Life

Day 4: A Week in the Life of a Plant-Based Diet

DAY 4

I ALMOST didn’t do this post tonight due to this cold I’m fighting. But I watched a little TV in bed and suddenly got a second wind. I hope that means this cold is turning a corner. I mean, it SHOULD I’ve been trying to conquer it with every natural remedy I have in my home and tons of positive visualizations!! Today is a MUCH better day to represent how I wish I could eat every day. 🙂 When you are home sick from work and have nothing but time and a kitchen at your disposal, it makes it much easier.

Pre-Breakfast (religiously, every single morning)

Just like the start of  Day 1Day 2 and Day 3, I had my Green Machine by Naked Juice, to wash down all my vitamins/supplements. Only today, instead of my usual 4 oz. serving I went for a full 8 oz. to give me extra cold busting nutrients. NO DONUTS OR REFINED SUGAR TODAY MY FRIENDS, there is a war between my body and this cold and I want my body to win and SOON. The morning wouldn’t be complete without my Barlean’s Omega Vegan Swirl  3-6-9 supplement. ~ 200 calories, 38 carbs, 5 g fat, 2 g protein

After cleaning up the kitchen and not feeling ready for solid food yet, I swiftly made myself a warm cup of water with lemon juice and honey. If you haven’t tried this when sick, you really should. It feels so good on a sore throat and coats your body like an ice cold drink on a hot summer day. Seriously. I think I might go make a third one right now… ahhhh. It’s finding the joys in the little things when you are fighting a cold… especially when you feel like your head will pop at any moment. 🙂 I tracked the amount of juice in 3 whole lemons for this segment, but that’s it. I know the honey is just straight sugar and carbs and I’m sick and I’m lazy. ~ 48 calories, 12 g carbs

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I also had about 5 pieces of crystallized ginger (ignore the misspelling on the lid 😉 throughout the day since I know fresh ginger is good for cold busting too. Since I didn’t have fresh, I figured this might work too! ~ 46 calories, 12 g carbs 2013-02-25_11-10-52_161

Breakfast

After a nice morning nap, I finally had an appetite. I made an amazing, vitamin and antioxidant packed version of my usual breakfast. I had about a 1/2 cup of chopped white onions, 1/4 c. zucchini, 1/4 c. yellow squash, 1 elephant sized garlic clove, 1/4 c. spinach and 1 whole tomato + 3/4 c. cage-free egg whites. It was amazing. (As a side note, I use a little bit of olive oil spray heated in the skillet before adding any veggies, then after the veggies are added and have cooked for about 2-4 minutes I just add water to steam and cook. This way, you taste the veggies and not the oil.) ~ 154 calories, 15 g carbs, 0 fat, 22 g protein

2013-02-25_11-28-57_636Lunch

I wanted to eat a veg only lunch, but wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. We joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year with Maya’s Farm, so we get veggies that we normally wouldn’t buy. As a result, I have to step outside my comfort zone in the kitchen. Sometimes this works out well, and sometimes its very, very bad. Today for lunch I am pleased to say it went very well! I ate a plateful of boiled queen scarlet turnips and beets. I have never boiled beets before today, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to get. When I took my first taste, I was drawn back to my childhood and remembered I had tasted boiled beets before! We had a garden growing up and I’m sure my mom boiled beets from the garden. They tasted delicious! While cooking, I also had 2 small, raw carrots and 5 prunes. ~ 251 calories, 60 carbs, 0 fat, 6 g protein

2013-02-25_14-02-55_417 2013-02-25_15-25-20_482 2013-02-25_13-48-14_764Snacks

By the time lunch came and went, this cold was peaking. I was flat on the couch holding my head and wondering how on earth I was going to make dinner. My Amazon order even came (2 gluten free and vegan cookbooks and an awesome new kitchen gadget) and I wasn’t phased. I just pulled the box inside, plopped it on the couch and went back to lay down.

I put off dinner as long as I could with some additional snacks. An orange and a medjool date. ~ 135 calories, 36 carbs, 0 fat, 1 g protein

2013-02-25_17-02-10_483 2013-02-25_13-52-08_703Dinner

Luckily, I have THE most amazing husband. After his day at work, his swim at the gym, walking our dog and trying to relax before his softball game, he made dinner for us, while I laid on the couch nearby and gave him verbal instructions. He is handy in the kitchen all on his own, but what I had planned, he had never made. Like a champ, he successfully made us butternut squash soup and cooked lentils with onion and spices to put on top a bed of mixed greens. By this point, I was barely keeping my eyes opened, so I asked him to take a picture of his plate of food and send it to me. I swear there were lentils under all those chips. 😉 I had some chia seed pudding for dessert – sorry, no photo see Day 3. 🙂 ~ 455 calories, 78 carbs, 13 g fat, 19 g protein

photoWell, I think I’ve rambled on long enough – didn’t know I had it in me with this cold. haha Please pardon any type errors as I’m sure there are plenty. But my brain isn’t fully functioning right now.

Grand Total Day 4 

Calories: 1289

Carbs: 251 g

Fat: 18 g

Protein: 50

 

Day 3: A Week in the Life of a Plant-Based Diet

DAY 3

Pre-Breakfast (religiously, every single morning)

Just like the start of  Day 1 and Day 2, I had my Green Machine by Naked Juice, 4 oz. serving plus my Barlean’s Omega Vegan Swirl  3-6-9 supplement along with all my supplements. Today I managed to snag a pic, even though I was half asleep still. ~ 130 calories, 22 carbs, 5 g fat, 1 g protein

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Breakfast

I slept for 9+ hours because I am now fighting a chest cold. It came out of nowhere and skipped all my normal signs of sickness. I felt extra tired on my run yesterday, and now I know why! I really, really hope this goes away quickly because I have been SO diligent since September to eat healthy and focus on immunity strengthening. Thinking positively! Having said that, I woke up starving and of course, the box of donuts sent from my hometown were sitting RIGHT THERE. AH! I ate half a donut. 🙁 ~185 calories, 18 carbs, 12 g fat, 2 g protein

2013-02-24_09-28-42_263Eventually I got hungry for a real breakfast and made my old stand by cage-free egg white omelette, which turned into a scramble this morning. I used THREE cloves of garlic versus my usual one clove, 1/4 c. fresh spinach, a whole tomato on the vine and about 2 tbps chopped onion. I also added one slice of Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain bread~ 186 calories, 19 carbs, 2 g fat, 24 g protein

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Snacks

Since I slept in so late, and ate a little later due to the donut splurge. I didn’t really eat a lunch, but instead snacked a whole bunch. Between naps on the couch I snacked on organic blue corn chips, a tangerine and glasses of lemon juice with warm water and a little honey or maple syrup. I also made myself some homemade chia seed pudding. Later in the afternoon, Dan made some oven baked fries out of 2 Yukon Gold potatoes. We had a new “drying mat” for the oven that allows air to circulate so you get a crispy crust on pizzas, etc. We thought it might make our oven baked fries crispy, it didn’t work so well. I didn’t even take a picture, because they didn’t look appetizing! ~ 546 calories, 96 carbs, 15 g fat, 13 g protein

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Dinner

Thankfully, we had leftovers from Day 1’s dinner and we split the single serving and made it into two, and then supplemented with fruit. I had a 1/3 c. of blueberries and an apple. I’m realizing tomorrow I need more green veggies versus so much fruit! 🙂 ~ 311 calories, 68 carbs, 7 g fat, 8 g protein

2013-02-24_18-29-24_662 2013-02-24_20-58-24_142Wish me luck in beating this cold thingy ASAP!! Tomorrow, lots and lots of green veggies and maybe some juicing!

Grand total for today was:

Calories = 1,358

Carbs = 223 g

Fat = 41 g

Protein = 48 g

19 cups/152 oz. of water