Some thoughts and discussions from me.
Nutrition Goal: Eat Veggies with Every Meal and Snack
Hi friends!
YTP Boot Camp is in full force, with week 2 going strong! One fun component of YTP Boot Camp is that each week we have Nutrition Goals. Last week it was to eat a green leafy veggies, an orange, and a red veggie each days. This week, the goal is to eat a vegetable with every single meal or snack. I’m participating in these challenges along with my group, and this one has proven to be quite a challenge for me! It’s a fun one, but makes me stop and think, nonetheless.
So, I thought it’d be fun to post a day of eats each week with each new weekly challenge. Whenever I normally do a “what I ate wednesday” type post, I usually post my eats from the day before, Tuesday, which tends to be a pretty busy day of teaching and training for me. This week, I thought I’d post from a day during the week when I’m not running around teaching classes and training clients. I suppose you could call this a “day-in-the-life” post, as well. So let’s get to it – WIAW!
6:55 am – wake up without an alarm clock. I never use an alarm clock (unless I have to be up super early for an event or something) and always wake up between 6:30-7:15a every day. Sometimes on the weekend, I can sleep in until 7:30, but that’s about as late as I get. It’s both a blessing and a curse.
Anyway, I grab my robe, come downstairs, and put a French press of coffee on boil. While it’s brewing, I start making breakfast.
Two eggs over medium, some kale steamed with lemon and olive oil (I made a big batch of it the day before,) and some Dave’s Killer Bread, toasted with Kerrygold butter. As I ate this and drank my coffee, I read and did some devotions, read some blogs, and caught up on email.
9:00am Laced up my trail runners and went for a 3.5-ish mile trail run
10:30am When I got back, I had a little snack, and had to be creative to get my veggies in with this snack!
My pre-workout (in this case, post-workout) protein balls – I made this batch with a couple scoops of A-Game (the powdered greens I’m using at the moment.) I’d share the recipe for this one, but it’s just not quite there yet. I’ll try again, and if it comes out better, I’ll post it on Instagram or Facebook 
I popped a couple of ‘em before taking Niko for a short walk, and then took a shower and got ready for the day.
12:00pm- sat down at the computer and worked for 2.5 solid hours. I was able to write a client’s workout program, write a blog post, and finish an article that was due for a local magazine. Woo!
2:30pm- tummy started growling, which signified that it was time for lunch!
I was still a little warm from my run and shower, so I went with my go-to smoothie lately, the pumpkin pie smoothie. I got in double veggies here by adding both spinach and pumpkin! This time I added in a frozen banana to the mix, and topped it with Love Grown’s (who happens to be this week’s YTP Boot Camp Giveaway Prize!) Cinnamon Apple Walnut granola (SO good.)
3:00pm- took Niko for about a 30 minute walk.
3:30pm– more computer work, including writing up a review and Facebook post for the new Zone Perfect bar.
6:00pm- called it quits, cleaned up the house a little by doing some laundry and cleaning the bathrooms.
6:45pm – dinner time! I was flying solo for a couple days this week (Shane was out of town for a business trip,) so most of my dinners have been super easy and no fuss.
Like this cobb-inspired salad! Butter lettuce, bacon, deli chicken, roasted red cabbage (my favorite veggie prepared my favorite way,) goat cheese, tomatoes, and French dressing filled up my big glass bowl!
Veggie-riffic. And then on the side, I had a pumpkin spice English muffin, toasted, with Kerrygold and cinnamon. I normally only eat Ezekiel English muffins, but what can I say? The pumpkin bug has bitten me hard. Call me predictable, it’s fine.
7:15-9:00pm – watched Grey’s Anatomy (I’m watching on Netflix) while being horizontal on the couch with Niko and Clarabelle. I typically have a nighttime snack of pretzel sticks dipped in coconut Siggi’s yogurt (try this combo…seriously, you will not regret it.) Alas, that doesn’t have a veggie in it, so I popped another couple of my A-Game protein balls. Although it didn’t give me that satisfying sweet and salty crunch, it did the job.
Have a lovely day, friends! I’m off to find some adventure on the trails.
Your turn!
How many meals/snacks do you typically eat veggies with? I’d say I sometimes eat them with breakfast (sauteed spinach, sauerkraut, mushrooms with eggs, etc.) often with lunch, rarely with snacks (kale chips or celery + pb is usually about it,) and almost always with dinner.
I have been struggling to get more veggies into my day! I do really well at lunch and dinner (Salad salad salad-or some kind of stir fried veggies) but I find I’m never craving veggies in the morning and rarely do I want them when I hit that 3 pm snack time. I usually am grabbing a yogurt or fruit or a Kind bar for a snack so I’ve been trying to work on increasing the veggie intake on days I know my meals won’t be as veggie heavy. It’s hard though! Smoothies would be a great way to get some more in..so I might try working on that! Thanks for the great tips!
YESSSSS this is one of my favorite lessons I’ve learned over the years. I just feel better focusing on what to eat and adding veggies makes bulk that fills me up!
Amanda – RunToThefinish recently posted…Tuna Avocado Brown Rice Bowl: Quick high protein, dairy free, gluten free dinner
Ive been bad with my veggie intake lately! So I’m trying to fix that – I’m not too worried about getting them in at breakfast unless I’m having a smoothie, so I focus on getting a few servings in with lunch and dinner, and maybe one or two in through snacks.
Sam @ Better With Sprinkles recently posted…HA Update: Six Months Later.
I eat a fruit or veggie with every meal, but sometimes not my snack…bc it’s a kind bar. But wait, there’s fruit in there so jk!! 😉 You should try making a cobb salad with Krave!!
I think you’re on to something here! 🙂
Great challenge! I think I’d have a tough time with this one for snacks and breakfast. I almost always have veggies at lunch and dinner, but I feel like I should get a gold star if I go beyond that. 😉
Ashley @ My Food ‘N’ Fitness Diaries recently posted…Finally Getting in the Fall Spirit
Agreed! That’s the toughest for me, too.
Mmm pumpkin pie smoothie!
Erin @ Her Heartland Soul recently posted…An Avocado-rrific 24th Birthday Party
It’s so good!
I do my very best to get veggies all day long…even if it’s just some baby carrots on the side.
Pamela Hernandez recently posted…What Your Personal Trainer Can’t Fix
This is a really good challenge. I’m definitely going to have to figure out how to get a whole bunch of veggies and fruit in every meal/snack.
Amalia recently posted…If not me, who? If not now, when?
Loved this type of post!!
I always try to look for ways to get in more veggie so instead of thinking which protein I will have I will start by choosing my veggie and building my dish around it.
Elsie @ Sharing Healthiness recently posted…BOOST Your IRON Levels with 3 DELICIOUS FALL Recipe Ideas!
There has been a time or two I’ve thrown a completely unrelated vegetable on a plate just to get one in, haha!
Greens are always with lunch and dinner, but this week I’ve added spinach into 2 awesome smoothies. Oh yes the curse of waking up early even on the weekends…It is definitely a blessing and curse. Have a beautiful day!
She Rocks Fitness recently posted…Change of Seasons + 60 Minute Outdoor Workout
Love the idea of sneaking in veggies at every meal! Gonna have to make that pumpkin pie smoothie soon! It looks delicious!
I only really have vegetables at dinner time. I know I should probably try to incorporate it more though! I’ll challenge myself this week too 🙂
XO Chloe
A LATTE LIPSTICK
This is a hard one for me too! I almost always have veggies at dinner and sometimes at lunch. I have been terrible about it lately, but I’m working on it! Your day sounded wonderful by the way. I love to wake up naturally and spend a good amount of time adjusting to being awake. Unfortunately, the job I’m at right now requires me to leave my house at 6:50 just to be there by 7:30. I do NOT enjoy this at all! I feel much better when I have plenty of time to wake up before I’m rushing around like some sort of Zombie on steroids trying to make it out the door. It makes my day not so pleasant.