All the cool kids are doing it . . . Pictoral Food Diary

I have kept food logs forever, or at least for most my adult life.  I can probably tell you what I've eaten on any given day so long as I can find the moleskin notebook I was using at the time.  Working with my therapist, I've been trying to be less concerned with documenting what I eat and trying just to eat "normally" -- I'm not really 100% sure what eating "normally" means but in the therapy context it means not obsessively controlling calories or completely cutting out food groups.  I also like taking pictures of my food (this drives Shaun crazy).  Food can be really pretty and I like memorializing it.  So, here's what my food looked like yesterday (Sunday July 7, 2013). 


Breakfast - 6 a.m.

Juice from 2 beets, blueberries, peaches and 1 scoop of whey protein.
I love beet juice. I probably go through a dozen or so beets a week.  I put beets on Shaun's grocery list twice -- first as "beets" and second as "more beets."  Usually I juice them with carrots, apples, pears, ginger or limes.  While cleaning the juicer is a pain, I really like beet juice.  Today I made straight up beet juice to use in a smoothie. 

 

Second Breakfast / Early Lunch - 10 a.m.

 Grilled pears with Greek yogurt, vanilla and cinnamon.  I love pears, but grilled pears are even better (as an aside I have to mention there's a great Doctor Who quote about pears -- "don't let me eat pears, i hate pears, if i wake up FEW months from now I don't wanna taste that in my mouth").  All I do is slice them in half, scoop on the core and place them cut side down on the grill pan and let them cook for about 20 minutes.  You can do this on the grill as well but Shaun doesn't let me touch the grill.  The sauce on them is Greek yogurt, vanilla extract, cinnamon whipped together in a blender. 

Veggie burger from Paul's Restaurant and grilled sweet potato.  I love just chopping up a sweet potato, melting some coconut oil on the griddle pan and grilling it.  It takes about 15 minutes, tastes even better than a baked sweet potato and Shaun will even eat it. 

3:15 Bike on the Trainer - 11 a.m.

Skratch Hydration Mix (a total of three bottles with 2 scoops each).  I love Skratch.  It has a mix of sugars, a good electrolyte profile and tastes good.  Plus Skratch is awesome and sponsors my races.

Two Picky Bars.  I struggle with the RD's recommendations on fueling workouts.  She would like for me to use more "whole foods" while training, my argument back is that I have a fueling plan that works and I don't want to mess with it.  We go back and forth on this.  For a 3 hour, fairly easy bike, I'm ok with using Picky Bars, which are generally pretty delicious.  For anything longer or harder, its Power Bars and Power Gels. 

Post-Bike - 3 p.m.

88% dark chocolate with natural peanut butter.  I love this dark chocolate.  This is my one big treat right now.  Its like a peanut butter cup without all the sugar and fake taste. 

Salad with 2 eggs, turkey bacon, greens, broccoli, avocado, sprouted mung beans and lentils and French vinaigrette dressing.  This is my take on the Fried Egg Salad I ordered from the Flying Biscuit Cafe all the time when I was in law school.  If only I could make whole wheat biscuits, the salad would be perfect. 

Dinner/Snack - 7 p.m.

Grilled chicken thigh, swiss chard, bok choy and cottage cheese.  I had a taste for cottage cheese, so as random as it was, I went with it.  Lately I'm really liking chicken thighs over chicken breasts.  They're less expensive (even the organic ones) and they taste better, especially on the grill.  The swiss chard and bok choy (both of which came from the CSA share) were sauteed in a little sesame oil with some salt and pepper.  Super simple.