See Jess Eat
Earlier this week, I promised to track my food for three days to give an example of how I fuel over the course of an entire day, instead of just at dinner. If you haven’t already, please go back and read the linked post for background information and Katie’s question, which is what I am addressing.
I think my food over the past three days gives a good example of my usual eating. However, I’m not sure that I’m the best example for proper fueling. My nutrition is (mostly) good, but I think there are days when I could use more calories and bigger snacks. Also, I’ve unintentionally lost about ten pounds in the past two years or so, a result of being in charge of my own food and raising my mileage, so I’m not the best example for keeping the weight up. However, ten pounds over several years isn’t a huge weight change and I’m still within the healthy range for my height (albeit just barely). I have plenty of energy for almost all of my runs.
Basically I’m trying to tell you not to feel bad if you eat more than me. I’m a petite female, so keep in mind that larger, male runners will need a lot more food. (Larger male runners, how do you afford yourselves?)
Desserts: I eat them almost daily. Sometimes I think that I should be filling up only on healthy foods, but then I think, “Jess, you only live once,” and just try to keep them in moderation.
Most of the beverages I drink are calorie-free: water, black coffee, tea, Diet Coke. I don’t mention any of those drinks in this post.
Tuesday
Breakfast
I eat a huge bowl of cereal on most weekday mornings. This cereal must refuel me after my morning runs and fill me up until lunch. That’s almost too much pressure for a bowl of cereal. I like to mix together several kinds of cereal, a sliced banana, and berries. I use light, plain Silk soymilk. I’m not lactose-intolerant, nor do I dislike cow’s milk, but I really like soymilk and it’s cheaper. Also, it’s a good source of omega-3s.
I usually buy cereal that’s on sale and make my own granola. This week’s winning combination is Nature’s Path Heritage Oats (sale), Kellogg’s Mini Wheats in Cinnamon Streusel (coupon), and my third batch of Heather’s Granola recipe, which I love. This batch is made with Pom juice, trail mix, almonds, and banana chips. I use wheat germ instead of ground flax, simply because I have a large jar of wheat germ.
Some of my other favorite healthy cereals are: Cheerios, Kashi Heart to Heart, and All Bran Wheat Flakes.
About half the cereal in the bowl is the super-healthy Nature’s Path cereal, followed by a small amount of the sweeter Cinnamon Streusel (nutrition information actually not bad), followed by a hefty sprinkle of granola.
Lunch
Pita bread, Boar’s Head roast beef, Laughing Cow light Swiss, spinach, and tomato to make a pita wrap. On the side: baby carrots, Fage 0%, and an apple.
Lunches are eaten at my desk at work, so they must be packed. I took my ACE exam from 1:45 pm until 5 pm, so I packed roast beef and Greek yogurt because I know that they fill me up for a long time (protein).
That item wrapped in Saran wrap is a baked oatmeal snackbar, which I ate after my test.
Dinner
Dessert
My last Brilliant Cookie with Dreyer’s No Sugar Added Fudge Tracks, which, despite being low-fat and low-sugar, charms me with its mini peanut butter cups.
Wednesday
Breakfast
Same as Tuesday.
Lunch
Hummus topped with sliced kalamata olives and feta cheese. For dipping: 1/2 pita cut into three pieces, Kashi crackers, bell peppers, and carrots. Oikos yogurt and grapefruit on the side. This was a fun lunch to eat at work because it took a really long time.
Also pictured is a Quaker True Delights granola bar that I got for free. It was a very yummy afternoon snack, and they also sent me coupons so I will be eating more of these. I worked late on Wednesday and also have a long commute, and this lunch and snack didn’t hold me quite long enough. I was starving by the time I got home.
Dinner
Dessert
I made more of Heather’s granola, so I taste-tested a spoonful (it passed). This one was made with Pom, trail mix, almonds, pine nuts, and black currants.
Also, a Cadbury Creme Egg. Original flavor, of course.
Thursday
Breakfast
Same as Tuesday, but with new batch of granola.
Lunch
Pacific Foods Spicy Black Bean with Chicken Sausage soup. Pacific Foods is by far my favorite brand of soup. This kind is very spicy and very filling. I also had an apple, Kashi crackers, and a side salad. I used Newman’s Own Light Balsamic Vinaigrette on the salad (I keep some in my fridge at work).
Also pictured is another baked oatmeal snack bar, eaten during the afternoon.
Dinner
I used up some beans by making my own veggie burger. I mashed together black-eyed peas and cannellini beans, diced onion and zucchini, egg whites, and wheat bran. I cooked the patty in a skillet with sliced onion, bell peppers, and onions. I topped the burger with some of the veggies and salsa and served it on an Ezekiel bun. Sweet potato fries on the side, which is what I was really craving. Ketchup and spicy Southwestern mustard for dipping.
My “veggie burger” was decent. Recipe needs perfecting.
Dessert
Cookies!
No, not all of them. Those are for MSB, who I am finally going to see tonight after about a month apart. I actually made cookies for all my Valentines, but wasn’t satisfied with the cookies and didn’t blog about them. I kept MSB’s portion of cookie dough in the freezer until I could see him. This time the cookies came out better–I made them smaller and took them out when they still looked underbaked. I ate the two cookies that spread together into one weird cookie. Can’t give away defective cookies, after all. 
I also ate some of the dough, of course. Not a huge amount, but not just a little lick of the spoon either. The recipe is the Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies from How to Cook Everything. I think the secret with these is to take them out of the oven early and use really good chocolate.
So there you have it! My food for the last three days. *Whew* typing up this post took a long time; I don’t know how those food bloggers do it! Anyway, I hope this post was helpful and feel free to leave me feedback. I’ll do this again sometime if it’s helpful.
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Wow i give you an A+ for effort!!! (i won’t tell mother nature). great food! i love eating packed lunches. and i’m a HUGE cereal fan and obsess over nature’s path. their stuff tastes so good!
Phew, after that disclaimer, I was so worried that you ate like a bird. I think your meals/eating habits are definitely something to admire!
I have a question though, and I certainly hope you don’t take it the wrong way (I swear I am asking with no intent to attack!). I have noticed that, often when you make dinners with cheese, you use fat-free. Why is that? Most fat-free cheese is rubbery and blech (IMHO, of course), and if you used low-fat, you would be consuming more calories – which might be a god thing – while still cutting out the most unnecessary sat. fat, etc.
I agree that 10 lbs over several years, or even, say, over 6 months, isn’t a huge weight change, regardless of direction.
Beautiful, colorful lunches– Greek yogurt is my favorite daily snack and my Big Splurge item (Oikos is expensive here!)– protein, good bacteria, calcium, taste, what’s not to love? I do believe I share your dessert philosophy, if we could substitute “chocolate covered almonds” for Cadbury creme eggs and (alas, perhaps this explains the 10 lb thing) Ben & Jerry’s for the Dreyer’s Slow Churned.
Have a wonderful weekend! A full month without MSB! Hope he has something special planned to celebrate you passing the ACE exam.
Alex: Haha I actually don’t mind the fat-free cheese. Actually, most of my cheese is reduced fat, not fat free, although I do use a fat free mozzarella sometimes. I often mix several kinds of cheese together. Sometimes I use regular, full fat cheese, but yes, it’s the saturated fat that makes me lean towards reduced and fat free.
we have very similar eating habits! i tend to snack more and eat less dessert though probably because my day often starts very early and i can’t make it until lunch!
also, i will die if i don’t eat some peanut butter every day (usually it’s with breakfast!). well, maybe not DIE, but i don’t want to test the theory.
i answered you on my blog too, but josh is in general surgery. he really loves it, and of course it will pay well, but tell MSB to steer clear if he values his lifestyle . . .
thanks for posting this!!! I have been meaning to do the same thing but I just keep putting it off. I dont know how the food bloggers do it either
I eat cereal every morning!! YUM
I just got your comment, I think we always read each others blogs at the same time
Great post! And nice to seejesseat and get an idea of how you fuel. I was wondering if you eat before your morning runs though? You’ve probably addressed this before, but I don’t remember and was just curious!
your lunches are so colorful, just like our meals are supposed to be. i’m glad you eat dessert everyday because it is a necessity! especially after all those veggies. i had sweet potato fries last night too – mad craving! made mine as wedges though, yours look like they may have been easier to cut!
I enjoyed this post. I love learing what other health nuts like to eat. I’ll have to try that black bean soup and I just printed off the hummus recipie. I’ve never made it, which is weird because I love it. It’s a great way to incorporate more veggies. Thanks for taking the time to do this.
Jess, Thank you so much for taking the time to show us all what you eat over the course of a few days! I had no idea when I asked that question that your response would be this detailed and comprehensive
I think you are a great example of a runner that eats a healthy and balanced diet (love those desserts!), and I noticed a lot of similarities between how you fuel yourself and how I try to fuel myself. Thanks again, I really appreciate the effort you put into doing this for all of us!
-Katie
This was fun to read! I think your disclaimer was funny. I think this is sometimes what confuses me about “food as fuel” and calorie requirments. If food is fuel, and you’re not hungry, have enough energy and weigh enough, then aren’t you fine? I think so, but that’s just me.
I am glad you like the granola so much! I made some with POM last weekend.
Justy2003: I don’t eat before most of my morning runs. I get up so early and just don’t want to deal with food before running during the week. However, I usually eat an energy bar before my Saturday long runs.
Hi there!
I see that you’re a fan of Greek yogurt – including Oikos! I’d love to send you some free coupons to maybe give some of the other Oikos flavors a shot if you haven’t yet. Just shoot me an email at kdrociak@stonyfield.com if you’re interested and let me know where to send them.
Take care!
Kristina
Stonyfield farm
[...] from Stonyfield Farm, I do have a product review for you. Kristina saw Oikos Greek yogurt on my See Jess Eat post and was kind enough to send me coupons so that I could buy more. Isn’t that nice? I [...]