a day in my life of food
I thought I would do something a little different today. I talk about frozen custard A LOT, but really, frozen custard doesn’t make up that much of my diet. In fact, I tend to eat pretty healthy despite all the frozen custard I consume.One thing pregnancy has taught me is how to listen to my body and fuel it with things that make me feel good and give me energy. It’s not that I wasn’t doing that before I was pregnant – I was just more concerned about how much I was putting in my body than actually listening to my body. I used to count calories pretty religiously, but in the past few months I have realized that all I needed to do was continue to eat healthy, listen to the cues my body was giving me, and not worry so much about my weight.So, I wanted to show you a day in my life of food. My meals aren’t the same every day, but they don’t stray too far from this. I might have cereal instead of oatmeal and a veggie sandwich instead of a salad, but this is typically how I eat. As long as I am eating healthy (fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc.) 80 percent of the time and not beating myself up over eating some candy or frozen custard from time to time. I think yesterday was a prime example of how you can eat healthy foods but still enjoy the foods you love…BREAKFAST
A large bowl of oatmeal. I always make my oatmeal the same way, with milk (this time, soymilk), half a banana, and flaxseeds, and then change it up with different mix-ins. Today I went with blueberries + strawberries, and even added a little bit of cottage cheese in with it to up the protein content. I know, it sounds weird, but I promise, it gives it an almost cheesecake-like flavor. And of course, you gotta add toppings – my favorites are granola and nut butter (sunflower butter in this bowl).
LUNCHI eat salads pretty regularly, although it was pretty difficult to stomach at the beginning of my pregnancy. Nothing a little ranch dressing couldn’t take care of – something I hadn’t eaten in over a year. But, it got me eating my veggies again.
A delicious salad made with romaine, Roma tomato, cheddar, broccoli, red pepper, and three-cheese ranch dressing. Some grapes and a slice of whole wheat bread with butter to round out my meal.
SNACK
Oops, how’d those sneak in there? 
My lunch didn’t quite satisfy me, so I ate a handful or two of my favorite candy in the entire world. I have been craving these like mad lately.And a little later, when hunger struck again, I had a little bowl of Goldfish crackers and 2 string cheese – because you know you can’t just eat one! (Can you tell I have been craving cheese?)
DINNERMatt had his Open House at school last night, so I was on my own for dinner. Usually I make my own veggie bowl, but luckily for me, I received a box of frozen goodies from Birds Eye as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program. I don’t buy a lot of frozen meals except for the occasional faux meat product, but I was happy to try Birds Eye’s Chef’s Favorites out since it meant not having to dirty extra dishes.
I decided to try the Primavera Vegetable Risotto and took a tip from Meghann and added some chickpeas to it to (again) up the protein content. It was a little bland for my liking, but nothing some garlic pepper couldn’t take care of! Otherwise, it was a delicious meal on a lonely Tuesday evening.
DESSERTI’m not even going to beat around the bush here – it’s not an after dinner snack for me. It’s dessert. And I eat it Every. Single. Night. It’s usually NOT frozen custard, but I just so happened to have a Mint Chip concrete leftover from my header photo shoot last week. I ate about half (it’s twice as big as the size I normally get) and saved the rest for when another frozen custard craving strikes.
And what do ya know? Eating like this on a regular basis has kept me steadily gaining the right amount of weight for pregnancy, and I’m confident that it will help me get back to where I was pre-pregnancy. No need to count calories anymore…