What do you eat!?! A lot. #WIAW

I get asked a lot what I eat. People usually ask me this after finding out that I am a vegetarian (and that I eat a vegan, plant-based diet 98.5% of the time). I think people are just naturally curious and I totally understand why.

I’ll never forget the first time I met a vegan – I was shocked. I actually did ask, “What do you mean you don’t eat meat, eggs or dairy? Do you eat honey?! How do you bake?! How do you cook?! What do you eat?!?“. I genuinely wondered how she got through the day and imagined her eating things like grass, barley, and oats. I could not wrap my head around what her diet consisted of! After coming to a much healthier place in my life and living a vastly plant-based diet for the past year, I can honestly say there are lots of oats, barley and greens involved (though I haven’t tried grass just yet) along with a huge variety of other delicious foods as well.

When I wake up in the morning, I am usually already hungry (I mean it has been at least 10 hours since my last meal!). The first thing I do when I wake up is hydrate myself by drinking a big glass of lemon water (with the juice from half a lemon), and a big cup of green tea to wake myself up. I was particularly hungry this morning and had to run off to buy the groceries for the week (we always do a big haul of groceries at the beginning of the week at a local inexpensive grocery store) so this morning, I quickly drank my lemon water, green tea and ate my oats all at once.

One of my favourite parts of the morning is waking up to a big bowl of oats, with chia seeds, cinnamon, banana and almond milk. This bowl contains 1/3 cup oats, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 banana and a great big splash of almond milk. Chia Seeds + Almond Milk + Oats make the most comforting and fluffy morning breakie.

When we got back from the grocery store (it’s about a 30 minute walk each way) I wasn’t particular hungry but wanted to put something nourishing and substantial in my body to hold me over until lunch. Behold by giant mid-morning purple smoothie with a whole banana, strawberries, raspberries, and spirulina. Spirulina is basically this amazing blue-green algae that is choc-full of antioxidants, iron, vitamins, protein and lots of good stuff. I discovered it a few months and have been loving it ever since.

For lunch I like to have a big bowl of veggies with fruit and nuts and usually an oil free dressing. Today was a big bowl of shredded cabbage, carrots, apples, and a bit of red onion with a homemade oil-free sunflower seed apple vinaigrette. 

I usually like to have a little dessert after lunch (dessert with lunch and dinner #yesplease). Dessert today came in the form of this week’s recipe which I was testing after lunch – Pumpkin Blender Oat Pancakes. I also snacked on a couple pecans which got into my mouth before I could take a picture of them.

I always need a little snack before lunch and dinner and today I opted for clementines. Helllooo Vitamin C! 

Dinner is usually big (go big or go home, right) and today was no different. I did not want to spend a long time on dinner, so I quickly whipped up a pot of polenta for J and I (with nutritional yeast, chives and chili flakes), threw some frozen vegetables into a pan with a dash of olive oil served alongside my comforting red lentil mash (which I was too lazy to fully mash apparently lol). It’s all smothered in just a little bit of hot sauce. 😉 

As you can see I have a pretty big appetite! Gone are the days when I relied on Lean Cuisines for ‘healthy’ lunches and dinners. Eating a diet full of filling fruits and veggies, with a couple sweets in between, provides me with an abundance of energy to get through my busy days at school, work and trying to fit in some activity in between. I love to enjoy what I eat throughout the day and the feeling of being nourished and energized from what I put in my body. 

Most days I have a small dessert after dinner, like a piece of dark chocolate, but today I just was not feeling it. I always finish off the day with some sort of calming tea – I love spearmint. Pure Bliss.

So there you have it – next time someone asks me what I eat, I’ll remember to respond – A LOT. 😉 

What do you typically eat in a day? Are you an all day eater type like me or a strick 3 meals a day kinda person?