A recap of All The Meals!!!! And some weight loss talk. If weight loss is triggering to you, please skip this post!
KERF used to be a food diary of everything I ate.
To this day, when I tell people I have a diary of everything I ate for 5 years they look at me like I’m crazy. It’s also weird to me that this blog is 15 years old so the lifestyle posts outnumber the food diaries 2:1. I still feel the most identity with those early posts!
For many years I have lived the intuitive eating life. I haven’t weighed myself, tracked calories or macros, or really given any thought to my meals other than a very general “choose something healthy that makes me feel good.”
After having Mazen, when he was about 2, I did go through an intentional eating phase where I “lost the baby weight.” (I put that in quotes because I HATE that phrase, but that is essentially what it was.) I can’t quite remember how long this phase was, but I think about six months. A group of mom friends and I had a goal to “get healthier” and the teamwork was great. I stayed at that weight for another 4ish years until I got pregnant with Birch.
I had a baby….and then there was the pandemic.
A year of postpartum rebalancing led into the pandemic of missing my favorite gym classes, boredom eating, and a daily glass of wine habit. Then pile on the mindless snacking that comes along with having a toddler finish half a PB&J, quesadilla, or cup of goldfish. And wearing nothing but athleisure for two years.
All this to say, a few weeks ago I literally just had a single lightbulb moment of “I wish I felt more like I did five years ago.”
Brain Space
I’ve talked before about how the space in my brain has shifted to being all about me (in my 20s) to much more kids and business focused in my 30s.
My lightbulb moment was that I’d like to dedicate a bit more of my brain space back to health.
This isn’t a big proclamation that I’m going to “lose 10 pounds!! OMG!” or make any dramatic changes to my diet (you will never see me to anything that cuts out food groups, like keto). But since I know many of you are also health-minded, I wanted to share with you all my intentional focus on a healthier eating plan!
The changes I am making:
- a stronger focus on mindful eating (especially related to afternoon snacking with the kids)
- simple food journaling (for me, food journaling has always gone hand and hand being mindful. Write it down = give it space in your brain)
- prioritizing veggies and other nutrient-dense foods, especially for snacks (for the kids too!)
- really working on my wine habit (sticking to restaurants and weekend days only; swapping in non-alcoholic choices when I’m craving a drink for the sake of having something fun to drink)
- keeping sugar to “worth it” events like birthday cake or ice cream downtown vs. ice cream on the couch
Are any of you feeling like you could use a shift towards health?
What I Ate: My Go-To Meals
Despite the fact that KERF is no longer a food diary, I still take a lot of photos of our meals out of habit! So in the spirit of healthy eating, here’s a photo dump of many of my recent go-to meals!
Breakfasts
Green Smoothies
Half the mornings we have green smoothies! One blender; 4 family members. The usual is banana, whole milk, vanilla protein, some kind of berry or frozen fruit (mangos, strawberries), and a big handful of baby spinach.
Oatmeal
Coffee baked oatmeal turned into creamy oatmeal with some milk! Plus PB on top.
Bagels
You can live a healthy life and eat bagels! We buy them fresh from Bodos and use whipped cream cheese. Bagels surprisingly keep me the most full of all of my breakfasts, oatmeal and eggs included. Smoothies keep me the least full. Interesting!
Hard Boiled Eggs
Love HBEs for breakfast because there are no dishes to do!! I’ll make a dozen one day and eat them all week for breakfast, lunches, and snacks. Plus PEACH!
Yogurt Bowls
Another great no-mess breakfast, and one of my favorites when summer fruit is ripe! Plus granola on top.
Lunches
Omelet or Scramble
One of my go-to lunches if I’m not in the mood for a salad. Add veggies and cheese. This one had a little fancy ham from JM Stock!
Leftovers
A leftover corn + farro salad with chicken via Blue Apron. Perfect in a prep container for a quick lunch!
Leftover enchiladas. Ate these like 4 meals in a row with a greek yogurt + hot sauce side dip!
Canned Fish
This was actually smoked herring! An interesting lunch presentation but very tasty. I mixed the herring with yogurt, a little mayo, herbs, pickles, carrots, peppers, and spices. Served on crackers!
Salads
Of course big salads are a huge lunch staple for me. This one had greens, broccoli, leftover salmon, caesar croutons, and sharp cheddar. Whatever I have in the fridge goes on top!
Tasting Plates
We were low on food this day, so I made a combo plate with two eggs, PB toast, and broccoli with ranch dip.
Here’s the ranch dip! I bought these two from Feast! and they were fabulous for having more raw veggies with lunch or as a snack or even happy hour!
Dinners
As mentioned above, I’m working on breaking the habit of wanting a glass of wine with dinner, and kombucha is 1,000% the answer for me. I love its tartness, it’s lighter than drinking juice, and served in a wine glass or can it feels like an alcoholic drink without any of the buzz.
This new-to-me kind was especially good!
Two Taco Night!
Traditional beef tacos with cheese, peppers, jalapeños, creama, and lettuce.
Salmon with Summer Veg
We used the Tastefully Simple Bayou Bourbon Glaze to marinate and bake this salmon. Super delish! Get 10% off your order of Tastefully Simple sauces and spices through September with the code KE822.
The leftovers the next night! We’re still using the “cook once, eat twice” meal plan strategy!
Blue Apron
OMG this Blue Apron meal was soooo good! We’ve been bouncing around between Blue Apron and Hello Fresh taking advantage of all the promos offered (promos = free groceries!!)
Enchiladas
via Blue Apron. Wine on a weekend!
Low Country Boil
It was fun to make someone else’s take on a LCB! (See my recipe here: Low Country Boil.) Blue Apron’s. had some feta and tzatziki sauce that made it really good!
Corn + Farro Salad with Chicken
Noodles with Beef and Snow Peas
Tofu Curry with Veggies and Naan
Salmon, Rice, Broc with an Apricot Glaze
Sausage Soup
This soup was one of the best I have EVER had!! Via Hello Fresh.
Date Night with Birch
T and I took B to the Fitzroy for dinner. I had the black garlic kale salad with shrimp!
Special Occasions
And because every good meal plan needs some treats…
Ladies night at Southern Crescent – this cocktail was out of this world.
And Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake made by Nona!
Mallory says
Great post!
Re: alcohol, I have been reading “quit lit” (I have no intention to ever quit drinking entirely, however like you, I had developed a wine habit in the pandemic [and let’s be honest- much of my twenties!])
You should read “Quit Like a Woman” by Holly Whitaker. Some may find it radical, but it opens your eyes to the hold “Big Alcohol” has on our society and women in particular. It also illuminates the very real health risks that come with drinking (even in TINY amounts. The truth that no one wants to hear is that any amount of alcohol is harmful and increases risk of disease).
Once I read that, it helped me rewire my subconscious conditioning around alcohol. And yes, we are conditioned to believe it’s good and fun and even healthy in small amounts(?!). This has made it much easier for me to take breaks from drinking now that my subconscious is in alignment with my conscious (i.e.– intellectually knowing alcohol is not good for me).
I was a hardcore wine lover and I actually haven’t had a drink in 2 months because it simply doesn’t align with my long-term values. I definitely will drink on special occasions still, but it’s really freeing. I have tried breaks before, but it wasn’t until I educated myself on all there is to unpack around alcohol, did taking a break become “easy”.
Kath Younger says
Yes to all of this. If you don’t have a good reason *not* to drink then it’s just too easy to talk yourself into it. I haven’t read that book but seems like the timing is right. I did listen to a long podcast by an MD going over all the ways it affects the body and it was super interesting.
Mallory says
Exactly!
Susan says
I am also replacing wine with kombucha, and have you to thank for it! I saw it your post about Health Ade Bubbly Rose and decided to try it, and found I love all their flavors. I thought of you and that post recently when I found a 6 pack of Health Ade at Costco! Now I’ll have to try Better Booch too:)
Kath Younger says
Love that flavor!
Hope says
Ah, this takes me back to years ago when I would read your food blogs. Love it!
Also love the nod to two tacos. LOL 🙂
Kath Younger says
🙂 Most ridiculous assumption of all time.
eliz says
I would love to be able to have kombucha as a cocktail at the end of the day, but the caffeine makes it harder for me to get to sleep at night. You don’t have any problems with it?
Kath Younger says
It doesn’t seem to affect me and I am sensitive to caffeine. But I just googled and Synergy brand only has 4-8mg of caffeine so I don’t think that’s a huge amount to affect sleep. Certainly other brands might have higher.
eliz says
Yes, that doesn’t seem like much.
Megan says
Hi Kath!
This was a fun post, made me think of when I first started following your blog!
Would you mind sharing what protein powder you like to use?
Thanks!!
Kath Younger says
I used Arbonne, Naked Nutrition, and Vega and like them all. I look for either grass-fed whey or plant-based protein.
Louise RD says
I love kombucha, started it mainly for gut health. I also tend to drink it early in the day due to caffeine content. Glad to see that it doesn’t contain much, tho! Have tried many different brands, Synergy being my favorite. I’d love to start making my own some day. Need to educate myself more on SCOBY. Future post, possibly??? 🙂 As for alcohol, it’s reassuring to know that many women out there have the same love/dislike relationship with it as I do!
Mona says
Would Nona share her roasted strawberry pound cake recipe please?
Kath Younger says
I’m pretty sure this was the one she did. It was a zucchini cake! https://parade.com/recipes/zucchini-cake-strawberry-sauce-recipe
Kat says
I miss the food diary days! I always enjoy your inspiration on repurposing leftovers, eating whole and seasonally but also simply!