Yesterday was day #17, and as promised, this is what I ate and what I thought about it.
Breakfast: Chocolate Blueberry Breakfast Bowl
Snack: Square Organics Mint Protein Bar, handful of grapes
Lunch: Sweet Onion Enchiladas
Dinner: Golden Creamy Cauliflower Soup & Sweet Potato Crackers
So my breakfast bowl is probably my favorite breakfast of all time. I think it is better than ice cream! I made up the recipe and have tweaked it over time, but these are the main ingredients...
The picture is kind of terrible and it is missing the blackberries and spinach, but it's most everything. :) Here is the recipe...
Chocolate Blueberry Breakfast Bowl
1 banana
1/3-1/2 cup blueberries
1 T almond butter
1 serving chocolate protein powder
1/2-3/4 cup nut milk
1/2 T cacao
1/2 T cocoa nibs
Big handful of spinach
Blend 1/2 the banana and the rest of the ingredeints; it’s pretty thick. I try to use frozen fruit in the base. Pour into a BOWL. Add the other 1/2 banana sliced up, fresh fruit (whatever you like—raspberries and blackberries, blueberries, strawberries), a tablespoon or so of pecans (or other nut that you like), a tablespoon or so of granola, a tablespoon or so of raw, unsweetened coconut.
It is absolutely delicious, and best of all it is incredibly filling. I am not hungry for hours after eating this powerhouse breakfast.
I have tried many different chocolate protein powders in this, and for the most part, my go-to is SunWarrior Chocolate Classic. Not the Warrior Blend. That one ruined my life and I cried until they released the Classic again. But I also really like Owyn Dark Chocolate Vegan Protein Powder. A full serving of that is 2 scoops. So I have taken to doing a half serving of each, the SunWarrior and the Owyn. The Owyn just has a rich dark chocolate flavor that adds a little something-something. But anything you like in the vegan protein department works.
I was planning to have leftovers for lunch again, but my 19 year old daughter (Kailea) texted me about going to lunch. And then my almost-17 year old some Kaelys joined us, and then Kailea invited my 28 year old daughter Shirsten to come. So, very fun lunch for me! THREE of my beautiful children and I felt very lucky. We went to a Mexican Restaurant in Orem called Milagros. I did have some chips and salsa, and I ordered their Sweet Onion Enchiladas, with refried beans and veggies and no cheese whatsoever.
It was really quite yummy, especially with both tomatillo and red salsa over the veggies. It was also very filling, and I didn't quite manage half of it. I'm looking forward to it for lunch.
For Dinner I made Dr. Fuhrman's Golden Creamy Cauliflower Soup. I'm not going to post the recipe here, because I didn't think it was worth it. Now for a minute rant on my philosophy of food:
It should be delicious. Life is too short to choke down gross-tasting sludge. There are so many wonderful flavors and textures and food can be one of life's great joys. Now, granted, this may be why I have struggled with weight for the last 30 years, but I really do believe that you can eat wonderful-tasting, beautifully presented and incredibly good-for-you food. So, why wouldn't you?
One of the things that I've learned this year is that the food that makes us fat--the processed, nutritionally void, sugar-laden junk food doesn't even taste that good. It just lights up the part of our brain that is addiction and compels us to keep eating it--regardless of what it actually tastes like. I'm going to use Oreos as an example. I binged on some oreos a few weeks ago. The chocolate cream ones because I think those are the only ones that actually don't taste like blech...but I noticed that I was just eating it to eat it. One after the other. I didn't enjoy the taste. I didn't enjoy the texture, but I stood up, walked across the room and got three more anyway. What the hell is that about?
Then I read an article just a few days later about how refined sugar has the same impact on your brain as heroine. I've read that before many times and it hasn't really helped much. But this particular article said BECAUSE it lights up our addiction center in the brain, it creates vivid pictures and vivid memories. And THAT is why we crave those things. Not because they are actually good and we really like them, but because we have been manipulated by huge conglomerates who want our money.
And it helped. Especially because shortly thereafter I started eating nutritionally rich, whole foods, which actually taste delicious. But don't lead to binges. And make you feel..I dunno...good!?
So, back to the soup. It was okay. It wasn't yucky. Soup tends to fill me up really fast so I was going to have a salad too but didn't, just because I was full. I only ate half the banana with a drizzle of Adam's peanut butter because I was just really full. And even after my workout, I was still full.
But okay is not good enough. The foods I want to eat for the rest of my life have to be nutritionally rich, yes. Kind, yes. (As in not cause torture and suffering to animals OR harm to this beautiful earth.) And it has to taste freakin' awesome.
So here is a picture of it. But no recipe. Eat something yummier.
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