Confessional: What I Eat in a Day

I love food. Seriously, who doesn’t? I grew up with a family who’s always thrown parties and hosted get-togethers for anything and everything, and a lot of my best memories in life involve some sort of food and conversation. Food is a great social starter for everyone. IMO, there’s nothing more enjoyable than eating a nice meal with people I love and chatting for a while.

When it comes down to what I eat in a day, though, it’s all about balance. I believe in eating well-rounded meals and foods I enjoy. I don’t stress about counting calories, nor do I ever feel the need to deprive myself of anything. This mentality has allowed me to keep the scales of my life balanced so I can live an overall healthy, fun, and enjoyable lifestyle. I drink a gallon of water a day and eat cookies; I get in my exercise and still allow myself to enjoy drinks on Saturday night. It’s all about balance, people. I don’t stress too much about food and calories, and I think that’s why I have such a healthy relationship with food. I’ve found the right way to eat daily that keeps me both feeling and looking my best without depriving myself or going crazy. Here’s what I eat in a day.

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What I eat in a day:

Morning time:

I’ve never been the biggest breakfast person (though I do love bagels and muffins), and despite the fact that I usually wake up hungry or am hungry shortly after I wake up, I typically usually from eating until lunchtime. I’ve found that eating in the morning doesn’t do much to dissipate my hunger. I’m also not a caffeine drinker, nor can I tolerate a lot of caffeine and/or stimulants well at all. So, after I wake up in the morning I get out of bed right away with my phone, the current book that I’m reading, and my water bottle and head downstairs to get up and moving. I’ll start having sips of my water immediately because I like to drink my gallon of water steadily throughout the day, and I’ll have a few sips of either Diet Pepsi or Pepsi Max Zero for a little burst of energy. I’ll put the can in the fridge to finish later on in the day.

Lunch:

I’m usually starving by the time I eat lunch so I like to make sure I eat something filling, satisfying, and that’ll help hold me over for the rest of the afternoon. I eat some version of a gluten and dairy-free wrap everyday (I have to be both gluten and dairy-free). My favorite gluten-free wraps are from the brand Mission, and I use both the regular and spinach herb flavors.

I’m not a big chicken person (I rarely ever have it for dinner), but I like having it in my lunch wraps because I’ve found it’s what holds me over longest and is the most filling. My go-to lunch wrap is typically chicken with fresh ground black pepper drizzled with balsamic vinegar in a spinach herb wrap. I also love chicken and tuna salad wraps in the regular flavor. I make both my chicken and tuna salads with mayo, fresh ground black pepper, and hamburger dill pickle chips—having that crunch on top seriously makes it.

Lately my new favorite lunch has been tacos with either shredded chicken or white fish, like scrod or cod. I toast a regular flavored wrap on the stovetop until it’s crispy and golden brown (it can’t be soft!), then I’ll layer in rice, corn and black bean salsa, and my choice of meat. I’ll then pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute (the bigger the taco the longer the time) to get it warm. After that I’ll add in sliced avocado pieces, and top it off with salsa. I think the sliced avocado pieces are what really make the taco; something about the softness mixed with the crunch of the wrap and all the other ingredients really brings it together.

Snacks:

I’m usually hungry again after my lunch between 5:00-6:00 pm, so I’ll have a snack to hold me over before dinner since I like eating dinner later in the evening. My snacks will vary depending on my mood and how hungry I am. If I have any special desserts that I’ve picked up from either my local gluten and dairy-free bakery or the market I’ll usually have them at this time. I also keep gluten and dairy-free cookies in my house regularly, and I allow myself to have up to 4 each day if I want, so this is also the time I have those as well (though admittedly, I will sometimes grab one or two throughout the day if I’m starving but don’t want to sit down and eat). I love having a glass of unsweetened vanilla almond milk with my desserts. I’ve normalized desserts over the years, and rather than viewing them as “bad food” or “treats”, I’ve simply learned to think of them as just food. Giving myself the option to have desserts whenever I want them and not restricting myself gives me balance, and I never find myself gorging on sweets because of this.

If I’m really starving and have avocados in my house, I’ll make two slices of avocado toast. I mash the avocado with lemon juice and salt. I toast the bread 2 times in the toaster oven—first on nearly the highest setting, second on one of the lower ones—because I like my toast extra crispy, then I’ll spread mashed avocado on top, and I’ll top it off with a drizzle of olive oil, a bit of lemon juice, and red pepper flakes. Occasionally I’ll also have Lay’s BBQ chips (my favorite flavor) as a snack.

Lately my go-to snack has been cereal. I combine chocolate Cheerios with organic peanut butter rice puffs to create a peanut butter and chocolate cereal that’s gluten and dairy-free. Then I’ll add in my unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and sprinkle a packet of Splenda on top to sweeten it a bit.

Dinner:

After I moved in with my boyfriend we made a deal: I would do the cooking, and he would do the cleaning. This worked out perfectly in both our favors because I absolutely despise cleaning. I’m not sure why I hate it so much, and the only reason I can come up with is that being forced to clean the house for my chores growing up turned me off from it completely. My boyfriend enjoys cleaning and isn’t picky with food whatsoever, so this worked out perfectly for us!

Dinner is probably my favorite meal; it’s the meal I look forward to the most during the day. I’m also a major carb lover and have found in the past that my body responds best to higher carbs, so my dinners typically consist of some carb and protein. My carb choice is almost always pasta. One pasta meal I always have at least once a week is spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread (a recipe I may or may not be dropping on here in the future). I also love love love seafood; all kinds of seafood, too. You name it, I like it. I usually make my seafood with pasta. One example of this is how I made The Feast of the Seven Fishes this past Christmas Eve, which I made by layering first SmartBalance imitation butter, all of the seafood, and more SmartBalance in the crockpot, cooked on low for 4 hours or so, which I then combined with pasta when I was ready to eat. Whenever I go to my parents house for dinner on Fridays we’ll have some seafood—usually shrimp and cod—pasta, and bread with olive oil, minced garlic, and black pepper.

I also love red lentil pasta because it’s a carb as well as a plant-based protein. My typical red lentil pasta recipe consists of pepperoni, black olives, shredded vegan mozzarella cheese, parsley flakes, and red pepper flakes. The other night I switched it up and made it with a lemon butter sauce and it was to die for.

If I’m not having pasta I’ll usually either have one of my rice bowls with ground beef or tuna fish. My ingredients vary depending on the bowl, but I always have rice and corn and black bean salsa. Those are my two staples for rice bowls.

On the nights that my boyfriend spoils me and cooks, we’ve been loving Piedmontese steak with mashed potatoes. I’m not a huge potato person in general, but these are out of this world. The steak is also top-tier; together, this combo is better than anything I’ve ever had at any steakhouse.

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RELATED: LET’S TALK ABOUT CRAVINGS

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Alcohol

Saturday nights are my date nights with my boyfriend, and this is when I’ll drink. Occasionally I have a glass of wine or Prosecco during the week, but that’s more rare. My drink tastes vary depending on what time of year it is. Right now, since it’s spring and the weather’s getting warmer, my favorite kind of wine is a Pinot Gris, a white wine that’s neither too sweet or too dry. (I can’t stand either one, I need something perfectly balanced.) It’s super refreshing and lighter for the warmer months. I can’t drink red wine during spring, summer, and even the beginning of fall because I find it too heavy. That being said, during the colder months I find myself gravitating towards a nice red blend. Again, something not too sweet nor too dry, but perfectly in-between. My favorite red wine is from Italy and the brand Lucarelli Puglia Negroamaro. I can drink Prosecco or champagne year-round; I don’t need to be in a particular season to enjoy that.

My favorite hard liquor is vodka, and I’d have to say that my go-to martini is a hot and dirty; I also love a good cosmopolitan. However, I’m pretty versatile; I’ve tried my fair share of different cocktail recipes over the years thanks to years of bartending and waitressing at restaurants and nightclubs. Back in the day I was obsessed with Malibu, sugar free Red Bull, with an orange slice (all of my rum lovers: thank me later). If I have hard liquor I’ll usually only have a couple of drinks because any more than that and I’ll pass out, lol. Honestly, it really all depends on my mood and time of year! I’ve shared a bunch of drink tutorials on my IGTV, check that out for some cocktail inspo!