Happy Saturday evening, everybody! I hope you’re all well. This is a different kind of post, since I will be posting one of my first official “photo food diary” entries!
This sort of serves as a visual update on how I’ve been doing with my diet, how I’ve been feeling eating this way, and how my schedule works. My normal schedule only permits me to have two main meals with a bunch of snacks generally after my dinner. I kind of follow an accidentally “intermittent fasting” regimen since my first course starts bright and early in the morning, with my rest of courses carrying on until the early evening. I still nourish myself adequately and intuitively for my own personal needs–lots of protein, carbs, fat, mostly wholesome food balanced with some treats here and there. Now it may seem like a ton of food or not enough food to some, but I’ve been feeling wonderfully eating this way for my goals. It’s not to say this method works for everyone else. We’re all different, so we shouldn’t abide by others’ ways of dieting religiously!
Also, how much value does nutritional information provide? I know that most people are relatively curious as to how many calories they should be eating when making healthier choices, when trying to lose weight, gain weight, burn fat, or whatever, right? To be clear, I stopped tracking two years ago after leaving an unhealthy relationship with my calorie counter. However, once I was instructed to gain weight, I wasn’t entirely aware of how I could do so when I already felt so full and satisfied with my diet back then. Hence, I started using MyFitnessPal to get a glimpse of what my targets should be to make sure I hit them all, since I tend to overestimate my food intake. This will be the first time I include my nutritional profile for this day, and if it gets enough positive feedback, I may continue including them in my food diary entries and even some recipes I create! However, I still abide by my intuition and stick to plant-based foods, whether in wholesome form or a processed form (because peanut butter, right?).
Anyways, that’s that with my diet update and reflection with everything, so let’s get onto the food, shall we?
I started off the morning by jumping out of bed and completing half of my workout before my first course in the morning, which was a Food Science class where we went over our previous two exams. I stopped by my college gym after class to complete the weight training half of my workout, as well as three to five minutes skipping with a jump rope. I felt amazing afterwards, but I was starving like crazy!
Meal 1: starting around 11 AM, I put together a giant salad takeaway of spinach, balsamic-marinated tofu, chickpeas, two vegan dogs that I tried for the first time (I actually enjoyed them; they were super flavorful on their own! They remind me strongly of the LightLife veggie dogs!), roasted cauliflower, and half of my homemade broiled butternut squash, all with a soup cup of PlantFusion vegan cookies n’ creme protein frosting, and the rest of my butternut squash a nearly empty Peanut Butter & Company White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter jar! This should be of no surprise, but I’ve been obsessed with butternut squash and peanut butter! Running out of peanut butter is a blessing in disguise since I can use the jars to store anything I’d like!
Meal 2 (sort of): The Food Science club got to sample a really innovative, sustainable, very healthy and allergen-friendly product, which was a Pulp Pantry bag of beet red velvet cacao granola made from organic juice pulp–can you believe it?! Some of the members thought it tasted woody, but I actually really adored the strong cacao flavor and the crunchiness. There’s almost little to no sweetness, which I actually enjoy because it tastes much lighter and healthier than most store-bought granola. Next time I see this in store, I’m totally buying it, even if I have ten bags of granola at home!
After sampling the delicious granola, I completed my lab practical for the first part of my Food Science final exam! My group and I whipped up poached salmon in a curry coconut milk broth, creamy polenta, ginger-glazed carrots, and pita bread. I was completely full from my brunch earlier in the day that I ended up not eating anything, which was A-OK given that the only vegan item on the menu was the pita bread.
However, I did try the pita bread for the past weeks before my professor created the final exam menu from the lab manual’s recipes, and it’s DAMN delicious pita bread.
Meal 3: Cleaning out a few fridge items, I put together a plate of two Amy’s Kitchen American veggie patties with garlic and onion powder and an oil-free stir-fry that consisted of two boxes of white mushrooms and Beyond Meat vegan feisty beef crumbles mixed in turmeric and pepper! I definitely have to make this again–looks kind of like a tofu scramble with two breakfast sausages actually, but it’s absolutely incredible!
Meal 4: Lately I’ve been addicted to plain popcorn, so I had a serving of some Sinfully Thin smoky red pepper popcorn! I used to sprinkle heaps of turmeric on my popcorn but the spice would stick to my hands so stubbornly that my fingernails on my left-hand looked golden. Yeah, I couldn’t deal with that so I stopped…but it’s still good without turmeric!
Meal 5: There’s nothing better than satiating a sweet tooth with a couple doses of dessert-flavored peanut butter, am I right or am I right? Tonight I had a tablespoon each of the Peanut Butter and Company’s dark chocolate dreams flavor and the cinnamon raisin swirl flavor! I actually finished most of the cinnamon raisin swirl jar so there’s only a serving left. Guess who had more butternut squash in the empty cinnamon raisin swirl jar the next day?
Meal 6: This week calls for cleaning out as many pantry items as I can, which is why I’ve been eating a bit more processed (all vegan) food as of now! I ended the night with a bag of far out fajita Hippeas, which I haven’t had in a long time! Never knew why–they taste like light and airy Cheetos, but even better!
NUTRITION PROFILE OF THE DAY (based on MyFitnessPal)
- Calories: 2,096
- Total fat: 72 grams
- Saturated: 9 grams
- Carbohydrates: 230 grams
- Fiber: 62 grams
- Protein: 166 grams
*I also exceeded my daily requirements of fiber, protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, and iron.
superfitbabe 
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