Real food isn’t always pretty

I’ve got to be honest, sometimes my food doesn’t look all that appetizing. I’d love to spend a little more time working on the lighting and staging of my food shots, but I’m not a food photographer, and quite frankly, I don’t have the luxury of time to take those extra steps.

Today, in honor of “What I Ate Wednesday,” I’m sharing with you my eats from yesterday. It was a fairly typical weekday of eating, and this recap includes every single bite I took outside of some gum, vitamins and a few swigs of milk straight from the carton (shhh!). I worked all day at the gym training clients, so most of my food was prepped and packed the night before and taken on-the-go.

And like the title of this post says, sometimes it’s not all that attractive. But it’s colorful, planned out, healthy and keeps me energized during long days.

5:10 a.m. breakfast at home in the dark

Can you guess that dish? Overnight oats, topped with a banana and cinnamon. I also had some green tea, sweetened with almond milk and Stevia. I ate this breakfast standing up at the kitchen counter in total darkness, while browsing the news online. I was trying to be as quiet as possible, because Dave and both of our house-guests were sleeping just a few feet away. I’ve been eating nearly the same overnight oats breakfast on weekdays for a very long time and am feeling a change coming. Stay tuned for that.

9:40 a.m. morning snack

Cottage cheese and a fuji apple. I ate this snack while standing up in the break-room, fumbling with my tablet and trying to review the workout program I was about to do with a client. I only had a few minutes in-between sessions and had to down this quickly while multitasking, which seems to be the norm for the workday. Although consumed in a rush, I always love cottage cheese, even plain. It’s a great source of protein for the morning.

1 p.m. post work-out recovery

I switched up protein powders this week and am currently enjoying Muscle Milk Light vanilla flavor. I mix one-and-a-half scoops of that with water and drink it very, very cold. I enjoyed this shake after a one-hour resistance workout in the gym to fuel the recovery of my muscles and hold me over until my next meal.

2 p.m. lunch

I didn’t have a chance to do a real “food prep” on Sunday, due to work and our visitors, so this week, I decided to go with colorful salads. On a bed of spinach, sat cherry tomatoes, purple cabbage, carrots, garbanzo beans, grilled chicken and some raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I’ve had this salad two days-in-a-row, and it really hits the mid-day spot.

4:50 p.m. afternoon snack

Before my evening client sessions, I downed a slightly browned banana and a strawberry SOYJOY bar. I hadn’t tried a SOYJOY bar in many moons, but the company sent me a couple boxes to sample, and I finally dug in yesterday. It was light, fluffy and a nice little afternoon snack.

8:15 p.m. dinner

After far too many meals out over the past few days when Dave and I had Florida visitors in town, I was truly looking forward to a home-cooked and healthy dinner last night. I made spaghetti squash (a personal favorite), with steamed spinach, turkey meatballs and some flavorful pasta sauce. You can hardly tell what a heaping portion that was in the huge red salad bowl. But it actually took me nearly 15 minutes to eat. So good. So flavorful. So healthy. The perfect weeknight dinner, in my opinion.

I also took a couple chugs of almond milk after dinner. Sometimes I do that. Don’t judge.

And that’s a full day of eating. I don’t track my macros, carbs, fats or calories at all. Instead, I try to stick to similar serving sizes for foods using consistent tupperware, plates and bowls for loose portion control. I’ve never actually logged my food, but I sure do enjoy tracking my steps with the Jawbone UP24.

Now it’s time to head out for work. If you’d like to see some more food, check out the link-up hostess, Peas and Crayons. Over there you’re guaranteed to see some real food photography.

Have a good one!

Questions of the day

Is your food pretty? What’s the best thing you’ve eaten lately?