There’s nothing worse than a medical student who smokes, a littering environmentalist, or a PR guy with unruly facial hair. So what do dietitians eat when no one’s looking? Here’s what happened yesterday chez GI tract Reilly (and i promise i didn’t eat in prep for a blog post!):
5:38 AM: Hm. Is that the clock with the correct time or the one I set 5 minutes ahead? Either way, someone’s up, and so am I.
5:39 AM: Coffee brewing. A tall glass of chilled filtered water.
5:41 AM: Coffee with 1 teaspoon sugar and creamer. (This is my one guilty pleasure and the main reason i put the 3-kids factor in the title. I may give it up at some point, but for now i am in LOVE with this part of the day.)
6:30 AM: Green smoothie: Banana, frozen strawberries, almond milk, a touch of OJ concentrate, raw baby spinach, “Very Green” powder from Trader Joe’s, chilled water. (Thank you, Kris Carr of www.CrazySexyLife.com, for reintroducing morning greens into our day!). I would’ve had more than 6 ounces, but the kids drank more than expected.
8:00 AM: BREAKFAST. Oatmeal made with rolled oats, raisins, cinnamon, agave nectar, water, and soymilk.
9:00 AM: Chilled filtered water. About 6 ounces. Constantly trying to drink more water.
10:30 AM: Cherry Pie Larabar. (I recently got burned out on LUNA and Clif bars. These are AWESOME and only have 2-3 ingredients each! Again from Trader Joe’s.)
12:00 PM: LUNCH. Hummus wrap: Whole wheat tortilla, baby spinach, sliced green pepper, lots of spicy hummus (Trader Joe’s). Chilled water with a lime wedge. About 8 ounces. Plus 20 semi-sweet dark chocolate chips. I could’ve eaten another wrap, but decided to hold off for snacktime.
2:00 PM: Dried mango, a large handful of cashews, 1 brown rice cake, 12 ounces mandarin orange seltzer water.
4:00 PM: A gigantic melt-in-your-mouth, windowsill-ripened red heirloom tomato. Plus 3 potato chips found in a bowl on the living room couch. Where did those come from? They were good!
6:00 PM: DINNER. One whole zucchini, steamed with fresh basil, salt, and pepper. Fried green tomatoes (from garden and made by dipping in water and then “breading” of whole wheat flour mixed with salt and Italian seasoning, fried in olive oil). Tofu pup hot dog in whole wheat roll with mustard.
6:30 PM: The remains of the kids’ dinners… some more fried green tomatoes, steamed zucchini, and half of a whole wheat bun.
7:00 PM: I’m parched!! 10 ounces of chilled water.
9:00 PM: Supplement time: Multivitamin, calcium + vitamin D, omega-3s. Open-face sandwich: Whole wheat bread with almond butter and 1/2 banana. More water.
There you have it. Definitely some room for improvement, but hopefully not as bad as the illiterate librarian. What did YOU eat yesterday?
Delish & Healthy-ish With Jen Reilly, RD 
Ok, well… I know I didn’t eat as many times as you (I never do), but let’s see how well I measure up.
5:00 Got up
8:30 I attemped to make a cup of coffee, but got a flood of pt all at 1 time.
11:00 remembered that i did not have coffee, but figured i might as well wait to eat my lunch.
1:00ish had leftover turky tenderloin with mixed sauted veggis and stuffing with gravy hhmmmm
5:00 too exhausted to cook I ate a bow of Basic 4 cereal and a dark chocolate, peanut and almond granola bar.
8:00 my delivery man (Lamont) finally comes home with dinner Chicken salad salad from potbellies.
9:30 Butter pecan ice cream a good size bowl i must say and then off to bed.
Although it doesn’t seem like it, but i am sure i had water sometime during the day and with dinner i have about 20oz of sweet tea.
I should also add that i am no dietitian. I play one on TV!
Keep’em coming Jen.
Typical workday for me:
5:00 a.m. alarm & up!
(water with bp med. usaully drink a whole bottle before I leave for work)
5:30 a.m. a bowl of cheerios with 1% milk, probably about 2 and half servings, with 6-8 oz. of OJ
6:00 a.m. leave 71 mile drive to work (stop @ mcd’s for coffee & sometimes a breakfast sandwich.
6:30 a.m. still driving, sipping another water.
9:00 a.m. 80 calorie yogart and water
Noon to 1:30 p.m. sandwich with multi-grain flat bread, ham, turkey, or tune with mayo, s&p (usually many interruptions and no we do not get a “lunch break”. Our telephones are on all day with no down time and we see patients all day. No, the office is not closed for lunch1
3:00 p.m. or so, another yogart & water
4:00 p.m. or so (sometimes later) drive home. If it is much later, I will stop for a raspberry tea and crackers or something for the ride home.
5:00 p.m. still driving, remember @ 71 mile drive (one-way), whoops, traffic, its now a 2 hour drive instead of 1 and a half! I’m hungry and my husband wants to know what I want for dinner, I say I don’t care, I’m hungry!
6:00 p.m. or so., home, husband fixes a marvelous dinner and I am sooo…hungry, I eat it all gone! For instance, bbq. chicken on the grill, a delicious homegrown garden salad, pkgd. pasta side dish, canned vegetables, bread or rolls and sweetened iced tea! Yummy!
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. or so hop on the computer and “chat” for a while
9:00 – 10:00 p.m. bathe, brush my teeth and go to sleep, and I mean sleep.
Jennnnnnnnnnnnnnn…HELP!
What about the physical therapist who doesn’t exercise . . . hmmm- unless you count jumping on a mini trampoline very gently- we have downstairs neighbors;)
Question for you: are you on a dairy free diet right now? I noticed you drank only soy or almond milk. I have heard dietitians speak about how we should really get most of our calcium from other sources outside of cows milk and that it’s really not that beneficial for our health. Can’t quite remember why. . .
Also, because Sophie drank soy milk from 4 mos to 11 mos I did a bit of reading on soy. I remember reading about a possible link between soy and breast cancer. Where do you weigh in on this one- I mean do you think the health benefits outweigh the risks?
Anyway, sorry for getting a bit off topic.
Blessings,
Katie
Great blog! Imagine a world (1988 to be exact) before such good tips on blogs and the internet. Imagine a world before Trader Joes & Whole Foods, when the only non-dairy bread was ordered from French Meadow and had to be shipped, arriving days later frozen. Or you’d bake non-dairy bread in a bread maker that caught on fire from so much use. 🙂 Imagine a world before any bars, especially those decadent Larabars. Thank goodness for gardens that produced “fast” food like calcium-rich kale and lycopene-filled cherry tomatoes bursting with flavor that the kids (now thriving adults) could pop into their mouths on a whim.
So glad you are doing this…it will help many and save so much time, our most precious gift to children.
Ellen, I know! We have it so easy these days! I remember when brown stinky Edensoy was the only non-dairy milk option… but we drank it and loved it 🙂 Thank you for your comment! -Jen (the Bitchin’ Dietitian)
i must say i am salivating after reading your day’s food. mine – not as healthy.
up at 6:30 and had a larabar
9 – bagel with tofutti cream cheese
12 – a whole wheat wrap with lightline “ham”, lettuce, shredded carrots, etc. and
veganaise
fresh fruit salad and green salad
3- another bar (cliff or larabar – not sure)
6- stir fried asian veggies (from trader joes), a lot of extra pepper and onions, and trader joes beefless strips
9 – bagel with hummus and tabouli
Not so shabby, Debbie! I have many 2-bar days, and i feel especially fine when they’re the 2-ingredient Larabars. – Jen (the Bitchin’ Dietitian)
@Charline: Glad you’re at least *thinking* about food/drink in the AM! That’s a huge step! Let me know if you ever want to chat in more detail. I’d love to catch up! @Gail: You’ve definitely got the commute working against you. If you can, prep mini bags of veggies, trail mix, and fruit that you can just grab and go, so you always have something healthy to munch on. I often slice a giant bowl of raw veggies on Sunday that i keep in the fridge all week so there’s always something healthy to grab and i’m not downing chips or pretzels while ravenously making dinner. You may also want to try to eat more quantity during the day so you don’t end up covering most of your calories in the evening… it’s a very common problem in today’s working world, but it’s a recipe for weight gain. @Katie: If you can eliminate dairy and get your calcium from other sources (kale, collards, broccoli, calcium-fortified OJ), you’re going to be better off. I choose non-dairy whenever possible, and am thankful that the kids like soy and almond milk. Unfortunately, dairy foods cause inflammation, mucous production, and contain lots of the “bad” saturated fat. Sometimes dairy is hard to avoid, but we try. I also give the kids calcium + vitamin D supplements (from Whole Foods) to make sure they’re covered. The jury is still out on how much processed soy is good, and since we eat lots of other soy products, we try to go for the almond milk more often than soy. I hope that helps! BTW, I’m sure you get plenty of exercise chasing your girls around!
we don’t have a trader joe’s in kansas city, i wonder if whole foods carries the green powder you use in your smoothies…
Sam – thanks for your question! I am positive Whole Foods has something similar. I used to buy straight-up Spirulina powder from Whole Foods, so i know they at least have that. Spirulina is a blue-green algae rich in antioxidants and chlorophyll, and virtually tasteless. Let me know if you find one at Whole Foods that you have questions on! -Jen (the Bitchin’ Dietitian)
Breakfast: Fiber One cereal with So Delicious coconut beverage. Seltzer.
Lunch: Vegan Boca Burger on a high-fiber bun (but not wholewheat), with organic ketchup and relish (not organic). Seltzer.
Late afternoon snack: Leftover potato chips and seltzer. (Bad but yummy.)
Dinner: Delivery pizza with veggies, but no cheese. Not wholewheat — but vegan. Wine was consumed.
Thanks LK!
Hi all-So fun to ready what others are eating.
Just wanted to note that the jury is not out on soy-The Weston-Price Foundation is running a huge mis-information campaign to make us believe that the jury is out. Make sure to stick to what the science says, not the marketing sound bites that the media publishes.
To quote Dr. Pam Popper of the Wellness Forum:
a varied, well-structured, plant-based diet can include soy. There is no requirement to consume soy (just as there is no requirement to eat celery if you choose not to or don’t like it).
The preponderance of the reliable published scientific evidence indicates that soy foods are safe, healthful alternatives to animal protein in a well-structured diet. Here are my rules for soy consumption:
Purchase only organic soy foods (soy is the most common genetically engineered food in the U.S.)
Use highly processed soy-based products like tofu hot dogs, etc., as transitional foods and treats.
There are over 100 pages of articles on the topic of soy, most of which are referenced, posted in the Health Briefs Online Library at http://www.WellnessForum.com
Stay healthy!
Thanks Susan! Just to clarify, i meant that we’re not sure how much processed soy is good/ recommended. I personally find that when i’m downing tons of processed soy (burgers, dogs, etc.), i’m not eating as many beans, nuts, tempeh, and other wonderfully natural items. Variety is good! 🙂