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Food and Nutrition

Dietitian Diary: A Week With Stephanie

Stephanie Chen, RD | Nutrition Specialist
/ May 21, 2021

Greetings! In case you’re curious, I’m sharing a recent snapshot of everything I eat in a week! You may be surprised that I eat refined flour, fried food, and added sugar. Not all the time, but more often than you might expect from a dietitian! I’ve gone through periods of my life where I have eaten “clean” 100% of the time, but lately I’ve been enjoying the flexibility of being healthy-ish. The way I see it is, as long as my weight and blood sugar are stable, why sweat it?

**Disclaimer: Please be aware that this post contains content that some readers may find triggering. This is not intended to be dietary advice. Anything written here is not necessarily appropriate for the Enara program you are on or consistent with your particular goals.

Friday 5/14

Today I have the day off. I mostly spend it catching up on chores, and relaxing. Like most days, I start the morning with black coffee instead of breakfast. Lunch around noon is a slice of leftover pizza, a quick spring mix salad topped with leftover homemade pico de gallo, and a protein shake (protein powder + water, not delicious but gets the job done). This is followed by a quick walk around the block. Around 4 pm, my afternoon snack is plain nonfat greek yogurt with a scoop of protein powder mixed in. Then, it’s time for a workout right outside, in my boyfriend’s backyard gym. Today I’m doing barbell squats and rows, and ab wheel rollouts. It’s been awhile since I’ve attempted a one-rep max, so I work up to it. I’m pleasantly surprised that I can squat about 10 lbs more than I could 5 months ago. Then it’s on to my actual squat routine today, 5 sets of 5 reps at around 75% of my 1RM, as well as upper body and abs. Right after we put away the equipment, we pick up dinner from a local Japanese/sushi restaurant. We split orders of chicken karaage, BBQ short ribs, sashimi, and two rolls. 

Saturday 5/15

Today is a work day, but I take advantage of an hour break between appointments to visit the local weekly farmers market to pick up berries, some peaches and nectarines, coffee beans, as well as brunch – a chorizo/egg/potato breakfast burrito. It’s super filling, so I don’t eat again until snack time around 4 pm – today it’s just a protein shake. I’m still not very hungry by the time dinner rolls around, so we pull two servings of previously batch-cooked meals from the freezer and pop them in the sous vide. I have my Asian-inspired ground beef stir fry by itself, and my boyfriend has his over leftover rice (no photo, because it is not photogenic). Dessert is some mixed berries from the farmers market.

Sunday 5/16

Today we are visiting San Francisco to view some apartments! We are looking to move in just over a month. Earlier this week I had set up 6 viewings on the hour, from noon to 5 pm. After coffee, we drive up there, leave the car in a lot, and walk to destinations 1-4. An hour between each viewing is just enough time to get a good tour and make it to the next apartment, so we don’t get to grab a bite until we get back to the car and drive to #5. In the car around 4 pm we nosh on homemade pemmican (made months ago but kept in the fridge!) and some beef jerky. Our last showing ends up getting canceled, so we pick up some soul food in the area near #5. My boyfriend orders enough for a meal and then some: fried chicken, fried catfish, potato salad, collard greens, cornbread muffins, and mac and cheese. Everything is seriously yummy. We eat it in the car before heading home. Later that evening, I snack on a bowl of greek yogurt + protein powder + a cut-up peach.

Monday 5/17

Today is a work day. I have the same black coffee as usual. Lunch between appointments is a Red’s frozen chicken, cilantro, and lime burrito, a side of greek yogurt, and a salad with Galeo’s miso caesar dressing. After my last patient of the day, I have my usual snack – greek yogurt and protein powder, topped with berries this time. Today’s workout is deadlifts – I do 10 sets of 2 reps at ~80% max, and bodyweight chin ups (4 sets of 7 reps). Afterwards, we pick up Chick-fil-A and split a small order of fries. I also have their new lemon kale caesar salad sans the dressing/breadcrumbs, but with my own caesar dressing instead.

Tuesday 5/18

Another work day, and it’s pretty busy, but I do have one quick break that’s enough to scramble some eggs and veggies and pack them into Trader Joe’s carb savvy tortillas. I eat lunch during a weekly team meeting (dear coworkers: that’s why my camera is off – I’m either eating lunch or taking a walk!). In the afternoon, my boyfriend and I walk to the post office to drop off some mail. When we get home, we pop the leftover fried chicken into the air fryer and have the rest of the sides from Sunday for dinner. Afterwards, I head to my parents’ house for the night for a change of scenery. 

Wednesday 5/19

Today is an early day. Between appointments, I grab an Americano courtesy of my parent’s espresso machine. After seeing patients today, I eat lunch prepared by my mom: there’s beef, sweet potato congee, and a cold dish of seasoned cucumbers, eggs, and avocado. My boyfriend picks me up shortly after. Snack is my usual yogurt + protein powder, as well as a few pieces of jerky. Today’s workout is overhead presses and chin ups. Dinner is Ethiopian food delivered – I order a veggie combo, chicken tibs, lamb tibs, and 100% teff injera. 

Thursday 5/20

Today’s lunch is a simple spring mix salad topped with the very last of the fried chicken – I pull the breading off of the breast since it’s soggy by now anyway – plus olives and pickled onions. Snack is my usual yogurt and protein powder, plus a small piece of hard cheese. Dinner is another serving of the frozen beef stir fry, again eaten without rice.

Thanks for reading! Now that you’ve made it to the end, please let us know if you like these types of posts or not.

https://stephaniechenrd.survey.fm/blog-post-survery

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