What I Typically Eat

Hey brilliant warriors of epic story-living,

I’m back. Are you sick of me yet? I’ve been writing a blog every freaking day of January. I’m starting to feel manic. But it’s really pretty good practice to actually sit down at my computer and create something every single day. It’s not something I’m accustomed to but it feels like a good story. And it helps me let go of my perfectionist tendencies. Ugh, being an imperfect perfectionist sucks sometimes. But life goes on and we keep floating down the river. God, I’m so high on cacao right now. I just left the Fine & Raw Chocolate Factory in Bushwick and now I am jamming out at a hipster wifi cafe listening to one of my favorite Incubus songs. I LOVE INCUBUS. So much so, that one time I went to an Incubus concert alone. I could go on and on about my favorite lyrics, but lemme suggest that you take a day and listen to various Incubus songs, and then get back to me about how freaking epic they are. I can’t suggest a favorite album because they are all good (ok fine – fave albums – Morning View, Make Yourself, Light Grenades and If Not Now, When). Bah!!! #toomuchchocolate

Someone emailed me yesterday asking if I could write a blog about what I typically eat. So that’s what I’m gonna do today.

I’ll say this — what I typically eat changes all the time. Since I first started getting into health and nutrition back in 2008, my idea of a healthy diet has probably changed 80,000 times. The first health book I ever read was “Skinny Bitch” (a vegan book) and for awhile after that I ate exclusively tofu and soy lattes. Eek. Listen. I think Skinny Bitch was a great eye-opening book for me — before I read it, I had absolutely no insight into the food industry and where my food was actually coming from. So although I don’t subscribe to a vegan diet anymore, I am very grateful for that book because it catapulted me into insane amounts of nutrition research and led me to enroll at IIN (one of the best decisions of my entire life).

Nowadays, I feel best when I’m on a Whole30 type of plan / with a few changes (see below). I like having that as my baseline and then I deviate from there. That’s basically a super strict paleo plan. (Before you get any ideas, please read my article on the Misconception About Eating “Paleo”).

My diet typically consists of high quality animal protein (cage-free eggs, organic chicken, grass-fed beef, grass-fed whey protein, wild fish), veggies, healthy fats (avocado, coconut, olive oil, nuts, grass-fed butter), fruits. I typically stay away from sugar, gluten, processed foods, grains and most cow’s milk products about 80-90% of the time.

I don’t really have a “typical day”, but here are the foods that you’ll most often find me eating:

I drink loose leaf yerba mate every single morning. Like 2 french presses full of yerba mate. I like caffeine A LOT but coffee makes me bonkers. Yerba mate gives me a cleaner energy.

I don’t typically eat breakfast. If I’m hungry, I do, but I don’t usually feel hungry until noon or so.

If I do eat breakfast, I’ll have eggs or a green smoothie.

Eggs (I eat eggs almost every day – any time of day). — FULL EGGS! Not egg whites. Usually with goat cheese (I love goat cheese. Also, goat’s and sheep’s milk products are typically easier on digestion than cow’s milk). I usually round it out with some avocado and hot sauce. Yessss.

Paleo egg muffins are one of my favorite things to make.

I typically cook with grass-fed butter or coconut oil. I use olive oil sometimes too, but I like using that more for dressings than I do for cooking.

I make a lot of green smoothies. Here is one of my favorite green smoothie recipes. I typically use some combination of greens, coconut water or almond milk, sometimes grass-fed whey protein or collagen powder, avocado, maybe berries, and superfoods like spirulina, cacao or maca…just to name a few.

I love sweet potatoes. I like to slice them up, put coconut oil on them and bake them until browned. Mmmm.

I also love roasted cauliflower and brussels sprouts. Also with coconut oil and sea salt. Roasted at around 400 until browned and delicious.

I love salads – but not boring salads — salads full of goodies. My favorite green to make salads with is ARUGULA! It’s so spicy and good. I like to put tahini and lemon juice on an arugula salad, add chopped cucumbers, and sauerkraut or kimchi, dijon mustard, pumpkin seeds….and maybe a hard boiled or over-easy egg. OMG!

I love guacamole.

I love kale chips.

SOUP is one of my favorite foods!!! Especially kabocha squash soup.

If I’m at a restaurant, I’ll usually try to stick to protein/veggies/healthy fats and stay away from things like bread/pasta/sugar. And even though I’m no longer a vegan, I still have mad appreciation for vegan restaurants and veggie-heavy meals. This could mean big epic salads (anything with greens/avocado makes me very happy). At non vegan restaurants maybe it’s some type of chicken/fish/grass-fed burger without a bun (extra points if I can add avocado/egg/hot sauce). I try to get the highest quality food possible, but I can’t always control what kind of oils my food is cooked in or if everything is organic, so I do my best…and I eat at Hu Kitchen a LOT. :) #qualitycontrol

For drinks I am obsessed with green juice (I like mine mostly without fruit), bone broth, KOMBUCHA, tea, coconut water. If I’m gonna have an energy drink (really rare but hey sometimes I go a little wild) I drink Runa energy drinks.

If I am eating sweeteners, I stick to raw honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar or stevia. Refined sugar VERY rarely enters my life.

Also tons of WATER! If I can help it. :)

My biggest vices, HANDS DOWN, are dark chocolate and coffee. I am a total adrenaline junkie and I love stimulants. Sometimes I wish this wasn’t true, but coffee and chocolate are way better vices to have than adderall and cocaine, so I think I’m doing ok. When I’m eating SUPER CLEAN and feeling my best, chocolate and coffee are OUT. Because I’m addicted to them. :)

Another vice of mine, I guess, would be tacos but only when I’m in San Diego. ;)

Ok any questions? Follow me on instagram if you want more dirty details about what I eat.

Love you guys! I’m hungry. What’s for dinner tonight!?

Peace out!
Jenny