Whatcha' Eat Today?

I have to admit.  Food has always been and always will be on my mind.  The first thing I ask my family when I get home after hello and how was your day? is "Whatcha eat today?" I want to know about every dish someone had at a restaurant or baby shower or wedding reception.  Maybe it's the foodie in me but I just have to know whatcha eat today. So what I did was ask that question to a few people from different backgrounds, home situations and even different countries.  I asked that they keep a food diary for one week and take pictures just to see what they were eating.  I didn't plan on doing anything other than showing what a week in different people's food lives looked like but the first thing some of them wanted in exchange for keeping the dairies was for me to look them over and give suggestions on how to make their food better.  So reluctantly I agreed.  Isn't that the reason I started this blog?  To help people transition to a plant based way of eating.  As the diaries started to come in I was surprised at how people had so much food guilt.  Instead of just a list of food and pictures I started to get apologies for what they did or didn't eat.  "Sorry I didn't eat enough today" or "On vacation so our food was terrible".  The bottom line is this: Food should not only be healthy and nourishing but also delicious and fun.  So hopefully with a few small or large corrections in some cases food can be just that.

So without further ado here is the first diary.  The dairy belongs to a 31 year old female.  She's married and has a 3 year old son and is 5 months pregnant with her second child (congrats!).  Her food diary includes some family meals, some for just her and her son and some for just her.

  The Edwards Family Dairy

 

Day 1 ( Family breakfast and dinner - mom and son lunch)

Breakfast

Oatmeal, bacon, eggs, grapes and citron tea whole wheat toast and coffee

Lunch

California roll, Turkey and cheese on wheat

Dinner

Dinner was roasted chicken, broccoli, and mushroom risotto.

Snack

2% Yogurt, 10 Teddy grahams, two toffee sandies

Dessert

mocha latte (dad)  Chai Latte (mom) Tea (son)

Day 2 (Family)

Breakfast

French Toast, Bacon, Fruit cup, Apple sauce, Tea, Whole Milk

Lunch

Hot Dog, fruit cup and chopped chicken salad with leafy greens

Dinner

Olive Garden - Soup, salad and Tour of Italy and breadsticks

Snacks

Peach yogurt blueberry flax granola, peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Day 3 ( family breakfast, mom and son snack, mom dinner)

Breakfast

6 egg omelet, roasted potatoes, wheat toast and bacon, Tea,

Lunch

None

Dinner

White Bean Chicken Chili, Caesar salad

Snacks

Teddy grahams and fruit cup, Wendy's frosty

Day 4 ( mom solo)

Breakfast

Greek yogurt and blueberry flax granola decaf chai latte

Lunch

White Bean Chicken Chili, Caesar salad, root beer

Dinner

3 pieces of fried chicken

Snacks

tea

Day 5 (vacation - mom)

Breakfast

Blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, home fries, sausage

Lunch

Chik fila sandwich

Dinner

Papa John's pizza and buffalo wings

Snacks

Pita chips and muffin

Day 6 (Vacation - Family)

Breakfast

sausage, eggs, grits and danish

Lunch

leftover pizza

Dinner

Mexican take out ( rice and beans, turkey tacos, guacamole and chips

This family is on the right track with eating enough during the day and everyday eating a meal or two together.  I love that the little one enjoys drinking tea and eating salad with his mom.  The two biggest suggestions I have are for them to eat more leafy greens and whole fruit.  Being pregnant, mom needs the energy from the greens to keep up with a busy toddler and also the folic acid and vitamins and minerals for her and her baby on board and her growing son.  I would love to see you add spinach to your morning omelet and some lettuce to your sandwiches and maybe some Kale chips as a snack.  As for the fruit, Why not take the yogurt you eat and blend it with some frozen fruit and greens to make smoothies for snacks or freeze some grapes on a flat toothpick for a Popsicle?  These small changes will make a big difference in getting you and your family getting more plants into your way of eating. Thank you so much to the Edwards family for letting me ask
 "Whatcha eat today".