Katie gave me a quick rundown of her daily eats in hopes of getting an upgrade. If you’d like me to upgrade your diet, please send me a log of a sample day’s worth of eating. Also, give me a little info about your lifestyle (where do you live? Are you a student? Who do you live with? Do you have much time to cook?). For those of you who have sent yours in already, thanks! Look for them on upcoming Wednesdays. My upgrades to Katie’s diet are below in bold:
Breakfast: Half a plain bagel with cream cheese and strawberries, orange juice or bowl of cut up fruit.
You know, I’m not a huge fan of bagels for breakfast. They don’t contain much nutrition for a fair amount of calories. If you’re set on a bagel to start your day, be brave and try hemp bagels. The texture takes some getting used to, but they pack a whopping 19 grams of protein and 13 grams of fiber per 280-calorie bagel. At $4.00 for five bagels, that’s less than $1 each. Hemp bagels would be a good choice for Katie because her other breakfast components are low on protein and high on sugar. But with 19 grams of protein in your bagel, fruit is a fine side dish for breakfast.
Snack: Avocado, greek yogurt, or almonds.
These snacks are great because they all contain some healthy fat. However, to bulk them up a little bit, I’d add some raw fruit or veggies. What about eating the avocado as a spread on celery and carrot sticks? Or Katie could add some fresh berries to the yogurt.
Lunch: Big salad with romaine, carrots, cucumber, sundried tomatoes, chickpeas, tuna, oil & vinegar, lemon, salt & pepper or taco salad with romaine, corn, black beans, salsa, black olives, and sour cream.
Both of those lunches are great! She’s getting plenty of good protein with the beans and tuna. The only thing I’d upgrade is to use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream in the second lunch option.
Snack: Coffee and chocolate covered edamame.Edamame isn’t a bad snack at all, but I’d suggest mixing some plain edamame with the chocolate covered stuff for a little less of a sugar rush in the afternoon.
Dinner: Usually eat out, something like pizza or fish sandwich with fries.I understand that some people just can’t cook in the evening, but pizza and fried food might make Katie feel awfully sluggish for the rest of the night. Katie could make easy homemade pita pizzas using whole wheat pita, a little marinara sauce, whatever veggies she likes, and mozzarella cheese. They only take 5 or 10 minutes in your oven’s broiler to cook. To replace the fish sandwich, she could bake some sweet or regular potatoes, and then throw whatever fish is on sale at her local market into the oven when the potatoes have 15-20 minutes left. Easy, low clean-up, and a bit more nutritious than a fish sandwich and fries. I’d also recommend adding a vegetable. Steaming green beans is quick and easy! Just add some olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper for a 10-minute dish.
