Each month we will get a glimpse into the eating life of your favorite Enara RDs since everyone is always curious about what a dietitian eats!
**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.
This week, Danielle entertained, made exercise a priority, and made a little room for baklava.
Friday July 19:
My husband’s sister visited us from San Diego this weekend, and having worked in wine bars and restaurants her whole adult life, I knew we had to show her some of what SF has to offer! We stopped by Mission Cheese for some rose wine and a small cheese plate before dinner. The rose was excellent! We then walked over to Souvla and all three of us got the lamb salad (dressing on the side, of course!). I avoided the oil-based dressing and had some of the Greek yogurt style sauce and their hot sauce, which works well as a lower calorie dressing option. We also shared some Greek fries.
Saturday July 22:
Much like what my patients do sometimes, I choose to leave everyone guessing as to my Saturday choices…
Sunday July 21:
Feeling like I’d overindulged since Friday, I was determined to make healthy choices, but my husband and sister had other thoughts in mind. We walked to Tartine Bakery, which neither of us had ever visited after living in the Bay Area for 6 years. We picked up a few pastries to share and grabbed coffee at Maxfield’s before having some bites while we sat in Dolores Park. I like to take my own advice and use the “two bite” rule for less healthy but one of a kind treats and I practiced that here. We took a run/jog at Land’s End afterwards and then grabbed lunch at Castro Republic after, which unfortunately was overpriced and underwhelming. It’s hard to pay $17 for a salad with chicken on it that I can make myself.
Monday July 22:
Definitely ready to get back to my usual healthy routine. Monday morning workouts always put me in the right mindset for the week. I’m on Classpass, so I went to a studio called Burn in SF, which does a combo HIIT/pilates workout. Breakfast was an apple with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter, ½ cup probiotic low fat cottage cheese and some homemade dukkah (ask me about it!).
Lunch was a salad of leftover chicken from the Instant Pot, some quinoa, veggies, and hummus. I also added a bit of the Almond Butter Trader Joes salad dressing I keep at the office.
Dinner was pretty VLCD: leftover roasted mixed vegetables, farro, 1 egg and about 2 oz. of leftover grilled tofu. Always with some sort of hot sauce, and tonight’s was Sriracha!
Tuesday July 23:
Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and this is one of my staples: Greek yogurt with frozen berries, chia seeds, peanut butter and a couple tbsp of dry oats, which is my take on overnight oats. My lunches at work are pretty much always the same; a vegan salad of ½ cup mixed grains and beans, lots of veggies, and a type of fat, like avocado or hummus: I really found the combo of hot sauce, lemon juice and hummus works really well as a de facto salad dressing. I worked out at F45 after work, so my husband had dinner ready for me when I got home (yay!). He made a really great clean pork tenderloin we found at Trader Joe’s, which he seared on the cast iron then finished in the oven, paired with cauliflower rice, a low carb tortilla and of course some hot sauce.
Wednesday July 24:
Wednesdays are tougher for me because I see patients until 7 pm, so I will sometimes bring leftovers for my dinner or wait until I get home (which is later than I would like but it’s only once a week). This morning I went to bootcamp at Hit Fit SF, then ate my favorite breakfast which is oats made on the stove with almond milk and water, topped with chia seeds and a tbsp of peanut butter and some blueberries. Pro tip: I add an egg white to the pot after it’s cooked and mix it into the oats for some extra protein, which is typically lacking in oatmeal. It makes it fluffier and heartier, which I love. Lunch was the same but our medical assistant Maya brought in baklava from Syria, which was hard to pass up! Luckily they were in very small pieces so I could have a taste but not commit to something that has quite a bit of calories. Baklava is my weakness! Had a mid-afternoon sparkling water and small seaweed pack, which helped tide me over until I got home for a quick dinner. Typically I try to avoid snacking unless I have a big gap between lunch and dinner, and tonight I did.
Thursday July 25:
Took the day off from working out since I felt really sore from exercising the last few days. Breakfast was another apple/cottage cheese/dukkah combo. I had a private piano lesson after work. I took lessons as a kid and took it up again a few years ago. Having a structured practice schedule is the closest thing I get to meditation. After, I picked up poke and brought it to eat at my friend’s house, who is recovering from surgery. She gets vegetarian Green Chef meals (an organic make-at-home meal kit), and I offered to cook one for her at her house since she’s limited in her mobility right now. Dessert was a small piece of Trader Joe’s Montezuma’s Black 100% dark chocolate topped with ½ tsp of almond butter when I got home. HEAR ME OUT: it’s intense but without added sugar it doesn’t make you crave more, and the added fat helps take the bitterness down a bit.
