Category Archives: Food Journal

Food Journal / Pregnancy / Stay Healthy

Pregnancy Diet

January 27, 2015

citrus obsessed

Being pregnant is weird for a lot of reasons (your body changes, you feel like there’s a little alien moving inside you for most of the day and night, etc.), but one of the weirdest changes for me has been the modifications I’ve had to make to my diet while pregnant.  First of all, I have never really been able to eat a lot at one time.  While I’ve always loved to eat, I’m much more of a grazer than a 3 large meals kind of gal.  Since becoming pregnant I still graze most of the day, but the amount of food I can put away in one sitting now is, frankly, pretty impressive.  (Um, one night I made a giant pot of soup and ate four giant bowls of it.  Like, large, cereal-size bowls.)

Also, when not pregnant my diet is usually veggie-heavy with not a lot of meat.  In fact, I eat vegetarian probably 80% of the time, if not more.  Not because I’m opposed to eating meat, but more just because the recipes I tend to make lean more on veggies and grains than on meat.  (Not to mention that I like to buy quality, sustainable meat, which is not cheap; and I’m not exactly rolling in money over here.)

Most of the literature I’ve read about eating while pregnant recommends shooting for 72 grams of protein per day.  For me, this is A LOT of protein.  To break this down, 20 grams of protein is: 5 egg whites; one chicken breast; 2 servings of yogurt; about 2.5 cups 2% milk; or 3 eggs.  So you basically need to shoot for 3.5 servings from that list every single day.

I, by no means, have a perfect diet when not pregnant, and I certainly don’t have one since getting knocked up.  (Hi, I love sugar in all its forms.)  However, I realized that I needed to focus more on getting the recommended amount of protein more than on cutting or tracking calories (since my weight gain has been on the normal-to-low side so far), so that’s where I’ve been focusing my energy most days.

The fact that I literally want to eat my weight in fruit (most notably citrus), is just kind of a fun and weird side-effect.  (Um yeah, I’m eating 14+ oranges a week over here…)

So here’s a rundown of what I’ve been eating most days, in case you’re curious (I have to admit that I’m very nosy and love to know what people are eating and also what’s in their purse.  But I guess that second one is a post for another day…)

Breakfast: cereal (usually Cheerios or high-fiber Trader Joe’s Oh’s) + banana + 2% milk

Snack: Grande decaf 2% mocha with one less pump of syrup
the milk from breakfast + the coffee = about 20g protein

Lunch (Let’s use the term “lunch” loosely, because I basically just snack on this stuff all day long): peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat, probiotic yogurt smoothie, 1-2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 oranges
peanut butter + yogurt + eggs = about 30g protein

Snack: hummus and pretzel thins or Think Thin Lean Protein bar
about 10g protein for either choice

Dinner: this is where things vary the most, but I’ve switched up my cooking a little to make sure that I include protein in dinner (something I don’t always do when not pregnant), so usually we’ll have a big salad with chicken or turkey and/or beans added, a veggie-heavy soup, or something I can put together on the fly (which, last night was homemade BLT’s).  I’ve got sausage sandwiches and maybe breakfast burritos planned for later this week.
I usually shoot for about 20g protein in whatever I make for dinner

Dessert: lately it’s been my go-to organic dark chocolate bar with almonds, but last night it was half a pint of Haagen Dazs, soooo… y’know.
2-10g protein depending on what I eat (and how much…)

PS:  I’ve yet to do my glucose test, so all of the above is obviously non-gestational-diabetes related.  (And, sadly, if things don’t go as planned in the test, I think my 14-orange habit will need to go away.  Fingers crossed it all comes out normal!)

Dinner / Food Journal

Back in Action

May 2, 2010

Hey all,

I hope you have been enjoying the sunshine-y weekend as much as I have!

I’m sorry I dropped the new 30 day challenge on you and then left you hanging for 2 days.  I’ll make it up to you — I promise!

So I will be faithful and finish up Friday’s post, as I know it was the last day of the Digital Food Diary challenge.

After KC got home on Friday we decided to go for a walk, since it was so nice out.  I grabbed a snack before we headed out to Piedmont:

Walking around Piedmont was nice, as usual.  We took some pictures along the way:

Yes, I wish you lived in Oakland too.  It’s a magical, magical place.

While we were out walking, I decided we should ease our way into the Happy Hour challenge by grabbing a drink at one of the places on Piedmont. We decided on César, a bar which serves Latin tapas.  KC and I each had a beer, and we split the pupusa platter:

The platter came with three kinds of pupusas: pork, black bean, and some sort of cheese one.  The pork one was definitely my favorite.  The cheese one was a bit too cheesy for me (go figure), so I only had a bite.

I had the Allagash white ale to drink.  I’m such a sucker for Belgian-style beer!  I think a trip to The Trappist may be in order soon…  Who’s with me?

After our drinks and snack, KC and I headed back to our apartment, gathered our things (laundry) and headed off to Walnut Creek for the night.

The rest of the night’s festivities included more drinking, hanging out, and making a home-made birthday card for Josh’s birthday BBQ which was the following day.  Exciting!

Well, this officially concludes the Digital Food Diary challenge!  If y’all are seriously missing the daily food update — let me know; I may be convinced to bring it back.

Hope you guys have enjoyed the 30 day glimpse into my food habits!  I’ve certainly enjoyed sharing (most of it) with you.

On to Happy Hour!

Dinner / Food Journal

Bringing Sexy Back

April 29, 2010

Hey all,

So KC got home right after I finished posting earlier.  We threw on our sweatshirts and walking shoes and headed out to Piedmont again.  This time we went a different way around the neighborhood so we could look at some new houses.

Here’s some of the stuff we saw on our walk:

And you thought Oakland was ghetto.

Yes, I’m putting the sexy back into evening walks.  Black Lulu pants, an oversized grey sweatshirt, the unbrushed low ponytail — HOT.  KC is pretty much the luckiest guy on the planet.

Also, it took me about a million hours to make it down that hill in the picture.  It doesn’t look that steep; but trust me, it was.  That combined with my stupidly awful right knee makes for a pretty slow (and pretty funny) descent downhill.

Anyway, I’ve decided that maybe we should make walking a regular part of our week (and by “we” I mean KC and I, and also all of you).  It might not seem like you’re doing much, but it’s a great way to get your blood flowing (after sitting at work all day, perhaps?) and a great way to get to know your neighborhood (not to mention, the person you’re walking with).  So, are you guys with me?  I’ll take that as a yes.  Perfect!

KC and I walked for a little over an hour, then headed home so I could start dinner.

I made potato and zucchini hash with soft-boiled eggs:

This picture is not really doing this dish justice.  It’s looking a little… shiny.  Anyway, it’s pretty darn good.  It’s definitely good when you’re craving something a little unhealthy and comforting.  I adapted the recipe from this month’s issue of Everyday Food.  I wanted to add more veggies in since the original recipe only calls for 1 zucchini and 1/2 an onion.

To make this, I peeled 2 russet potatoes, quartered and chopped them.  I then thinly sliced 1 yellow onion.  All this went into a nonstick skillet (this is important — I started these off in a regular skillet because my nonstick one isn’t very big — MISTAKE!  Everything started sticking to the bottom and I had to transfer it to the other skillet halfway through.  Woops.) with some olive oil, salt and pepper, over medium-high heat for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes I added 2 zucchinis, which I had halved and chopped.  This all cooked together over medium heat for another 7 minutes.

I meant to add some mushrooms to this dish since I have some lying around, but I forgot.  Oh well.  I think next time I’ll use just one potato and add in some other veggies — probably mushrooms, bell pepper, maybe some tomatoes…  And some red pepper flakes.  Definitely.

In the meantime I made the eggs.  You can do any kind of eggs you want for this dish — soft-boiled, hard-boiled, over-easy, sunny-side up…  I like soft-boiled eggs so that’s what I chose.  To make soft boiled eggs: put the eggs in a pot, cover with cold water, add a pinch of salt, cover, and heat.  Once boiling, turn the heat off and let the pot sit, covered, for 3 minutes (if you like the yolk less runny, let sit 4 minutes).  After 3 minutes (or, however long), drain the water and cover the eggs with cold water and let sit until they’re cool enough to handle.

The egg went on top of the hash, and there you have it — dinner.  Nothing too fancy.

Ok, time to spend some time with KC and “Community.”

The big 30 day announcement is tomorrow!  Stay tuned…

Breakfast / Food Journal / Lunch / Snack

Pet Rhinoceros

Let me start by saying that I hate our upstairs neighbors.  Yes, this has absolutely nothing to do with food or with the rest of this post, but they are so loud it’s ridiculous!  I’m pretty sure they have a pet rhinoceros.

I can’t wait to move.

Ok, back to the point: food.

Cheerios for breakfast:

I actually made a smoothie for breakfast, but it was too sweet again (even though I used unsweetened almond milk this time)!  So, I threw it out.  I think I need to go back to the soy milk for my smoothies.  This whole almond milk thing just isn’t working out for me.

After breakfast I had some coffee, threw on my Lulu’s and then headed off to Bar Method for Hannah’s 1:30pm class.  Man, my body is tired.  I’ve been really working hard this week in class, and I could definitely feel it during the thigh sequence today!  By the last set, my legs were shaking like there was an earthquake.  Let’s hope this translates to “damn those jeans look good on you,” later on.

After class I had a snack I brought with me:

I know, I know, “Wow, something new and different!”  Sorry, I’m a creature of habit (and limited budget).

After my snack it was time for, dun dun DUN!

Spending time with Mason!

Mason’s nanny came to take Heather’s 3pm class, so I got to watch the little cutie for about an hour.  I haven’t seen him in 2 weeks!  Isn’t he adorable?  Cute enough to eat!

Mason and I had quite the photo shoot in studio 1 today.

After my fun with Mason, I headed back home on BART and ransacked the fridge for a snack.  I realized I didn’t have much of a lunch, and there’s not much in my fridge that’s ready to eat, so I settled on this:

Usually I’d add some veggies to this (bell pepper, tomato, sprouts, avocado), but my fridge is sorely lacking right now!

Well, hopefully dinner will be healthier and more substantial than this.

Off to get ready for a walk with KC (it sounds like he’s a dog I’m taking on a walk… that’s weird).  I guess we’ll see where our walk takes us tonight.  Maybe to Temescal Produce for some veggies??  Fun fun!

Breakfast / Dinner / Food Journal / Lunch / Snack

One Foot in Front of the Other

April 28, 2010

Hey all,

Long day today!

I had some of that harvest porridge I made yesterday for breakfast.  The recipe said I made 2 servings, but it’s more like 3 — it’s pretty filling!:

I know it doesn’t look that appetizing in this picture, but trust me, it’s yummy.

After breakfast I headed over to Bar Method to work the desk for a few hours.  Business there is crazy!  All the classes are full, the phone rings off the hook…  Pretty soon us desk people are going to need our own assistants!

Anyway, I grabbed a quick snack while I worked:

Yes, I cheated — that’s yesterday’s picture.  I didn’t take a shot of my egg and orange today because it was so darn busy.  Sorry!

After my shift, I ran over to The San Francisco Soup Company and grabbed a bowl of their organic smoky split pea (yum):

I managed to wolf down almost all of this before heading into the 3pm class.

I’ve been really going for it this week in class — you know, those weeks where you really push yourself while you’re exercising?  Well, let me tell you, my legs are tired!  This didn’t stop me from going for a walk with KC after he got home from work though.

I had a snack first (of course):

We thought Seuss might want to put her leash on and come with us:

She wasn’t amused:

She promptly hopped off the couch and popped her “safety collar” off.  I’d like to rename the safety collar the “you got out of that way too easy” collar.  Really Seuss?  What a beez.

We decided to walk up to Piedmont and look at the houses.  There are some super cute houses over in Piedmont — too bad I don’t have a spare $800K lying around…  Our walk was fun and it was nice to get outside, even though it was a little chilly!

By the way, walking with a friend or your significant other is a great way to get some exercise into your day.  Not to mention, it’s kind of just a nice way to spend time with someone.

After getting home from our walk, I threw dinner together:

Grilled Steelhead trout with thyme-scented quinoa and roasted vegetables.

This is super simple to make.  I threw 1 cup of red quinoa into the rice cooker with 2 cups of water, a little sea salt, and a couple thyme sprigs, and let it do its thing.  I chopped up whatever veggies I had on hand (broccoli, bell pepper, zucchini, crimini mushrooms, and a vidalia onion), tossed it all with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and threw it into the oven at 425° for 20-25 minutes.

The fish I just sprinkled with salt and pepper and grilled it in a little olive oil.  Easy and delicious!  A well-balanced meal chock full of Omega-3’s.

My plate:

After dinner, KC and I cleaned the apartment.  I know, exciting.  The nice part about having a tiny apartment is being able to clean the whole thing in under an hour.  The faster this place is clean, the happier I am.  I hate cleaning, but I sure love a clean apartment!

Alright, well I think there’s some Ben & Jerry’s calling my name from the freezer…

Chelsea, come eat the cookie dough out of this pint.”

Yep, definitely calling my name.

Hope your week is going well.  Tomorrow’s Thursday!  Almost Friday, which is almost the weekend!  Woo hoooo!

(Well, if you can’t get excited about it, I figured I’d do it for you.)

Ok off to rescue the ice cream from the freezer.  (It gets so lonely in there…)  Night!