What I Ate Wednesday #123: Vegan. Week 2.

Sunday I had a really serious conversation with my nutritionist, Cyrus. As you may recall, he has me experimenting with a high-carb [70% carb, 15% fat, 15% protein], vegan diet for 14 days. At the start of week 2, I met with him and told him my main concern—I’m not eating the right foods for lunch to hold me over; especially when I’m out of the house all day at work. I just ended up being completely exhausted by late afternoon. I’m just not packing enough. His solution? Eat more. And eat starchy! Lose the greens at lunch; they’re just taking up valuable real estate in my stomach that I need for energizing carbs.

This past week, I’ve made a few adjustments to my meals, in particular, eating more. Lots more! Yesterday was the big test; I was working 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. with just two 1-hour breaks in between hitting all 3 jobs. I knew it was important to pack a lot and really take into account what Cyrus had to say. And let me tell you, I found a way to just. keep. eating.

[Breakfast]
I’ve tried a couple breakfasts from Cyrus’ plan but this one was my staple.

• 2 bananas
• 1/2 papaya
• 1 mango OR a bunch of blueberries
• 2 tbsp chia seeds + 2 tbsp hemp protein soaked 10+ mins in 1/2 cup almond milk

Adding in the protein powder definitely helped keep me full longer. And you’re welcome for snapping a picture pre-chia/protein mix.

[Morning Snack]

I went to barre after training my first client, but unfortunately could only stay for 30 minutes before heading onto my next job. That said, it was a killer 30 minutes! and I was famished. Chick peas. Because apparently that’s a normal snack? But clearly not enough to hold me over for too long.. Cashew Cookie Larabar to the rescue!

Larabars have been great because they’re just fruit and nuts. No extra sweeteners, grains, etc.

[Lunch]

Admittedly, I’m still getting used to such a high starchy carb load, but eating a ton of sweet potatoes? I can’t really complain.. Seriously. Just straight roasted sweet potatoes. Twas delicious.

[Afternoon Snack……sssss]

I had a hell of a time staying full. Must have been all of my running around! In between job 2 and 3, I snacked on an apple with 1 tbsp peanut butter. A couple hours later, my very last Gingerbread Larabar made an appearance. And finally, a blood orange. I told you, I was hungry!

[Dinner]

A long day required an easy dinner. Same as the night before—mushrooms and lentils with mustard dressing over mixed greens.

[Evening Snack]
I must’ve really worked up an appetite because even after all of that, my stomach was still growling before bed. I reached for a banana.. might as well end the day in a similar fashion to how it started!

Damn. That’s a lot of carbs! Haha they are quite tasty, though, so it’s hard to argue. Just a few days left to finish off my 2 week experiment!

Food for Thought

Which meal would be your favorite?
Have you ever considered or tried a high carb diet?

What I Ate Wednesday #122: The ‘V’ Word

A few days ago, I started a little experiment. I’m currently working with the nutritionist at Truve, Cyrus Khambatta, on testing a different kind of diet. So if I’m going to do it, why not go balls to the wall? We’re talking 2 weeks vegan. And not only that, but Cyrus is a big proponent of a 70/15/15 diet. Yup, 70% carbs. Fruit and veggie carbs, though, not grains. This is a really drastic change in my diet and I’m finding it very interesting to see the way my body is reacting to it. I’m only on day 4 right now, but I’m looking forward to doing a full update at the end. For now, this is how some of my meals and snacks have been looking.

[Breakfast]

2 bananas, 1 mango, 1/2 papaya, cinnamon, & 2 tbsp chia seeds soaked in cashew milk

2 bananas, 10 strawberries, 2 handfuls of raisins, and 2 tbsp chia seeds soaked in cashew milk

That’s a lot of fruit! Breakfast is, of course, my favorite meal of the day and while I’m missing my oats and melty peanut butter, these breakfasts have been delicious and surprisingly have held me over for 3-4.5 hours.

[Lunch]

Sweet potatoes baked with olives, sun dried tomatoes, and onion

Roasted kabocha squash and fennel

Anyone that tells me to eat a huge plate of sweet potatoes or kabocha is good in my book!

[Dinner]

Mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion

Mushrooms, snow peas, and tomato

Dinner has admittedly been my least favorite meal. It’s usually at this point that I feel like I’d like to sneak a couple bites of Nathan’s chicken. Or have some kind of sauce to make it all more exciting. I know typically if I were just doing vegan on my own, I could play with flavors a bit more but because I’m trying to really follow Cyrus’ plan, I’m sticking with his recipes.

[Snacks]

Perfect because it’s just dates, nuts, and spices!

Blissful Eats Instant Boost Chocolate Bites

Holy moly. Those Blissful Eats bites are some of my new favorite snacks! I was lucky enough to win some samples but I have a feeling I’ll definitely be buying more in the [very near] future!

Also unpictured snacks have been chia pudding, apples, olives, and leftover kabocha squash.

Overall Feelings
So far, I feel like I’ve had ups and downs of feeling super full [hellooo kabocha!] and feeling downright ravenous. I’ve also noticed my energy levels being a bit low over the past couple of days. I’m interested to see if that turns around and if my body adjusts. I’m also curious to see if there are any changes in my body, though 2 weeks isn’t too long to see those changes.

It’s definitely an interesting experience thus far and I’m looking forward to seeing how the next week and a half goes, as well as if it changes my diet in the future.

Food for Thought

Have you ever tried eating vegan?
What are your thoughts on the 70/15/15 macro breakdown?

What I Ate Wednesday #83: Elimination Diet

I was really trying to think of Passover as an elimination diet this time around. I had recently been experiencing itchy hands and feet, mostly at the end of the day, and was seriously hoping it wasn’t a food allergy. I didn’t think about it so much throughout the week, but I have to admit I definitely noticed a difference by the end of last night after I officially broke Passover.

Breakfast

While I thoroughly enjoyed my egg white, banana, sweet potato/kabocha scramble all week, I’m excited to be having something new for breakfast. Like oats! Gimme grains! Also, peanut butter forever.

Snack

I had a bunch of errands to run in the late morning/early afternoon and stuck this bar in my purse as I was running out. Larabar was pretty much the only bar I had that I could eat during Passover.. good thing they’re so delicious!

Lunch

I was pretty hungry by the time I got home and just picked up a can of salmon from Trader Joe’s. Instead of eating it straight from the can, I whipped up an awesome salad. Also, I totally bought some cottage cheese after seeing it all over tons of blogs! Well done, FitFluential 😉

Ingredients
– 1 can wild Alaskan salmon; drained
– 1 small avocado
– 1/4 cup cottage cheese
– 1 tsp McCormick Smokehouse Maple seasoning

Mash it all up together in a bowl and throw it on a salad, crackers, etc. I sprinkled a little chili powder on top and ended up going back for more. So good! It makes 2-3 servings [2 if you’re me!]

BREAKING PASSOVER!

When Nathan got home, he had a quick snack of some leftover buttered noodles from the other night. He offered me a bite and with that, Passover was officially over. Of course, then I went and grabbed a bite of granola because I couldn’t wait until after dinner.

Dinner

Chipotle ain’t got nothin’ on me! The salsa turned out great and I thoroughly enjoyed the rice-y bean-y goodness. Unlike any kind of elimination diet, I eliminated food for a week and immediately added all of it back into my diet in one fell swoop! Unfortunately, I was bloated within 30 minutes and now I’m not sure what did it but I’m thinking my body might hate legumes. Say it isn’t so!

Snack

I won a giveaway of Shelia G’s Brownie Brittle and of course it came in the other day. Nathan tried it right away and I couldn’t wait to try a piece. And then another piece with peanut butter because everything is better with peanut butter! .. and of course I had to have my apple, a little more granola, and a handful of peanut butter puffins. Success.

So the final results? Everything may be better with peanut butter, but I’m not so sure my body is. I hadn’t experienced the bloating all week like I did after dinner and I also noticed my hands and feet getting itchy again later on. It may be time to call the doctor in on this one!

Food for Thought

Have you ever tried an elimination diet?

What I Ate Wednesday #78: Larabar Review, Recipe, & Giveaway!

Lately I’ve been having some fun in the kitchen experimenting with different recipes I’ve found on Pinterest and trying to use up some random ingredients in the pantry. Well, for us it’s really the coat closet acting as a pantry but hey, when you have limited space, you make things work, right? [Right.] On top of that, I’ve been in touch with LÄRABAR and was offered the chance to sample a few bars to review and do a giveaway. How could I say no?

I chose the Coconut Cream Pie, Chocolate Chip Brownie, and Chocolate Coconut Chew to review and they also threw in a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip too! Do you see a trend here? Not surprisingly, they were all fantastic. One of my favorite things about LÄRABAR is you know what you’re getting. Have you seen the ingredient list for the Coconut Cream Pie bar?

Dates, Unsweetened Coconut, Almonds, Cashews, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

It doesn’t get much simpler than that. And so many recipes across the internet that resembled bite-sized versions of a Larabar, I knew I wanted to try my own version of them.

Blueberry Lemon Cookie Dough Bites

Makes 18-20 bites
Adapted from Lemon Cookie Dough Bites

Ingredients
– 1/3 cup rolled oats
– 1/2 cup dried blueberries
– 1/2 cup macadamia nuts; roasted
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
– 6″ slice lemon peel
– 2 tsp water [Optional]

Directions
In a food processor, add the oats and process until broken up. Add the remainder of the ingredients and process until everything is crumbly. You may need to add up to 2 tsp of water if the dough isn’t sticking together well enough. When it all comes together, measure out bites in 1/2 tbsp. You should get 18-20.. depending on how much you eat in the process [guilty!] 😉

Nutritional Information
Per 1/2 tbsp bite

45 Calories  /  3g Fat  /  5g Carbs  /  1g Fiber  /  3g Sugar  /  1g Protein

Breakfast
In true St. Patty’s Day spirit, I made myself a matcha green tea smoothie with banana, spinach, protein powder, and almond milk.

Lunch
And continuing on the green train, I made a nice big kale salad with roasted pork [from last week’s meal plan] and a side of avocado toast. Because I’m obsessed now.

Afternoon Snack
Crumbled 2 blueberry lemon bites over some plain greek yogurt with granola. Hit the sweet spot!

Dinner
I cheated on my meal plan. In all fairness, I was invited out for some shopping and dinner, so I finally tried the Public Market and got a TON of tandoori chicken over salad. Nathan was quite pleased to have the leftovers for lunch yesterday. And I did at least follow through for him and made the baked onion rings and roasted brussels.. both came out awesome and I was pleased to have those in my lunch yesterday!

Evening Snack
Apple and homemade chocolate pudding.

Giveaway Time!

Enter for your chance to win a box of 16 mixed LÄRABAR flavors!

Food for Thought

Which LÄRABAR flavor are you most excited to try?
Have you ever made your own bites at home?

Foodie Friday: Charoset. The Jewish Larabar.

One of the staples on the sedar table, and part of the sedar plate, is the charoset. It is meant to represent the mortar used by the Israelites in Ancient Egypt. There are 2 main kinds of charoset; Ashkenazi, made from chopped apples, walnuts, honey, and spices, and Sephardic, which is more of a paste made with dates and figs.

Growing up, my family always had the Ashkenazi version, but in more recent years we’ve also had the Sephardic version on the table. As soon as I tasted this, I instantly fell in love. I’m telling you, it’s like a homemade Jewish Larabar! How could it be bad?

Charoset

Makes approximately 4 cups

Ingredients
– 1 cup pitted dates
– 1 cup figs
– 1 cup dried apricots
– 1 cup golden raisins
– 1 bananas
– 1 cup pistachios
– 1/2 cup crystallized ginger
– 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
– 1 tsp cardamom
– Rind and juice of 1 orange
– 1 cup or more port or Passover wine
– Honey to taste

Directions
Add all ingredients into a large food processor and process until relatively smooth. You do still want to have some bits of pistachio and dried fruit. It’s like a delicious surprise 🙂

I’m telling you, if you’re a fan of Larabars, you have to make this! It is definitely a crowd pleaser and I plan on having it on hand year-round now! So glad I got the recipe from my cousin, Amy!

Food for Thought

Have you ever made your own homemade fruit and nut bars? What is your favorite combination of ingredients?