“So what do you eat?”
This is a very good question (if I weren’t vegan, I’d be curious too!) I get a lot.
My response: “Plants, and lots of ’em.”
I realize this still might not be a good enough response to satisfy many so I thought it might be helpful to show you what I eat on a typical day.
Although I like routines, I can’t say my eating is routine. I do eat breakfast most days and am trying to eat smaller portions at each meal and eat a little more frequently. I like to eat a big meal and then not have to worry about eating for 5 or 6 hours, but that requires me to eat a lot to do that, and I shouldn’t eat that much or else I get acid reflux.
Acid reflux usually occurs after eating a meal high in animal fat/protein, but can also occur after eating certain foods and/or overeating. I’ve found that homemade wheat bread (wheat is actually pretty acidic when digested) and orange juice from concentrate as well as overeating can give it to me.
Anyway, the main consistent attributes of my diet are that I have a green smoothie and/or fresh juice daily, I usually have one lighter meal in which I have a big raw salad or green smoothie, and I always start my day out the same: with water and then lemon water and barley greens.
To be honest, I don’t really like snacking all that much, simply because I like the feeling of starting each meal really hungry, with a “clean” stomach, the previous meal has been completely digested, which can take anywhere from 1-5 hours depending on the foods eaten. Fruit, when eaten alone or with greens usually takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Grains and legumes take a bit longer, about 2-3 hours, while meat and dairy products can take up to 5 hours. This is one of the reasons why meat/animal protein is touted as a good diet food because the protein “fills you up.” Maybe so, but it also takes a large amount of effort for your body to process.
So back to what I eat. It really can vary depending on my mood, what’s on sale at the store, produce on hand, ect.
But here goes. Here’s a sample of what a typical day might look like:
First thing:
1 large glass of filtered water (I have an awesome filter, made by Nikken, a Japanese company)
A little later:
1 large glass of water with juice of 1 fresh lemon (definitely not the same as lemon juice from the bottle!). This is great for waking up the body, especially the liver. It’s like you’re saying, wake up body, time to start processing foods again!
About 1 hour after arising:
1 TBS. powdered barley grass mixed in water
Breakfast (about 1-3 hours after arising, I usually get up around 6 am):
*3 c. cooked cereal, such as cracked wheat (although right now, since we’re doing gluten-free I’m not doing wheat at the moment), millet, brown rice, oat groats or steel cut oats flavored with a pinch of sweetener and usually cinnamon
*1 c. berries or shredded apples/pears or cut up banana
*1 grapefruit or orange slices
*1/2 c. non-dairy milk (currently I like home made rice milk, it’s much more inexpensive than the store bought stuff and tastes better, I think)
Snack:
Juice made from my champion juicer. Favorite things to juice: celery, carrots, kale, cucumber, apples.
Lunch:
32 oz. (4 cups) of Green Smoothie which includes some combination of fruit and greens. Usually looks something like this: 2-3 c. greens (like kale, red chard, or spinach), 1 tsp. spirulina, pinch of good bacteria (probiotics/prebiotics; probiotics are found in yogurt, but you can buy as a supplement), 1/2 tsp. green leaf stevia and/or 2 pitted dates, 1-2 bananas, 1 c. frozen fruit (strawberries, pineapple, or berries), 1 c. fresh fruit (pears, plums, grapes, really whatever I have on hand), 2 c. filtered water and ice blended until very smooth and creamy in my Blend-tech (a very powerful and awesome blender I highly recommend).
Snack:
2-3 pieces of fruit; grapes, oranges, pears are current favorites.
Dinner:
A huge salad: romaine or green/red leaf lettuce, shredded carrots, celery, cucumbers, finely chopped cauliflower, tomatoes, sweet corn (I defrost the frozen stuff in a colander running under hot water) topped w/ oil-free homemade dressing.
Steamed broccoli.
2 bowls of soup, such as split pea, chili, potato soup, it really varies greatly.
2 corn tortillas, lightly toasted on a cast-iron skillet.
Dessert:
2 c. frozen bluberries; eaten plain or I’ll make a smoothie in my blender by adding a little rice milk and a pinch of sweetener.
I like to eat an a early dinner and have a snack about 2 hours before I go to bed. I absolutely hate to go to bed on a full stomach. I feel so yucky and it’s hard to sleep if I do that.
I also like to drink 1 tsp. of raw apple cider vinegar mixed with 1 glass of water a few times throughout the day, in between meals. The benefits of raw apple cider vinegar are many. I don’t always remember to do it every day, but it’s fairly frequent.
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