I mentioned in yesterday's post that I require 8 blocks of protein throughout my day which equates to 2 blocks at breakfast, lunch and dinner and 1 block for both snacks.
So hopefully the concept of the zone will get a bit easier as I upload my photos and recipes (if you can call them that).
So first up - Breakfast Wrap (2 blocks)
You can see the photo, so lets break it down into macro nutrients.Protein
1 egg / 1 block
28g steak / 1 block
Carb
1 6" corn tortilla / 1 block
1.5cup mushrooms / 1/2 block
1/4 cup tomatoes 1/2 block
Fat
1/3 tsp butter (for cooking egg) / 1 block
1 tbsp avocado / 1 block
So hopefully you remember from yesterdays post that 1 block must be comprised of 1 block protein, 1 block carb and 1 block fat. I've tried to keep things as simple as possible this week - my food doesn't get much more adventurous to be honest because the more ingredients I use, the more math I have to do haha!
So you should know that I did all my preparation yesterday so this took 2 mins to make this morning. I microwaved the steak and tortilla together for about 15seconds - spread 1 tbsp of avocado onto the tortilla, topped with my already chopped up mushrooms, chopped 3 baby tomatoes, melted my butter and scrambled 1 egg to top it all off. It was really yummy and I'm glad as I'm pretty sure I've planned to eat several variations of this. I also took an Omega 3 tablet - this vitamin is hugely important and even moreso for me because I don't eat fish. I wish I'd started taking this sooner.
So I ate around 7:45 and I was hungry for my lunch by about 11:30. This is pretty good going seeing as I'm usually gagging for a snack around 10am. I've had a morning snack everyday for a long long time so I thought this part of the morning would be harder than it was.
I had my lunch at 12:00 which was a protein shake. Sigh.
So here is my: Lunch Shake (2 blocks)
Protein
1 scoop protein powder / 1 block
1 cup almond milk / 1 block (combo)
Carb
1 cup almond milk / 1 block (combo)
4 cups spinach / 1 block
Fat
1/2 tsp chia seeds / 2 blocks
I've been having protein shakes for breakfast everyday for a long time but seeing as I cannot cook at work I decided to have more interesting breakfasts and have my shakes later in the day. My shakes also used to have a whole frozen banana in but bananas take up a huge amount of my carb allowance so I've omitted them from my diet for now. Sigh.
One of the things I loved about from my shake was the I could sneak in Spinach or Kale to my diet without having to actually taste it, so I kept that. You might also notice that almond milk is on the list twice - this is a 'combo' item which means you count it as 1 block of protein and 1 block of carb. This is the same for regular milk and yoghurt.
Now there is a lesson to learn from this... I was quite hungry by 3pm. I mean you can see that this obviously was not the biggest lunch but had I used water instead of milk I could have had an extra scoop of protein and some fruit which I think would have filled me up a lot more. I'm happy to learn this so early on in the game to be honest.
So 3pm I had my first (1 block) snack
28g roast chicken / 1 block
Carb
1/2 cup strawberries / 1/2 block
1/4 cup blueberries / 1/2 block
Fat
6 almonds / 2 blocks - oops!
I just realised I doubled up on fat by mistake, and I thought I was so organised!
This did the trick, filled me up until around 5:30. I had stuff to do when I got home so sat down to dinner at 6.
Dinner - My 'Quesapizza' (2 blocks)
Protein
42g lean mince beef / 1 block
28g cheese / 1 block
Carb
1 6" corn tortilla / 1 block
1/4 cup onion / 1/2 block
3/4 cup pepper / 1/2 block
Fat
1 tbsp avocado / 1 block
- nothing more to even up my snack fat
So this was supposed to be a quesadilla, but I just had so much filling for one tortilla there was no way it was getting folded. So I put it into the frying pan as is, let it crisp up and then stuck in in the microwave for 20 seconds just for good measure. It was amazing, really enjoyed it! The tortilla made a nice crispy base and there was plenty there to fill me up.
Now at this point I for sure realised how much more enjoyable today would have been had I had a lunch similar to my breakfast or dinner instead of a measly shake! Oh well. Tomorrow is another day.
Finally we have Snack number 2. I've made this now for the purpose of this blog, but I won't be eating it until around 9pm. This might seem weird as we're always being told not to eat just before bed but everyone knows that breakfast is called breakfast because you are literally 'breaking a fast'. I think the idea behind eating this light snack late is so that your body doesn't run on empty. So sticking with the idea of being in 'the zone' - even whilst you sleep. I like it because I'm always the most disappointed after pudding because I know there's no more food to come for the rest of the day! So now I have something more to look forward too!
Pudding <3 - Greek Youghurt (1 block)Protein
1/3 cup Greek Yoghurt (less than 1 block)
Carb
1/3 cup Greek Yoghurt (less than 1 block
1/3 cup raspberries / 1/2 block
Fat
1/4 tsp pumpkin seeds / 1 block
OK so, I didn't manage to stick to this properly. Trial and error my friends. Trial and error.
When I made my eating plan I made it on the premise that I would require 5 x 2 block meals and snacks so once I did the math and found out my snacks only needed to be 1 block, I halved everything (and clearly managed to ignore some...) Like I said, tomorrow is another day! I'm sure I'll get it right then.
On the whole I must say that I have enjoyed and looked forward to all my meals. I've most certainly been alert all day, I've not felt drowsy or suffered from the dreaded post lunch slump. I've had more than enough energy to complete my daily tasks (granted this was not much today) but simple things like climbing up the two flights of stairs at work would usually leave my thighs feeling a little heavy and today they did not.
Think of this what you will but I am a believer that food effects you mentally and physically (i.e in every way imaginable) and I have always been really tuned into the way my body is feeling. If I feel sleepy, I know what I ate that caused it. If I'm having a sugar rush, I know about it. If I'm feeling drained I know it's because of a nasty insulin spike from something sugary that I ate. I like it that way because I can appreciate good food that's good for me without feeling like I'm being deprived.
All I have to do is think about how I would feel after eating a big bowl of pasta, or a bit too much ice cream and I'll take my healthy, nutritional quesadillas and Greek yoghurt any day. Also, when I look back on my day it makes me happy to see that I've eaten all the colours of the rainbow. A sure sign that I'm getting a wide variety of vitamins :)
So there you have my day 1 in the zone. I hope it's starting to make sense to you and possibly intriguing some of you guys to try eating 5 or 6 small meals and making some healthier decisions.
I'll be back tomorrow with day 2 - where hopefully I will not make any mistakes!
Much Love
Minnie
xXx
