at all now (and before the trial). For this reason meat tends to be a once a week thing for me, however I will eat fish 2 or 3 times a week, and eggs almost every day.

Breakfast: EVERY DAY: fresh homemade juice (zucchini, celery, carrot, apple, spinach/silverbeet, beetroot) then one of the options below.

• Boiled eggs x 2 (with or without multigrain bread. (I limit bread to one serve a week usually)
• Fruit salad (home made/prepared)
• Leftovers from dinner
• Baked Beans with or without multigrain toast (depending on if it’s a bread day!)
• Can of Tuna

Morning Tea: I don’t always have time if I am out however when I do, it’s one of these options.

• Piece of Fruit (mango/apple/peach/nectarine)
• Nuts (Almonds, cashews, macadamia) approx 1/4 cup
• Can tuna

Lunch:

• Grilled Fish with salad (lettuce/rocket, cucumber, tomato, celery, baby spinach, snow peas)
• Wholegrain burger with vegetarian egg based patty, tabouli, sprouts, cheese, peanut satay sauce) from local wholefood takeaway.
• Boiled eggs x 2 and a piece of fruit
• Can Tuna and a piece of fruit
• Large salad with cottage cheese or ricotta or Tuna.

Dinner: I won’t be able to list absolutely everything here, however will include the main meals we have most often. I will come back and update this list as I think of/try more meal ideas.

• Vegetarian bolognese with gluten free pasta (lentils, tomato, herbs, zucchini, carrot)
• Grilled fish with steamed vegetables (pumpkin,carrot etc)
• Lasagne with gluten free pasta sheets (meat and or lentil based sauce)
• Mushroom risotto
• Slow cooker vege or chicken curries plus small serve white rice
• Pan fried chicken breast with steamed vegetables
• Peanut Chicken Stir fry (peanut butter, coconut  milk, chicken, rice, carrot, broccoli, onion, curry)
• Pizza (definitely only on a cheat day (usually about once a month)
• Vegetarian stir fry with egg and rice noodles

Supplements

I try to take spirulina however it has panned out to be a weekly thing, only due to the horrid smell and taste. I bought pure powder and found I can’t drink it mixed in anything, in any quantity, so I am trialling putting it into capsules. The smell usually overcomes me before I finish so it isn’t going so well!

Udo’s Oil (Omegal 3,6,9 Blend). This is liquid gold. I won’t go into the benefits here however it is something I strive to have about a tablespoon every day of, whether mixed into juice, or poured over salad with some balsamic vinegar as a dressing.

LSA – goes on salad or anything I think it will taste ok with, about 1 tablespoon per day.

I don’t take protein supplements anymore, and it hasn’t adversely affected my strength, muscle development or energy levels.

Drinks: Water – I drink a glass every time I’m fiddling in the kitchen. I probably consume around 2 litres a day. Only other thing I drink is our juice we make in the mornings.

What I avoid

The following is a list of what I don’t buy, because if it is in my house, I will eat it.

Muffins, biscuits, cakes, pastry, alcohol, lollies, soft drink, anything with preservatives or additives, ice-cream. I hate coffee so that never ever happens!

We allow one “cheat” meal per week, which is usually hot chips and fish, or Pizza. I don’t “need” this, but at the same time I don’t feel it has damaged my health or efforts at all.

There are definitely aspects of my regular meals that I don’t like and know very well could do better on. I have a heap of Paleo recipes now and am going to gradually move over to being as close to constantly Paleo as possible. My goals are as follows:

• Reduce/eliminate dairy
• Eliminate grains completely
• Try to eat a bit more meat (currently probably 1 meal a week has any type of meat, fish maybe 2 x a week)

Well thanks for reading. I’ve found it quite therapeutic and helpful to record all of this information and it is motivating me to take a closer look at what I can do to make some more improvements daily.