I don’t participate in blogger linkups…like…ever. More specifically I don’t participate in the ever so popular linkup “WIAW,” also known as, “What I Ate Wednesday.” I’ve never had a desire to snap photos of things I ate on days other than Wednesday, but then post them on Wednesday and claim to have eaten them on….Wednesday? Meh.
Coffee always comes first, because in order to put more food in..things must first come out. This photo is of a couple I see every morning I go to Starbucks to blog. They play scrabble with their tea and coffee. Cutest thing ever. Faces blurred for privacy!
Pre-Breakfast – LOTS of fruit. With a side of nut-butter.
I’ve been asked to participate in this link up to give more vegan options to the world wide web, but instead of linking up (because I’m too cool for school) I will post my own-singular- unattached post cleverly titled, “A Day in the Life of My Gut.” AKA what I typically eat. I like to pretend that all I eat are cupcakes and chocolate, but that’s just not true. Balance.
In reality my “vegan” meals aren’t anything to be excited about. They are very simple and probably not what most people would opt for when cooking vegan. I am a bit of a minimalist, and simple is always better in my world. I like my food basic and “real.”
***Defiantly this post is on a Thursday..not Wednesday.
Breakfast- Oatmeal with berries and other fun seeds and “rabbit like” grains.
Most of my meals are very mundane, and I rarely deviate from the simplicity of what I’m posting here, but it works for me. Sometimes when I am feeling wild I will prepare something more elaborate for breakfast like a veg scramble, or pancakes…but that’s rare.
Quick morning snack.
I have somewhat of a system. I tend to eat my grains and fruit early in the day, and work my way to the veggies in the afternoon and evening. I figure I use the sugar from the fruit more during my energetic days than I do at night when I am sitting at home.
Lunch is always in a bowl. Raw spinach, steamed kale, farro, wheat berries, baked/skinned beets, raw red pepper, and hemp seeds. Cooked in coconut oil and lightly seasoned with some pepper and spices.
I find that bowl messes are the easiest for me to take anywhere. I always start with a base of some kind of leafy green (or two) and build from there. That part never changes. The protein source changes from quinoa, to beans, to cous cous (much more rare these days) and so on. Then more veggies like beets or brussels are added to the top. Never too many.
To add flavor to my meals I sometimes saute my veggies in coconut oil, and add mustard or salsa. I am very basic with my seasonings because I happen to like the flavors of plain vegetables. If you don’t swing that way, then finding a sauce you love can make it easier to eat a shitton of vegetables in one sitting. Also crackers or chips help add flavor.
A handful (or three) of these. Dark chocolate covered berries.
9/10 times I have something sweet after every meal, this helps me not to overdo it. A chocolate covered handful here, a cookie there, a finger dipped into PB everywhere.
This afternoon snack has made a constant appearance in my eats lately.
Snacks are welcomed, but moderated. I try not to mindlessly snack. A work in progress.
Rice chips, OR rice crackers sometimes with hummus or salsa, and always with a giant carrot.
Dinner is one of my meals that changes frequently. Sometimes it’s soup, sometimes it’s another bowl just like lunch, but with different protein and veggies (most of the time it’s this) and sometimes I use my evenings to make something more elaborate like black bean burgers, or BBQ tofu bowls. If I’m really lazy, it’s popcorn and an orange, but that’s rare.
Steamed Kale, kidney beans, avocado, a baked/skinned beet, sauteed asparagus, and hemp seeds. Asparagus was cooked in coconut oil for flavor. My neighbor caught me taking this photo. It was awkward.
One thing that never, EVER changes..is my water intake.
No less than three of these a day. If I have more that’s fine. AT LEAST 100 oz must be consumed. I carry my jar everywhere…
So there you have it, this is a typical day of eats for me. Lots of fruit, vegetables, and protein sources. I’ve cut out bread and only eat it once in a blue moon, but I opt for GF. I still feel like a big pile of dog turds if I have too much wheat…it’s bizarre. Obviously this isn’t set in stone, and things change around a bit, but you get the general idea.
I say typical day because once in a while I get down and dirty with vegan butter heavy cupcakes, and I’ve been known to knock back a few rows of Oreo’s. All in moderation!
All of these meals take no more than 10 minutes to prepare..whoever says you can’t eat healthy on a time crunch is WRONG! The key is food prep for things that take longer to make, like the quinoa. Making a giant bowl and using it throughout the week makes grabbing and going SO SIMPLE. Priorities people.
***I have nothing against this link up, in fact I enjoy seeing all the food-porn everyone posts. This is not a hate message to those of you that linkup, PLEASE KEEP DOING IT. It’s just not for me..that is all! Plus, no one wants to see the same thing every week!
Q: Do you stick to simple, but delicious meals everyday, or do you play iron chef in your kitchen every night? I used to think I was Bobby Flay, but now that I cook for one and am constantly busy this quick stuff works best for me!
Blissfulbritt 
55 thoughts on “A Day in the Life of My Gut”
Kristina at damntenpounds
You always come up with a new way to talk about poop so eloquently. LOL. Yes to coffee. Every single day! Your lunch bowls always look so good! I need to take a queue from you because I know it’s easy to throw it all together. I’m just lazy 🙂
Brittany
HAHA, I just love the natural body flow talks. What can I say. COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE!
Alex @ therunwithin
I am a super time crunch person too, so I eat the same things everyday. roasted veggies never get old. add some guacamole and you are golden
Britta
I love this post, and by that I mean i have been waiting for one!! You never share all your food and I find it so interesting! Lately I have been doing big bowls for dinner and lunches too – so easy and quick and filling! I throw avocado in everything lately too- so GOOD. Cannot get enough of it!
AMEN to 10 minute meals that are healthy and not time consuming!!! YES YES YES!
PNWRunner
I wish I was a good cook or had time to cook. Getting home at 8pm these days makes me lean towards protein shakes, yogurt and other easy meals. I would describe my food intake as all over the place. I eat mainly the same thing every day, but it works for me and I’m weird like that! 😉
kathy @ vodka and soda
i’m with you on the water! jugs and jugs of it, thanks. i am the most uncreative person in the kitchen and am perfectly happy eating the same thing every day!
Megan
I’m simple simple simple. My meals are best served in a wide bowl and always include a butt load of vegetables and some meat! For spices and sauces I am a mustard, chili garlic, salt, GARLIC, cajun, kind of lady.
katalysthealth
The only “new” thing I cook daily is dinner. Other than that my breakfasts and lunches are always simple and quick and typically some sort of leftover!! I always have a. huge batch of brown rice or quinoa made up, sometimes some tuna or edamame salad, and roasted veggies, all ready and raring to go for a quick lunch bowl 🙂
Change of Pace
Your bowls sound great, and I think I need to give beets another try! I like that you don’t sauce it up; it totally takes away from the natural flavour of veggies!
We eat pretty simplistic, too, but my breakfasts always include bread! And we do a lot of mexican.
Alison @ The Fit Chronicles
Um, this day of food looks DELICIOUS! I’m so jealous! I gotta get a little better with prepping so I can have well-rounded meals like yours. Yummmm
luminousvegans
All your meals look so pretty, healthy and delicious. I like the taste of certain vegetables plain too, but sometimes dousing them in a tasty sauce is good too. Lately, I’ve been playing Iron Chef in the kitchen because I’m making stuff from Isa Does It. It’s tiring. Even though the recipes are pretty quick and simple, nothing beats a meal where I don’t have to measure anything or think too hard and can just literally throw together. I’ll probably be getting back into that way of cooking once I’ve tried a few more recipes from the book. But by trying out recipes, I now have some new cooking ideas/knowledge to make my quick foods tastier.
The Vegan 8
hahaha iron chef everyday! I make a lot of new food, but I stick to some basics for lunches, etc. All your food pics have me starving now! I’m with you too….I just don’t get the WIAW….I really don’t care what other people ate wednesday or any day of the week specifically….I just like to see pretty food recipes, lol!
Her Happy Balance
I’m with you on the link-ups, it’s not that I’m unwilling to do them but I am boring and don’t have lots of new meals to share each week. Plus I’m lazy and forgetful, a real peach indeed 😉 And i wholeheartedly support fingers dipped in peanut butter!
Life After Swimming
I stick to the crock pot most days. Nothing too fancy around here! I think I may try going vegan for lent again this year. I did it two years ago, but this year I am training for a race during Lent. Still haven’t decided if I think I can do it or not. I am amazed by how good your eats look!
Brittany
I say go for it!! You can totally do it.
Missy
I’m very similar to you — I’m not a one hit wonder kind of gal… I always return to the same old same schtuff. BUT, I really want the excitement of a few pops of variety in my month. Work in progress.
Your food looks REALLY good, By the way (0:
Amy @ A Desert Girl
I just get so exhausted when I think about what goes into eating. The shopping and the prepping and the preparing and the transporting and the deciding what to eat next. And the meal times just keep coming…. Some people are exhausted by laundry because it never ends – I feel the same way about food and meals. Sad, I know.
I like the idea of preparing enough quinoa for a week at a time.
Kim
Love your pictures!! Everything looks great. I am def not a cook! I do love to bake, but I prefer easy meals and snacks. I guess if I didn’t work and had all the time in the world I would make more complicated meals? Meh, probably not…
jessiebearwhat
Haha I never pretend I ate my food that wednesday- I just like to share my eats!
Holly @ My Plant-Based Family
I eat the same things too! I try to mix up my meal plans but that is mostly for my readers. What is wrong with eating chips salsa and guacamole everyday?
Amy
Girl, I LOVE your clever title!! Seriously. And I’m such a creature of habit too. I eat the same thing for breakfast, like, every day (unless I run out of Brussels sprouts to roast). (And those breakfast recipe posts you usually see on my blog? Enjoyed as dessert or a snack later in the day. 😉 ) Lunch deviates between 2-3 things, but always with a side of baby carrots. I make dinner my “creative” meal too, but I still stick to one of the 10 things I’m comfortable cooking in less than 15 minutes. But……. Baking = whole different story. 😉
Diane @ Life of Di.
I eat the same thing for breakfast everyday too 🙂 Creature of habit. I also eat the same lunch everyday – a HUGE veggie salad with kidney beans! I usually add a sweet potato or apple for my side. 🙂 Dinners tend to vary but it is typically the same 3-4 meals. I’m not sure why but I really look forward to eating the same thing.
Nicole @ FruitnFitness
I’m kind of nosy and love seeing what others are eating. I typically eat the same things for weeks at a time before I move onto something else. I love cooking big complicated meals once in awhile but I typically stick with basics. Your meals all look great!
brickhousechick
You definitely must have the happiest GUT around! 🙂
Matt @ Runner Savvy
Everything looks good!
Meghan @ fitnesscrEATures
Good grief could I love you any more?? NO! I love that you don’t do link ups! Haha! And also, if you’re still using your iPhone for these pictures, I’m super jealous. I love all your pictures SO much. 🙂 Yes to what you eat, I wish I liked to eat the way you do. That’s like, my ideal way of eating. I have a lot more unhealthy foods than you and I don’t really care, but I wish I could feel the way you do about raw veggies. One day I’ll get there. I’m working on it. Thanks for sharing what you stuff your gut with!!!!! 🙂
Brittany
These photos are all from my “real” camera. HA! Haven’t taken many pictures with my iPhone lately!! Poor phone..totally getting shafted.
beewhobabbles
Everything looks so gooooood. I’m only a little disappointed that you don’t eat cupcakes every day.
Choc Chip Uru
You have so many wonderful dishes to give your gut all rounded happiness 😀
Cheers
CCU
karla @ finding my fit
oo the defiance in you! 😉
i need to get back to gluten free… i had two beers last night (on a date, AHH!) and my stomach is in shambles this morning. ughhh.
those coffee energy bites are calling my name this morning. ❤
Rach @ This Italian Family
Okay seriously, that couple is precious! I love that they play scrabble every morning with their coffee! Also, I am a.m.a.z.e.d. by the amount of water you drink. How is that even possible?! Your kidneys are probably the healthiest ever, haha! I feel like I’m doing well if I drink one tervis of water (you like, like 24oz), haha!
Catherine @ A Two Storey Home
Hah! I love this. I’ve never participated in WIAW, but always kind of wanted to because I love food and love taking pictures of my food, but at the same time really don’t want to participate. It’s a weird place. But you’ve helped give me the freedom to maybe do it on another day and call it something else.
Your food looks fantastic, btw. 🙂
An Unrefined Vegan
You are a REBEL!!
I’m an obsessive meal-planner. I break out into hives if I have to improvise. Not really, but I prefer knowing what I’m making.
Faye
Love your blog! Can you tell me how you prepare the beets? I love them but the few times I tried to do them myself, my kitchen looked like a murder scene. Thanks for any tips!
Brittany
Hi Faye!
Beets are probably one of my all time favorite vegetables, but unfortunately they are quite messy! I usually prepare mine two ways, I’ll either bake them or roast them. When I roast them I will cut the beets into thin circles and put into the oven with some salt at around 400F. There is no way to get around the red mess with this so make sure you have a good knife to help prevent splatter, and cut on a large cutting board. It should be easy to keep the mess ON the cutting board and then be rinsed off.
For a slightly less messy, but longer way to make these, stick them into your over completely as they are with a tiny bit of water in an oven safe pan and bake them with some foil on top at around the same temp as when you roast them. Usually they take around an hour, or until a fork can easily stab into them. Once they are done the skin peels right off and you’re left with a skinless beet ball, similar to what I have in my photos on this post! They still leave a bit of a trace this way, but much less that cutting into them raw. I find that leaving them as a ball like this makes it easy to throw them into a bowl and cut into them among my other veggies, leaving any mess safe within the walls of my bowl!
I hope this helps!
Faye
That was super helpful, thanks! My kitchen countertop thanks you too! lol
sincerelylily
your pictures are SO FANCY and pretty!!! that camera …. excellent choice. all your food is so colorful and nutritious and yummy looking! my meals are uber boring lately (basically broth-based soups….. and more soup…. and tea.. and soup). anything to keep my insides warm.
your gut must be a happy well-balanced gut 🙂 (AND YOU HAVE NO GUT. YOU ARE A SKINNY MINNY YOU KNOW.)
kadeecramer
I love WIAW because I’m obsessed with food.. cooking food, eating food, looking at pictures of other people’s food; it’s a problem! I love to try and Iron Chef it up every night, but I’ve got a feeling that pretty soon I won’t have time for all of that nonsense. ;p
Those coffee energy bites.. I must know more!! Also, every time you post anything with avocado I am automatically STARVING!!!!
Davida @The Healthy Maven
I’ve never done a WIAW post mostly cause I find them boring. But yours was actually interesting and now I’m hungry. Also you are such a hipster with your mason jar
Brittany
AHH NOOO!! I have been drinking out of Mason jars for like..10 years. BEFORE THEY WERE “cool.” Simply for one reason: I don’t do plastic..at all..and well..Mason jars were the only LARGE jar I could bring with me that was glass. I drink a LOT OF WATER..must be LARGE container! HA! I do love me some Mason jar crafts though..so hipster.
Luv What You Do
OMG! I feel the same way about WIAW but never had the words to say it. Well said my friend! Well Said!
That being said…all of your food looks incredible! My mouth is watering for those coffee bites and I can’t buy the chocolate covered berries because I’d eat the whole bag. BTW, almond butter and figs is one of my favorite snacks. One time, I made white chocolate PB and had that with my fresh fig. YUM!
Brittany
HAHA, I’m so glad a few people agree with me on the WIAW thing..just not my style! I am amazed I didn’t destroy the chocolate fruit bites in one sitting. My self control has been amazing lately!
GiGi Eats Celebrities
“AND THE SECRET INGREDIENT IS……….. FIDDLEHEAD FERNS! ALLEZ CUSINE!” – Chairman
“And they’re off” – Alton Brown
apartmentwife
brit- i applaud you for staying away from the linkups and other things that feel unauthentic, but i’m really inspired by your meals – you make healthy look delicious and manageable.. the highly creative and involved things are so much for me that i stay away from it. i say share more 🙂
P
I don’t do linkups either, yay for us rebels, haha 😛
You shouldn’t feel awkward about the picture your neighbor saw you take—it’s a very pretty bowl :)!
Amalia
I’m late for commenting but I actually read this immediately after it appeared in my inbox and laughed out loud on the skytrain. You are hilarious, you make my days more awesome, and thank goodness for this post. ❤
Brittany
You’re too kind my friend, thank you! 🙂
allieksmith
Yum! Your eats look so fresh and full of variety! I really like that that couple goes to Sbux in the morning together. So, so cute!
jessielovestorun
I never doubted you didn’t eat well – but DAMNNN girl, your meals look and sound delicious!!!!! I want your salad bowl – and it’s only 3:56 (to be exact) in the morning!!
Barbara Bamber | justasmidgen
I love the idea of a lunch bowl, so how do you get your beets ready, do you cook a bunch at the start of the week. I’d love to make this but would like to be able to throw it together quickly? Thanks for your help:D
Meredith
loved seeing a day in your gut! haha so creative! I recently found those Lundberg rice chips and they are AMAZING. Life changing? I might be a little dramatic….but I’m new to gluten free eats and I am seriously impressed. There are so many options of things to eat sans gluten. Fruit overload in the morning=best part of my day!
Aussa Lorens
Oh my GOSH this post made me hungry. I want some chocolate covered berries and that bowl with the asparagus and avocado, YUUUUUMMMMM. Holy Moly.
Lauren
I tend to be a creature of habit, but for blog sake, I really do try to spice it up a bit! Tell me more about these Coffee Energy Bites!!
Meghan@CleanEatsFastFeets
Yeah so you totally did a WIAW without actually calling it that or linking up. Too cool for school right. I really loved seeing your eats. What can I say? I’m nosy, perhaps akin to a curious cat. I know you can relate to that. You eat a ton of greens every day, and that makes me happy. Plus it keeps you regular. The coffee doesn’t hurt either.
Alright now I need to go find some asparagus.
Melissa @ Al Forno Mementos
All I eat are dark chocolate covered stuff …. I wish. haha I never understood the whole WIAW thing either … it makes it sound like they don’t eat the rest of the other days ..haha