diet

What I Eat In A Day | January 7, 2016

Published on January 8, 2016 by The Planted VeganLeave a comment

There is no better way to start back to blogging than with a What I Eat In A Day post!

For breakfast, I tried out something new and LOVED it! I toasted an Ezekiel English muffin with vegan Chao cheese, sautéed tempeh, spinach, avocado, and some sweet sriacha on top. The flavors were incredible, and it was a great way to start the morning with something savory rather than something sweet. I paired it with a glass of orange juice and black coffee.

A few hours later I fixed a plate of bowtie pasta with marinara sauce and broccoli. I started reading Dr. Greger’s new book titled How Not To Die and I’m loving it so far! Such amazing research and information all explained so it’s easy to understand.

After lunch I snacked on a delicious homemade vegan cookie. You can find the recipe here , I added walnuts and coconut in mine and used whole wheat and all purpose flour rather than gluten free flour. They turned out great!

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What I Eat In A Day | October 10, 2015

Published on October 12, 2015 by The Planted Vegan5 Comments

It seems like it’s been a while since my last What I Eat In A Day post, but I guess I can attribute that to tests, papers, and school-related responsibilities. But I’m back with a pretty epic day of food (and drinks!) so hopefully this will make up for it!

This morning, I started off with..you guessed it..two slices of Ezekiel toast and a banana. I ran out of peanut butter, so I’ve been using Earth Balance spread on one slice, and blackberry jelly on the other. I of course paired it all with a warm cup of black coffee.

After breakfast I headed over to our dietetic club’s garden spot at the community garden. The garden spot is such a cool place, because it’s a great escape for all of us stressed out students. Our club tries to get a few people together once a week to weed, water, plant, harvest, etc. and keep the garden up and running. We donate all the food we make to Hospitality House. The Hospitality House is an incredible organization that helps the homeless and those in crisis rebuild and get full care and attention.

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What I Eat In A Day | September 19, 2015

Published on September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 by The Planted Vegan8 Comments

What a beautiful Saturday we had up on the mountain! Clear skies, a light breeze, and sunshine! My morning started off with a classic Samantha breakfast.. two slices of Ezekiel bread, one with peanut butter the other with blueberry jelly, a banana, and a cup of coffee. I added some almond milk and a few drops of stevia into my coffee, not sure why I’m still into the almond milk in my coffee considering I’ve been a die hard black coffee girl for the past six years. But maybe times are changing in my morning coffee mug.

After breakfast, I headed over the the farmer’s market to help our dietetics club table. We were there promoting local food, as well as sharing the volunteer work our club is doing throughout the community. It was fun getting to people watch, and listen to the beautiful music that is always playing throughout the market. While there, I bought and munched on some yummy kale!

Some of our lovely club members! And Calvin the Carrot!

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What I Eat In A Day

Published on May 4, 2015May 23, 2015 by The Planted Vegan1 Comment

Today, I thought I’d share with you what I typically eat in a day. This is just an example of a random day I decided to take photos of what I eat, but it definitely varies from day to day. On this day I didn’t have class and just spent the day doing laundry, cleaning, homework, and running some errands. Let’s take a look at what I ate. . .

Breakfast (11:30)

I love to sleep, so when I don’t have class sleeping in late is my favorite thing to do. Breakfast didn’t get started until around 11:30, so eating this late isn’t very typically for me but I love a good brunch every now and then!

I always try to start the day off with lots of water and love putting freshly squeezed lemon juice in it, lemons are great for cleansing and help to jumpstart your digestion first thing in the morning!

Because this day was very cloudy, I took a vitamin D supplement, the kind I use is liquid so I just drop a little drop on my tongue on days when the sun isn’t out. I also take a vitamin B-12 supplement (which I recommend everyone get their levels tested, vegan or not!) which is completely food-based and also liquid.

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My Thoughts: Low-Calorie Diets

Published on February 27, 2015May 23, 2015 by The Planted Vegan2 Comments

In high school, when I first began to discover my passion for health and nutrition, I held onto the “calories in, calories out” motto that we hear from lots of health professionals. When someone is trying to lose weight, everyone tells them to monitor calories, reduce calories, count calories, it’s all about calories, calories, calories. It becomes something that can easily be obsessed over, and cause people to lose sight of true nutrition. This is exactly what happened to me when I started to become interested in nutrition and healthy eating in general. I used to count my calories like many people do, using an app on my phone. I didn’t really think much about nutrients, vitamins, or even macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fat). All I cared about was the calories I consumed each day. This can become really dangerous if you’re trying to eat a well-balanced diet, or even a healthier diet in general. Many people (including my former self) think that eating fewer calories, regardless of the type of food is the way to weight loss, weight maintenance and a general healthier body. Eating fewer calories may cause initial weight loss, but definitely not a good long term approach to weight loss/maintenance. If calories are the main priority, actual nutrition can be forgotten about and “healthy eating” can just turn into calorie restriction.

When you restrict calories, specifically below 1200 calories/day, your body goes into starvation mode. If your body goes into starvation mode, it can hold onto everything you eat and lead to weight gain. Also, this type of “dieting” can really mess up your metabolism. Any diet that is less than 1600 calories is just a bad idea in my opinion. Calorie restriction can lead to binge eating (consuming a lot of food at one time) and just an unhappy mood. Trust me, I’ve been there, done that and it’s not fun at all. I see so many “diets” that promote eating less than 1500 calories per day, and it makes me so sad to see people try them and ultimately fail because of the calorie/nutrient deprivation. These types of “diets” cause the yo-yo effect that many people experience when trying to get healthy and eat better.