(Note: This post was supposed to go up 11/23, and unfortunately it didn’t go live as scheduled! I thought I would post it now as a Thanksgiving week post even if it is a little late!) 

Happy almost Thanksgiving! Today I wanted to share a “day in the life” post with some thoughts on how I incorporate intuitive eating into my everyday life. I know I find it interesting to see how others go about their days and hope you do too! See this post for a previous day in the life post.

To recap, intuitive eating is a way of eating that focuses on tuning into your own bodily cues, mind, emotions, and overall intuition. This is how we are born eating and it is our bodies’ natural way of eating. Intuitive eating focuses more on internal cues + rhythms versus external cues (diets/plans, calorie counting, “macros,” etc.) and other “should” voices in our heads regarding when, what, and how much to eat.

The principles of intuitive eating are as follows: reject the diet mentality, honor your hunger, make peace with food, challenge the food police, discover the satisfaction factor, respect your fullness, cope with your emotions with kindness, movement – feel the difference, respect your body, and honor your health with gentle nutrition.

A day in the life + reflecting on intuitive eating:

6am: Alarm goes off… I used to get up a bit earlier w/ grad school + internship life but am now finding 6am is a much better wakeup time for me!  I find that my body naturally gravitates to more of a 10pm-6am sleep schedule and when I was trying to go to bed/wake up earlier I found it harder to be more consistent with this (with any evening plans and what not).

After I head downstairs, I always have one of my fudgy almond cacao energy bites first thing in the morning (along with some almond milk). I may or may not be physically hungry at this time, but I don’t eat my actual breakfast till quite a bit later in the morning and know I would get extremely hungry if I didn’t have a snack right away. Plus, I think it is a good idea to eat something within ~30 mins of waking up. This is an example of me honoring my hunger, even if it is sometimes more of an anticipatory hunger!

6:10-6:35am: This is when I spend a few moments in silence, reading Scripture, journaling, and in prayer.

6:35-6:50am: Time to get the kitchen ready for the morning/breakfast… this means unloading the dishwasher that was run the night prior and cleaning up anything else that is out.

6:50-8amish: Moving my body and exercising in a way I enjoy… for me this usually means getting outside for a run or walk and doing some stretching, yoga poses, and a couple of strengthening exercises. I LOVE getting outside in the morning, even if that entails bundling up more like it did on this chilly day! Beautiful sunrise to start the day.

8:15-8:45am or so: Showering and getting ready for the day.

While I am getting ready I like to drink one of these “green drinks” which is basically spinach, lemon, apple, ginger, turmeric, and cucumber that I have frozen + prepped and blended with water from the day before. This is also when I have my multivitamin, vitamin D, and zinc since I don’t want to be taking vitamins with my morning coffee (can inhibit absorption of certain nutrients). This is an example of me incorporating some “gentle nutrition knowledge” in a non-obsessive way by adding in some extra fiber, micronutrients, and produce to start my day in an energizing way!

Also… I have NEVER been the type of person who listens to Christmas music before Thanksgiving… but I have to admit I started listening to some Christmas music on this day! I like to listen to some sort of worship/uplifting music while I am getting ready and today started off the Christmas music season… was just in the mood and thinking how Christmas is only 4-5 weeks away already and it always comes and goes so fast! I enjoy and went with the Carrie Underwood Christmas album so that is my major announcement from this particular morning. However, I think the Christmas music will continue to be rather sporadic for me until it is officially post-Thanksgiving. So there’s that update for you.

9am: Finally sit down for breakfast. Usual breakfast of already-made steel-cut oats that I heat up in the microwave, peanut butter, honey, and chopped honeycrisp with cinnamon. Coffee w/ almond milk of course. I do check my personal email (usually also has interesting things like recipes, blog posts, news, etc.) and look over my planner to orient myself more to my day while I am eating breakfast. I find that this works well for me at this time since I already had a large chunk of time in the morning for other life-giving things without using email/phone so now I am ready and wanting to get into the day more. Satisfaction is the crux of intuitive eating, and I like that this breakfast consistently leaves me feeling comfortably full and satisfied. I like having pretty much the same breakfast everyday since I really enjoy it and also don’t like having to think about what I am going to eat for breakfast each day. I will eat something different like pancakes usually ~once a week on the weekend to switch it up a little. Whatever works for you is what I recommend! 🙂

9:15-10:15am: I like to take the time after breakfast to do any chores or things around the house. I will make our breakfasts/lunches for the next day, clean up the kitchen, do a load of laundry, and take care of any quick cleaning tasks I am doing that day (loosely planned off of the Clean Mama system where I do a small amount of cleaning each day). I like to do these tasks before my work day so that I am less distracted and also I don’t have a lot of energy or desire to do these things after the work day when I am more tired. I also listen to several podcasts throughout the week during my morning exercise and housework time, so this provides an opportunity to finish my podcast listening.

10:30-11am: Start the work day. Check my business email/to-dos, do some reading, and prepare to see my clients for the day.

11am: I usually start to get hungry around now, but knew I wouldn’t be able to have lunch until a little later. I went downstairs to grab my favorite pumpkin kombucha that I had on hand to at least tide me over some for the next hour until lunch. This is another example of me honoring my hunger. That and the fact that I often eat lunch only ~2 hours after breakfast! No rules in intuitive eating – we are here to challenge the food police! This is what works well for me as I have more hunger in the mornings with my exercise, later breakfast, etc.

11:15-12:15pm: Client session.

12:15-12:40pm: Lunch was an un-pictured random “snack lunch” of a couple hardboiled eggs, crackers, and leftover roasted veggies. Sometimes I like to do what I call “snack lunches” that are composed of various snack-type foods (hard-boiled eggs, cheese, crackers, apples, carrots, trail mix, dark chocolate, etc.). versus always putting together some sort of salad or sandwich. As long as I have a source of carb/protein/fat (gentle nutrition) and am comfortably full and satisfied, then I call it lunch and move on with the rest of the day!

1-1:40pm: Client session.

2-2:40pm: Client session.

2:45pm: Usually I get hungry for an afternoon snack some time between 2-3pm, so I used this time to go downstairs to grab a snack. I was less hungry for whatever reason than I usually am for an afternoon snack, but I still wanted and knew I needed something.

I opted for a sliced honeycrisp apple and a gingerbread energy bite for a bit more fuel/nutrition. I am pretty active most days and figured the apple alone wouldn’t cut it for an adequate snack despite me not feeling too hungry in this moment. I also know from previous experience that I would likely become extremely hungry before dinner if I didn’t have a more adequate snack. That would make it hard to focus the rest of the work day. Not ideal! Intuitive eating isn’t just “eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full.” Sometimes it is wise and needed to eat a little more for various reasons even if you aren’t feeling particularly hungry.

3-4pm: Admin time and follow-up tasks from client sessions.

4-4:45pm: Client session.

4:45-5:30pm: Wrapping up various to-dos from the work day.

5:50pm: My head was pretty much turned to mush at this point, so I decided to head outside for some fresh air with a brief walk around our townhouse complex before dinner + Alec got home. It was quite cold at this point so it took some time to dress accordingly! Like the principle “respect your body,” exercise and moving my body throughout the day is to me about feeling good physically and mentally, NOT manipulating my natural body size.

6:30-7pm: Alec is home and we sit down for a quick dinner of leftover ground turkey and sweet potato soup w/ side salad. As much as I enjoy cooking, it is always nice and convenient the days we are having leftovers! This meal was nutritious, filling, satisfying, and comforting on a cold fall day.

7-7:30pm: Alec heads to his worship team rehearsal for our church and I clean up the kitchen from dinner.

7:30-8:45pm: I had no scheduled plans for the evening so I was happy to stay home and rest/relax. I LOVE evenings when I am at home and have extra time to rest.

“Relaxation items” for the evening included Fahrenheit 451, dark chocolate, and almond milk. I have finished the book but there are a number of reflections/essays/commentaries in the back that I am still reading. I had never read this book before and it has instantly been catipulted to one of my favorite books of all time. High praise! Going to read it again to pick up on even more the second time through. Highly recommend as a reflection on our current times and the dangers of censorship.

Also enjoyed my default evening snack of dark chocolate and almond milk.  *A number of principles in action here.* “Challenging the food police” – no food is “good” or “bad,” – all foods can fit into a healthy, well-rounded diet. “Discover the satisfaction factor” – an immensely satisfying snack every time. “Honor your hunger” – I wake up hungry in the middle of the night if I don’t have a snack before bed – clearly do not want this happening.  “Honor your health with gentle nutrition” – my favorite chocolate also has 30% of your daily value of iron and is a good source of fat! Chocolate for the win.

9-10pm: Being as consistent as I can with winding down before bed at this time really helps me with falling asleep. I go upstairs to get ready for bed, do some light stretching, a bit more reading/journaling/prayer, and thankfully fell asleep right away! Respecting your body also includes acknowledging your need for rest by seeking to get adequate sleep on a regular basis.

What dinner recipes or evening snacks have you been enjoying lately?
Do you listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving??

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!