A Day Of Healthy Eating

Every day you hear people talk about “eating healthy” and, like many things, this means different things to different people. As a person who loves nutrition science and tends to read a lot, over time I have come to the following understanding of what it means to “eat healthy”:

First, I try to eat a diet which is as close to this pyramid as possible:

IMHO, this is a pretty good representation of the diet I think science supports for a long and healthy life. In relation to food, by “healthy life”, I mean one which minimizes your risk of chronic food-based diseases (like diabetes, heart disease, liver disease and certain cancers) and which provides you with enough energy to live productively. I think you can avoid diseases and still be unhealthy, if you don’t have energy and feel unwell all the time. It is important to have both qualities.

Second, I try to eat very little packaged/processed food. Mainly, because packaged foods tend to have too much salt, too much sugar, fewer nutrients and lots of chemical ingredients which, as far as I can tell, haven’t been tested enough to know their long term effects on the body.

 

Third, I try to eat foods primarily for fuel and not to feed negative emotions. This means being conscious of when I am not really hungry, but instead upset. When this happens, I try to workout instead. I do eat food for pleasure, since I can’t imagine a life without wine, cheese or bread!

That’s really it. Sometimes, I drink more alcohol than I should or go on vacation and eat a lot of Anderson’s Roast Beef. It’s part of being human. But, I don’t do that every day.

I think many of the articles about nutrition overly complicate the matter and can leave people with a sense of confusion about what they should be eating. In the past, I have Googled “a day of healthy food” in search of examples and nothing useful ever came up. So, I thought I’d show you what a healthy day looks like to me. This is what I ate yesterday.

Breakfast:

1/2 c. whole grain oats, cooked with 1 diced apple, 1 tsp. brown sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Coffee

Calories: 256

Lunch:

Salad made up of 2.5 c. spring mix, ¼ cucumber, 1 c. grape tomatoes, ¼ c. walnut halves, 1 tbsp. light ranch dressing
Water

Calories: 308

Snack:

1 Orange

Whole grain toast with 1 tbsp. maple almond butter

Calories: 255

Dinner:

Wheat Berry Chili* with ¼ avocado and 1 oz. Greek yogurt, 1 corn muffin

Calories: 764

* I substitute one of the cans of black beans for kidney beans and add carrots.

This is not a “perfect” day by any means, nor would I eat this every day. In fact, I'm not sure such a thing exists. Some days, I have more meat and some days I have sweets. In fact, I think this day was a little light on calories. But, it was a rest day and since most of these foods were very filling, I really wasn’t hungry. Today, I ate a bit more.  I try to eat a wide variety of foods and so, for example, today, I ate a total different breakfast.

Breakfast:

1 c. Greek yogurt, 1 c. blueberries, ¼ c. granola

Calories: 358

While I am not a chef, I do like to cook and I think it is essential to have at least some basic cooking skills, if you would like to eat healthfully. Most of the foods I had were really simple and didn't take much time or skills to prepare. I think that is important, since I'm a pretty busy gal. Also, most of these meals were not costly, since I don't have a ton of money. I buy many of the items in bulk from Costco and they last for several (if not, many, in the case of the oatmeal!) meals.

I am always open to tips and new recipes, so if you have a favorite you'd like to share, leave the link in the comments!