As I mentioned a little while back, I am trying to “relearn” how to eat by following a more intuitive eating style. Some days I have been doing great with intuitive eating, while others have been rather challenging. I do think that I have adopted several great intuitive eating practices, but I still have plenty to continue working on.
Today I am taking you through another day of intuitive eats. Check out what I ate and what my thought processes were behind each decision.
A Day of Intuitive Eating (#3)
I woke up around 8:30, at which point I took my morning medications and supplements. I was not fully hungry for breakfast until around 9:30. I had an intense craving for a breakfast sandwich. I also was really craving vegetables. I went with both and ate a bit of a random breakfast. The breakfast sandwich consisted of two slices of toasted gluten-free bread, strawberry jam, a slice of vegan Field Roast Chao cheese, and a fried egg. On the side I chose a small bowl of green peas. Peas sound delicious to me no matter what time of day it is.
My hunger started kicking in again around noon. I whipped up a couple of deconstructed bean and veggie enchiladas, which I will be sharing with all of you soon! I need to be better prepared on blog photography days because I was just hungry enough once the meal was ready, but starving by the time I was finished photographing it.
Normally I would have made myself three tostada shells, but I decided to start with two and see how I felt after that. Sure enough, two was the perfect amount. I was full, but not overly stuffed like I normally might have been.
After my 1:15 p.m. late lunch, I was not hungry again until close to 4:00. I was craving something cold, yet sweet, so I whipped up a green smoothie. In the mix was unsweetened vanilla coconut milk, flax oil, chocolate Vega One, frozen banana, frozen zucchini, frozen grapes, and tons of fresh spinach. As always, it was refreshing and delicious. I drank this slowly alongside a big canister of water. It took me about 30 minutes to make it all the way through the mason jar, and I enjoyed drinking it slowly instead of chugging it like I sometimes do.
Dinner did not happen until about 7:30. I normally try to have dinner on the table by 7:00, but I wanted to listen to my body and only eat when it was ready. This ended up being the perfect time. I ate a quinoa veggie burger from Veestro, a company that I will talk more about in a future post. I served it on a bed of baby kale and spinach with tomatoes and mustard on top. I also listened to what I was truly craving for a side to my burger, and french fries won out! They were perfectly crispy and really hit the spot. This burger was huge, and I honestly probably could have stopped eating with a few bites left. Instead, I cleaned my plate. I think fully listening to my “fullness signals” is the biggest thing I need to work on with intuitive eating.
I ate a small snack around 9:30 because I was hungry before bed. It took me awhile to really choose what I was craving. I thought about popcorn, but decided that I was only thinking of that out of habit. I thought about nut butter on a rice cake, but again… that is just a habit. When I looked in my pantry, I found the winner: Erewhon honey crispy brown rice cereal with mixed berries topped with a little unsweetened vanilla coconut milk and fresh cantaloupe. It seems like a bit of an odd combo, but it is what I was craving. It was delicious and definitely something that I will likely snack on again.
After several days of intuitive eating, I have determined that I am getting pretty good at understanding my body and giving it what it is craving. I have also been doing a pretty good job of eating when I feel hungry. Some things that I need to work on are stopping when I am full and eating without distractions. I’ll get there… baby steps!
Are you an “intuitive” eater, or do you eat when/what you are “supposed to?”
