A Lady Goes West

A healthy lifestyle blog by Ashley Pitt

A day of my eating and some commentary

By 49 Comments

Another Wednesday, another food post. But before we begin: Did you treat yourself yesterday? I sure hope so. I treated myself to a surprise. What do I mean by that? Well, I set out yesterday evening to attend a little event and then go to a new yoga studio in the Marina neighborhood of San Francisco. Somehow I didn’t read the fine print on the studio’s class description, and it turned out I was attending hot yoga. That meant the room was heated just above 90 degrees, which makes for a true sweat-fest once you get into the poses and moves. I thought I had set myself up for a relaxing mind/body session, but instead I was completely drenched and totally worked during the one-hour power yoga class. I walked out feeling great, but fairly shocked that I hadn’t prepared myself for the experience. You need to talk yourself up for that kind of thing. Oh well. I’m better for it.

And with that, it’s time to get to the food. Here are my eats from yesterday, coupled with some very random commentary, for those of you who actually read what I write rather than just scroll through and look at pictures. But no matter how you enjoy A Lady Goes West, I’m just glad you’re here. So proceed as you please!

Breakfast at 7:30 a.m.

Breakfast 11.18A typical and tasty first meal of coconut protein overnight oats, minus the coconut, topped with a banana. Served alongside a mug of steaming green tea.

Why no coconut, you ask? Even though it’s part of my self-proclaimed best ever overnight oats recipe? Well, when you eat the same meal for breakfast everyday, sometimes you choose to make small changes to mix up the flavor profiles. I didn’t use any coconut this week, but I’ll probably bring it back next week. Funny thing about this breakfast is that I was starving as I took this picture. I had been up for a while and couldn’t find even an inkling of natural light in our tiny apartment until after 7 a.m. to stage a little photography session. #BloggerProblems. Therefore, my stomach grumbled, I became hangry, and I finally took this quick picture in front of the window on a side-table before calling it a day and digging into the meal at the kitchen counter in front of my computer. Life is tough, people. Life is tough.

Mid-morning snack at 11 a.m.

Snack 11.18A filling snack of vanilla-flavored Greek yogurt topped with some yummy cinnamon-crunch Somersault seeds and a just-debuted cranberry-extract PACt purified water by Ocean Spray.

My mailbox has been filling up lately with healthy products and treats, and I received a variety four-pack of these new cranberry-extract purified water beverages by Ocean Spray this week. I wasn’t crazy about two of the flavors (they were a little too cranberry for me), but I really enjoyed the Blood Orange one shown above. PACt, the name of the product, is short for proanthocyanidins, which is something found in cranberries that supposedly purifies the body better than water alone. (You know how you’re supposed to drink cranberry juice if you’re having an issue with your insides?) PACt will soon be available in California and Nevada, as well as online, and then will launch nationally in spring 2015. The water is sweetened naturally and has only 10 calories per serving, which is really low for a 16 oz. bottle. I love to have a flavored beverage alongside a meal and reaching for something like this rather than soda or a sugary fruit juice is definitely a smart choice. Anything that gets me drinking more water is a good thing, because I can never get enough.

Lunch at 1 p.m.

Lunch 11.18A hearty baked sweet potato covered in cinnamon, two fairly runny fried eggs and some fresh mango. 

When I get on a lunch kick, I get on a lunch kick. I’ve been tearing into sweet potatoes and eggs for a couple weeks now, and it makes for a very pleasing combination. Plenty of good carbs, complete protein in the eggs and some fruit on the side makes this a balanced plate. I guess this one could even pass as a good breakfast, but I’ve been enjoying it for a warm mid-day meal. I must note that I’ve never bought mangoes until this week. But I was in search of a new-to-me item during a Saturday afternoon stop at Trader Joe’s, and mangoes made the cut. They are harder than I expected, but taste so tropical. I don’t know that I’ll be adding mangoes to my real regular weekly grocery shopping list, but I enjoyed the diversion this week.

Afternoon snack at 4:45 p.m.

PM Snack 11.18A mug of warm holiday David’s Tea and a MyProtein Caramel Peanut Protein Chox bar.

As I said in the intro, I was out-and-about last night at an event and a hot yoga class, so I packed a bar with me to eat on the road. While I don’t really like to rely on super-processed protein bars, I sure do enjoy eating them. This one tastes like a candy bar, and could easily be passed off as one. The folks from MyProtein sent me a box of these bars along with some pre-workout powder, which I haven’t opened yet. (I’ve actually never used a pre-workout mixture before, and if you have, please share your experience below in the comments.) This protein bar has 22 grams of protein and 240 calories. It’s actually much smaller than you’d expect for the calorie count, but that’s likely because it tastes so darn good. It filled me up in a pinch and stayed nicely in my belly as I was dripping sweat from every crevasse in yoga just a wee bit later. I’ve eaten these bars before several workouts lately and find that they sit well and keep me energized, so that’s good.

Dinner at 8:30 p.m.

Dinner 11.18A plate featuring baked tilapia, covered in peach salsa and sauteed mixed peppers, served over a bed of brown rice.

After I got home and showered up, I tried to force myself to chug water, knowing I would wake up very dehydrated from the whole experience. Yet, I was still feeling good. Dave was home earlier than normal, so we discussed dinner and came up with this little display shown above. Honestly, I could’ve eaten spaghetti squash again, but I don’t want you guys to think that’s all I have for dinner. So these are a few items from our pantry and freezer, which combined make a colorful meal, which was pretty good. I did the cooking (it was more like assembling), and Dave did the cleaning (which was not as bad as the cleaning on our usual taco nights I always have to do). Once the dinner process was complete, I finished up this post for you fine people. Then, we laid on the couch and jumped back into our current Netflix series-of-choice, Weeds.

How’s that for commentary? 

Okey doke, people. This morning, I’m getting something super cool delivered to me, and I’m going to fill you in very soon on what that’s all about. Now, it’s time to get to work before I have to teach my regular line-up of BODYATTACK and BODYPUMP classes tonight. I’m switching up my music in both classes this evening, so I have quite a bit to prepare before I teach two hours of choreography. Enjoy your day!

Stay in touch with A Lady Goes West

Do you like food pictures and chatter like what you see here in this “What I Ate Wednesday” post? Then let’s be friends on Bloglovin’, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and I’ll promise to share more. And here’s a look at some previous eating recaps:

  1. A full day of eating in pictures
  2. Another full day of my eats and drinks
  3. Real food isn’t always pretty
  4. Do you have a balanced dining out strategy?
  5. What I ate and drank all day
  6. Three meals, two snacks and a shake
  7. Food trucks and rest-day eating
  8. Plenty of protein at every meal
  9. Colorful fuel for a day of training
  10. Long days of training require a lot of food
  11. Making do on “What I Ate Wednesday” 
  12. Healthy foods for a rest day
  13. Who doesn’t like pictures of food?
  14. A look at a full day of eating in pictures
  15. Snapshots from a day of delicious meals
  16. Pictures of food, because you like them
  17. Food pictures and the juice cleanse that wasn’t
  18. A look at what I really eat in a day
  19. What I ate in the Sunshine State
  20. My weekend eats and a little narrative
  21. Stories about food and yesterday’s meals

Questions of the day

What dish are you most looking forward to eating on Thanksgiving? How’s your week going so far? What’s your go-to protein bar these days?

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About Ashley

I'm a mom and fitness instructor in Charlotte, North Carolina. And A Lady Goes West is where I share fitness, wellness and clean beauty tips, as well as stories from my life.
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Comments

  1. Christa @ Living Unbalanced says

    I eat an eggs/sweet potato combo for lunch allll the time – I love it! I use a pre-workout to (attempt to) pump me up for my early morning workouts. I’ve used a few different brands but lately have been using Stronger Faster Healthier’s Push. A lot of pre-workouts seem to be filled with fake sugar and weird chemicals, but SFH’s is one of the cleanest I’ve found.

    Reply

  3. Ashley @ My Food N Fitness Diaries says

    Per usual, looks like a yummy day of eats!

    Week is going well… I’m off to go teach my first RPM class in a little over an hour, so that’s some excitement for the week! I’m also looking forward to doing some fun little crafty/DIY projects with a friend later this week for Christmas.

    How often do you switch up your choreo in your classes? And how long do you do the new releases? I love to hear what other instructors do!
    Ashley @ My Food N Fitness Diaries recently posted…My Favorite Ways to Use FlapJacked Protein Pancake MixMy Profile

    Reply

    • Ashley says

      Hi Ashley! I think you’ve inspired another post because I’ve had a few people email me those same questions. THANK YOU! I do a new release four times in a class, and I do older releases around three times in a class. However, I teach at different gyms during the week, so if I taught at the same gym with the same people multiple times a week, I’d changed my music every two weeks. Does that make sense? Happy Wednesday!
      Ashley recently posted…A day of my eating and some commentaryMy Profile

      Reply

  7. Lizzie @ The Magic Tree says

    All your eats looks great. I’ve never considered eating eggs + sweet potatoes, but sounds interesting. Quest bars have been my go-to lately. I try not to eat them everyday (bc I’m with you on the processed bar commentary) and usually save them for dessert. The best is baking one in the oven and it comes out like a cookie!

    Reply

  17. Arman @ thebigmansworld says

    I love your eats, buddy! And lol at the natural light thing- I guess that’s a perk of it being Summer here?

    I wish I had good stuff to say about pre workout supps but the ones I took before (there were 2 brands but not the one you mentioned) made me incredibly jittery (and i LOVE caffeine) and the other gave me red rashes!
    Arman @ thebigmansworld recently posted…Paleo Apple Pie BarsMy Profile

    Reply

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