What I Eat in a Day

Radically changing my diet last year turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. You can read about what happened here. However, for the first couple of months after I made the change it seemed like I was never out of the kitchen. And that is definitely not my happy place. I’d always start preparing then realise I didn’t have a particular essential ingredient or the recipe was going to take much longer than I thought and all that chopping! When you incorporate a ton of veggies into your life you’d better like chopping.

I’ve got much better now at preparing in bulk or thinking ahead and have built up a bank of recipes I make regularly. I keep a constant list going on my phone so I know if I need to pick up any extras on my way home. At the beginning it was really important that I had something pre-prepared ready to eat whenever I got in or if it was mealtime as the urge to revert to my old eating habits was strong when I had no evidence it was going to be worth it. So you’d often find me whizzing up pans of soup in the evening or making a curry or chilli for the next couple of days or so. I’d make enough to serve six and then freeze some. There was no way my husband was going to join me in this-he hates beans and lentils and anything spicy and doesn’t much like veggies really. He’s been known to eat a grape or two.

I still mainly prepare ahead as I don’t enjoy cooking and I love getting in to find my overnight oats is ready and waiting, my soup is in the fridge and there’s several meal portions ready to defrost.

So let’s get on with an example day!

I’ve been trying to eat as many veggies as I can and have eaten things I’ve never even thought about before (celeriac, beetroot, kohlrabi (what?!) etc).

Breakfast

I’m not human until I’ve had a couple of cups of coffee first thing. That’s now black after I managed to ditch the milk I thought I’d never do without. If I’m going running and it’s less than 10K I’ll just head out and go. I don’t find I need to eat or drink. For longer runs I take something with me as I’m trying to get used to eating on the run as I train for my 50K. This may be a banana, dates, energy bites and once I took a whole tub of overnight oats and slowed right down while I ate them. It was fine!

Post run I may have an almond milk hot chocolate with my running pals then head home for BREAKFAST. 

Protein shake

This is one way I keep my protein intake up as each shake contains over 20g of protein.

Here’s what I blend together:

• 300ml almond milk

• 1 scoop protein powder

• handful of frozen berries

• Frozen, chopped banana

Porridge

This Chocolate Cherry Overnight Oats is definitely a fave.

• 200g oats⁣

• 200g yoghurt (I used dairy free)⁣

• 200-300ml almond milk⁣

• Heaped tbsp cocoa powder⁣

• Cherries (I used frozen)⁣

• Chocolate chips⁣

Mix the oats, yoghurt, milk and cocoa powder together. Divide up into bowls or jars (makes 2 big servings) and top with cherries and chocolate chips. Refrigerate overnight.⁣

⁣YUM⁣.

Lunch

Supergreen soup

I made this super healthy green soup last night-the best bit for me is that lovely zing of ginger 😍 The next best bit? Don’t have to fiddly-grate the ginger and courgettes-WIN! You could use any greens – spinach, watercress, cabbage even – and I’m not keen on garlic in soup so I didn’t add it but you could pop in 1-2 cloves. Here you go…⁣ (serves 4)…

• ⁣1 tbsp olive oil⁣

• 1 litre veg stock⁣

• ⁣thumb-sized piece root ginger, peeled and sliced⁣

• ⁣1 tsp ground turmeric⁣

• ⁣1 tsp ground coriander⁣

• ⁣200g broccoli, chopped⁣

• ⁣500g courgettes, sliced⁣

• ⁣150g kale or any mixed greens⁣

• ⁣1 lime, zest and juice⁣

• ⁣Handful parsley⁣

⁣Heat oil in pan, add ginger slices and spices and stir well to coat. Add a few splashes of water if it’s sticking.⁣

⁣Add the courgettes, broccoli, kale, lime juice and stir well. Pour in the stock. Bring to boil then simmer gently until the veg is cooked (around 20 minutes). Add a few handfuls of parsley and use a stick blender to whizz up into a lush, green soup. To serve sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and lime zest.⁣

I’ll usually try and eat some sort of salad along with my soup.

Red cabbage, beetroot and red apple salad

This is all about grating…

Grate half a red cabbage into a bowl. Add 2-3 grated beetroots and 2 grated red apples. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, mix well and enjoy! So fresh tasting.

Coffee and cake

I currently have around 5-6 dairy and egg free cake recipes that I really like. I nearly always have some cake in the afternoon. Here’s my banana bread.

You will need…

• 3 large black bananas

• 75ml vegetable oil or sunflower oil, plus extra for the tin

• 100g brown sugar

• 225g plain flour

• 3 heaped tsp baking powder

• 3 mixed spice

• 50g walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. 

Mash up 3 large ripe bananas, then mix with the vegetable or sunflower oil and the brown sugar.

Add the flour, baking powder and mixed spice, and stir well. Add the walnuts, if using.

Bake in 2x1lb loaf tins for 20 minutes. Check and cover with foil if the cakes are overbrowning.

Bake for another 20 minutes. Try and resist while it cools!

I sometimes do like to add walnuts but left them out this time as a friend I was going to share it with has a nut allergy.

Dinner

Coconut Veggie Curry

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes, or to taste
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 398 ml can chickpeas, drained
• 398 ml can chopped tomatoes
• 400 ml can light coconut milk
• 150g spinach
• Freshly ground black pepper
• For serving: cooked basmati rice, quinoa or similar

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and toast the cumin seeds for about a minute. Stir in the onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.

Add everything except the spinach. stir well, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Since I’ve been eating this way my desire for sweet things has dropped right off. Even my beloved donuts taste incredibly oversweet-I’ll have to persevere!!

I do get a bit hungry sometimes-often you don’t get the same feeling of satiety on a plant based diet. I still struggle a bit for variety here-often I’ll have some dark chocolate or very occasionally some nuts. The thing I find with nuts is that when you look at the recommended snack portions it usually turns out to be around 6-7 nuts. Well, that just doesn’t do it for me. I could easily eat the whole bag so I tend to choose something that will fill me up a bit more like crumpets with dairy free butter and some lovely jam I bought from a local health store.

And I force myself to drink endless cups of hot water with a wedge of lemon and slices of ginger through the day. I love this drink-but I’d still forget to drink enough if I didn’t make myself!

Honestly most of this eating stuff is-like a lot of things in life-just about getting used to things. About ditching habits. I decided I wanted to get rid of all salad dressings except fresh lemon juice, olive oil and salt and that’s pretty much what I use all the time now. It’s also about wanting it enough. I had a very good reason to change (constant chest infections) and of course after 5 months this way of eating is my new normal. The massive improvement in my running is something I’m super keen to hold on to as well-so my commitment is strong.

Don’t get the idea I’m so regimented that I only ever eat this way. If I’m invited out I eat whatever is provided and sometimes I’ll choose the fish option. For me it’s all about improving my health and fitness so a day or two off every so often isn’t going to make the slightest difference.