Maybe one day, for one of these “What I Ate Wednesday” posts, I’ll actually show you what I ate on a Wednesday.
Because trust me, what I eat on a real live Wednesday is way different than what I eat any other day of the week. Just look at my Instagram. I don’t even eat eggs or plantains or anything on Wednesdays. Wednesdays are for fried pizza dough, margaritas, and chocolate chip cookie dough from a plastic bucket, in that order.
Just kidding. I eat the same paleo sh*t on Wednesdays that I do every other day, and I love every minute of it 🙂
So you’re getting Sunday. Because, I managed to take a picture of everything I ate that day through sheer focus and determination. Thanks Jenn for the link-up!
When I set out for a run between 10-13 miles, the question is always “to eat, or not to eat.” I usually choose the not, because it’s so early in the morning that hunger hasn’t kicked in yet, and I don’t mind the empty stomach feeling.
That said, I probably could have used a banana before my 11 miles on Sunday, because I left the house at a whopping 6:30 (lazy) and that 45 minute difference, well, makes a difference!
Needless to say, I hobbled straight to the stove when I got home to cook me some breakfast.
Sweet plantains are almost always on the post-long-run menu for me. They are sweet, filling, delicious, and go with all the other stuff on my plate. Which today was kale, a ground lamb slider, and eggs fried in coconut oil. Actually all of it was fried in coconut oil, including the burger, because how many pans do you really want to dirty up just for yourself?
By the time I stretched, showered, had coffee (delicious with frothy coconut milk), cleaned up, and blogged it was practically time for lunch. I always make food for my kids before myself, not because I’m nice, but because it means there’s a much better chance I’ll enjoy my food if the kids are fed or being fed.
Once everyone else was taken care of it was probably 12:30. I sauteed some zucchini and pan fried a wild caught salmon fillet in coconut oil to get the skin really crispy (splurged on 2 frozen portions-sized fillets, very worth it.) I put that over baby spinach, avocado and sprinkled everything with sea salt – delicious.
Around 3:30, watching the snow fall down in heaps once again, I had a snack. Sliced banana with blueberries and coconut butter, plus a passionberry flavored GT’s Kombucha. One of my current favorites!
For dinner I was daring and wild. Really, I ate brussel sprouts and lived to tell about it. I’ve been really sticking to low FODMAP for the most part, and with that, avoiding the sprouts. But like I said in the FODMAP post, for me, it’s the accumulation of too many high FODMAP foods that gets me in trouble.
So I promise myself I won’t roast my sprouts with chunks of garlic like I used to. That sounds good right? Wrong, I can hear the spasms already. Anyway, I just try to be moderate with the amount of higher FODMAP foods I eat, and give myself more leeway AFTER a long run.
The rest of my dinner was baked white sweet potato fries, boneless chicken thigh pan fried in coconut oil and sea salt, topped with a more lemony version of my homemade mayo, and some roasted broccoli along with the sprouts.
If that is not the ugliest picture of a piece of dark chocolate. With my dark chocolate (Lindt 85%) I had a clementine and a couple of sliced strawberries. Night time kitchen lighting makes all food look sad, doesn’t it?
And that was it, everything I ate on my Sunday runday.
If you do “what I ate” posts, which day of the week is the food from usually?
Do you find that you eat the same things on specific days of the week or do you mix it up?
Do you always eat before a 10 mile run or go on empty?
I’ve rarely run a 10-13 miler on an empty stomach. I did it once or twice when I trained for my ultra (to teach my body how to run on depleted glycogen stores) but for the most part, I need something, even if it’s just a banana. You’re stronger than I am! And you totally had me fooled when you said you eat fried pizza dough and cookies on Wednesdays! I was like, oh yay! That’s me! Lol.
Haha! I do think eating a banana first if I’m running more than 10 miles feels better, but then again eating a banana at 5:30 in the morning isn’t always appealing 🙂 The 6:30 would have been fine though.
I always eat before I run. I can’t even imagine not eating because for me #1- I wake up starving #2, I can’t run when hungry #3 I get dizzy if I haven’t eaten, especially if I am running. It’s amazing how different we all are, even down to what sits okay in one person’s stomach vs. another person.
I am just like that too! I wake up hungry almost every day and MUST eat before running or going anywhere!
Waking up hungry is a great thing I think 🙂
Yes, we are all different! I think part of it is the body gets used to what it knows. I’ve always exercised really early in the morning so my body is used to doing that BEFORE eating, but I’m sure if I persisted I could get used to it the other way, and then I’d be starving if I didn’t eat beforehand.
For 10 miles I will usually eat something- bananas seem to work pretty well for me and I bring a little fuel just in case. I usually share what I eat on Monday because then I have time on Tuesday to edit my pictures and get the post together. I always forget to take pictures of what I eat on the weekends!
A banana is usually a safe bet for me too 🙂 I was posting Monday food for a while and then realized I eat a burger every single Monday night!
My meals are pretty much the same all week long. Usually leftovers from the weekend so I don’t mind showing weekend eats. I don’t have time to blog during the week generally so it’s just more convenient. I don’t know why but I’m always surprised that you eat fruit. Maybe because I equate Paleo with no fruit which isn’t true but for some reason I still do.
I actually eat quite a bit of fruit and don’t think I’d ever want to give that up! Leftovers from the weekend are always welcomed 🙂
I always eat before working out or doing just about anything. PERIOD End of story. I think I have run on empty a handful of times, but that was like for maybe 4 miles? I just don’t do well without food!
I think once you get used to one way it’s hard to change it. Any later than 6am though and I’m usually wishing I’d eaten a banana 🙂
Your eggs always come out so perfect!
Thank you!!
Most of the food for my WIAW is from Tuesday. I tend to eat the same things for breakfast all the time. Whoops!
It’s convenient!
Do you ever eat baby book Choy? It is packed with nutrients and low FODMAP. I pull the leaves apart and stir fry them. I stir fried it last evening and then put a light sun butter ginger sauce on it. I served it with a tamari Bison burger and roasted Japanese sweet potato chunks. I enjoy it because, like kale has all the cruciferous, but none of the nasty side effects for a FODMAP suffer. All your food looked delicious! Have you ever eaten at Spring Street Natural down town. It is wonderful. We need a lunch or dinner date.
It’s at my store but I haven’t tried it recently, maybe not since my first Whole30? It’s been too long! That sounds like a delicious meal! And no I haven’t been to that place, but sounds great 🙂
I have gone back and forth on eating before running. I used to be diligent about it. Then I didn’t eat for a long time and felt like I did just fine. I did notice that when I was doing 11-12 miles I actually felt super hungry mid-run, and then felt very low energy. I do now try to have a little something before a long run–one of the only times I have toast with almond butter or avocado–but I am inconsistent about remembering and the timing has to be right. So I just as often don’t eat.
Running anymore is just for me–no races on my calendar–and while I do like to compete against myself. I am not devastated by a bad or slow run, so I don’t get too caught up in a run not coming out the way I want if I head into unfueled.
I hear you on that, if I’m a bit under-fueled and I feel tired it’s not a big deal, I’m not trying to hit any paces! I also think my body is used to less fuel while running and has adapted to that.
fruit topped with coconut butter is the BEST!
Agreed 🙂
Oh my goodness – all that looks so good (And healthy!) to me. Yum!
Before longish runs (1 hour+) I typically eat something if I have time. Usually some almond butter and honey on a quarter of a bagel or some PB2 mixed with honey and protein powder (with a spoon).
MY WIAW posts tend to be Tuesday – but this week and last I shared Monday! My weekend eats are all over the board, maybe I should do a WIAW weekend edition sometime!
Thanks for sharing your WIAW – love seeing what everyone is eating and sharing my own!
Thank you! A weekend edition is always a good thing since it’s usually a bit different 🙂
That looks like a great day of eats to me! I would be sad without brussels sprouts!
I used to eat before any run of 10 miles or longer but I have now trained my body to run up to 20 miles on nothing and taking nothing in during the run. The first few times I did this were ugly, but my body adjusted.
I did one glycogen depletion run of 18 miles while training for Philly and, besides feeling really hungry by the time it was over, I didn’t really notice much. That said, I don’t love feeling hungry on a long run! I think the body is great at adapting to what we throw at it, for the most part 🙂
i’ve been all over the place – lately life is crazy so i’m embracing change! on our recent 7 mile run i felt hungry and low energy during the run, which made me consider eating something before long runs in the future. i have run most of my long runs without pre-fuel, but i remember when i was first doing paleo for athletes, i fueled with a paleo smoothie pre long run and felt great. that was years ago but i think my point is i need to practice more with fuel. i want to feel good while im running and if i need a banana before to feel amazing, then so be it! i wanna feel amazing, not just drag. ya know? plus what i ate the dinner before matters. if we ate late then i can’t eat much pre long run… so many factors lol.
i eat sauteed or crispy kale at least twice during the week, and some sort of lunch salads. other than that i can be sort of random. lately my breakfast has been nuts and seeds, which is not awesome but has been a result of extreme laziness 🙂
Extreme laziness is definitely allowed once in a while 😉 Good point about dinner the night before, often I feel like THAT is what matters moreso than if I eat a banana or right before running. I agree that if the goal is to enjoy running, do whatever makes that possible! Love crispy kale 🙂
I would die if I ran on empty! I need to have eaten, haha!
And omg…that salmon….why does salmon always look so perfectly yummy!?…….(**because it is!**)
Salmon is always a great treat! For a later run like you do food beforehand is completely necessary, I totally agree 🙂
There’s no way I could ever run or do any sort of exercise on an empty stomach — I tried a few times and my workouts sucked because I felt like I was going to faint the whole time. And I love adding garlic to my food, but holy.SNAP does it destroy my stomach. Nowhere near as bad as onions, but yeah… not good.
Onions and garlic – I so hear you! I eat both extremely sparingly because it’s almost never worth it to indulge. Feeling faint is no joke, that would definitely get me nervous about needing to eat beforehand!
in general i almost always eat before strenuous exercise like longer runs. i just feel i do better but its gotta be at least 30 mins or so before. over the summer when i trained for half marathon i would eat a gluten free buckwheat waffle w some peanut butter. one odd thing was i found some of my better longer runs happened after i had a few sips of coffee. not sure if it was a coincidence or not but i cant have to much but a few sips seems to help ?
I think if you can get away with a little coffee before a run it’s a great thing! It bothers my stomach without fail if I have it before running so I’m jealous of people who can swing it 🙂 That sounds like a good bet for pre-run food 🙂
That looks so delicious! Do you want to come to my house and cook? Like you, on my WIAW days, I post from whatever day I managed to take pictures of all my food. Usually monday or tuesday, but this time was a thursday
I should aim to do a Thursday or Friday I think! Not that it would be that different, but still 🙂 And thank you, I will happily cook for anyone who will enjoy my meals!
Your breakfast looks so amazing!
I’ve never done a “what I’m eating” post, but I might have to add that! I eat pretty much the same thing every day, so I don’t think I’d have a specific day. Maybe a weekend so I don’t have to show a packed lunch?
I have a very weak stomach, so if I run in the morning I’m almost always running on empty. I have to eat way in advance of my runs! Sometimes I’ll eat a banana or a granola bar, but I’m usually fine with nothing but some water and coffee!
A sensitive stomach is why I got started exercising without eating, it was too risky in the past. Sadly I can’t have coffee before running even now, but that would make me very happy!
When I work I usually eat the same things. On my days off it is really inconsistent. I will say I eat healthier on work days than my days off but mostly because I am out and about and don’t have my prepped meals with me.
It’s definitely easier to have those healthy staples when everything’s packed or available from home. If we’re busy on weekends I just do the best with wherever we are 🙂
I love your blog posts! I came across a few of them on Twitter and look forward to reading them:) They are very helpful and funny. I see that you cook a lot of plantains for a lot of meals and eat paleo. I love, love plantains. But, I always thought they were “bad” carbs. Can you provide me with some insight into what makes them so good? I am not familiar with the paleo diet. So, excuse me if I misunderstand what is best to eat when following a paleo diet.
Hi Pearl and nice to hear from you! Plantains were one of my great paleo “discoveries” and the reasoning is that anything unprocessed and whole is perfectly healthy to eat, regardless of carbs, fat, protein. I avoid grains and particularly gluten as I seem to be intolerant and have a history of pretty severe IBS. There is nothing particularly special about plantains other than that they’re delicious and easy to prepare and cook! I also eat potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squash really often.
Thank you so much! Plantains are great. They really feel like a sweet treat when I eat them as part of a regular meal. So, I figured anything that good would be bad for me:) It is good to know that they are in the safe zone:)
Paleo has made me realize there are a ton of foods that taste decadent but are really nutritious 🙂