What I Eat in a Day: Healthy and Plant-Based Meals and Snacks

Disclaimer: I write these posts to give you some inspiration and ideas, and to show you my non-restrictive approach to eating, not to suggest that this is how you have to eat to feel good and be healthy. Everyone is different.

We live in a world where diet culture is promoted at every turn. It can be hard to cut through the bull shit and recognize how much we actually need to not only function, but thrive.

I have been on my own intuitive eating journey for the past few years, and finally have a positive relationship with food. If you are still in the early stages of learning to eat intuitively, it might feel really uncomfortable. It takes time to let go of many years of diet culture conditioning. But know that if you stick with it, you will come to a place of peace and enjoyment around food. 🙂

I decided I wanted to share more of my daily eats in this space. Everyone is different: what works for me isn’t necessarily what works for you. Rather, I aim to inspire you to enjoy your three meals and snacks AND dessert each day, and not worry so much about calories, macros, whether or not you ‘earned’ your dessert, or how far you need to run tomorrow to burn off what you ate today. The goal is to nourish, not deprive.

I had the day off work yesterday, so I finally remembered to photograph my meals. Here’s what a typical day of eating looks like for me.

At long last, it’s finally getting a bit cooler outside. I’m still in the mood for cold breakfasts, though, and this chocolate protein smoothie bowl hit the spot. The recipe isn’t published on the blog yet, but it’s a blend of frozen banana, avocado, plant protein, cocoa, flax, and almond. milk. I topped it with some of my grain-free granola (recipe coming soon!) and frozen cherries. Plus coffee afterwards, of course.

I’m working on a blog post called “5 Ways to Elevate Store-Bought Veggie Burgers,” so lunch was this southwestern creation: A Hilary’s root veggie burger with guacamole, tomato, baby kale, barbecue sauce, and goat cheddar. Plus an apple.

On days off, I love taking an afternoon break for a drink and homemade treat. I made these zucchini oat muffins from Pinch of Yum earlier, so I had one with a homemade ice chai latte from Cookie and Kate’s cookbook.

Dinner was going to be tempeh tacos, but I changed my mind at the last minute and created these buffalo chickpea, quinoa, and sweet potato bowls with lime cabbage slaw and cilantro hemp sauce instead. Best enjoyed with some good beer!

I forgot to take a photo of my evening snack. I had wanted dessert, but was too full from dinner to really enjoy it… so I just had some organic yogurt and fruit with hemp and flax while watching Bachelor in Paradise. 😀 It hit the spot!

Other recent food highlights:

-A wrap I had at Pure Kitchen last weekend with lentils, sweet potato, cashew cheese, tempeh, and avocado

-Chocolate caramel cheesecake that my brother and his fiancee served at a get-together (I’m dreaming of re-creating a vegan version for the blog)

-Pumpkin oatmeal cookies

-Sourdough toast with cashew butter and banana

-Curried lentil-stuffed eggplant my mom made

<3 <3

I hope you’re all looking forward to the weekend. Share what you’ve been eating (or are excited about eating!) in the comments!